Spring Cleaning Tips

Our long dark, damp winter is finally over which means one thing, its time to spring clean! As soon as the clouds were gone and the sun reappeared I opened all the blinds in the house to let the light in, unfortunately that's when I noticed all the dust, dirt and dog hair that had built up over the winter months even with all the cleaning I had done. Our closets were over flowing with holiday decorations that were never put away, new clothes and toys from Christmas, winter clothes and boots....it was time for action! I spent about 4 days straight going through every drawer, cabinet and closet in the house then finished up by organizing the garage and deep cleaning every room in our home. Spring cleaning is easy and fun for me (weird right?) but I know its not for everyone so I thought I would make a list of some spring cleaning tips in hopes of helping the spring cleaning imparted.....like my husband!

Spring Cleaning Tips

1. Organize One Room At A Time.
If you start on one room then move onto another without finishing the first you will get stressed and overwhelmed which will probably end up with you giving up on the whole thing.

2. Make 3 Piles.
When ever I organize anything I always have a keep pile, donate pile and a trash pile. I always buy large garbage bags before I start so everything I want to donate and all the trash I find automatically goes into a bag and not on the floor.

3. Have A Donate Rule Of Thumb.
My donate rule of thumb is if its been sitting in the back of the cabinet or closet collecting dust for over a year I donate it. Or if I totally forgot that I had it I donate it since I obviously don't need it. If it doesn't fit and probably wont any time soon I donate it.

4. Drop Off Your Stuff To Be Donated As Soon As Your Done.
The longer it sits at your house the longer you have to think about it and change your mind. 

5. Get A Receipt From The Place You Donate To.
By the time I was done organizing our house I had about 6 car loads full of stuff to donate and I made sure to get a receipt from Goodwill every time because you can write it off on your taxes.

6. Wait To Clean Until You Are Done Organizing.
Focus on one thing at a time. If you are like me as soon as you start to organize you get into an organizing mode and if I stop to clean then I get into a cleaning mode and don't want to do any more organizing.

7. Put Things Away In Your Already Organized Rooms. 
 If you already organized your room and are working on a spare room and find some things you would like in your room make sure you put them away instead of setting them down and waiting till later. If you let things sit out in your already organized rooms it wont feel like you are making any progress.

8. Try Not To Stop For A Long Period Of Time.
I am a homemaker so it wasn't hard to find the time to spring clean but if you don't have the time like I did try to get everything done over a couple of days. If you do a little one day then don't do anything again for a couple more days you most likely wont ever finish.

9. Ask For Help.
If you have a lot of stuff that needs to be gone through and organized doing it all by yourself can get very overwhelming, stressful and time consuming. Don't be afraid to ask your friends and family for help! A few of my friends throw spring cleaning parties where they all go over to each others house's and totally organize and clean each home over the weekend for a couple weeks until each friend has a clean clutter free home. It gets their spring cleaning done faster and it ends up being a lot of fun.