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spring cleaning how-to.

Last week was our spring break, and while everyone I knew was off laying on a beach with a book and a beverage--or so it seemed--I was at home looking like Rosie the Riveter.  I grew up spring cleaning on spring break, and my kids are going to do the same, dang it.  I shared some of my spring cleaning tips on Instagram, and then decided to create a post with all the tips, tricks, how-to's, and products I love.  You're welcome.



Get organized! The night before I'm going to begin my spring cleaning, I make a list of EVERYTHING I want to get done during the week.  This list is usually lofty, and I have not ONCE made it through the entire thing.  However, having the list is motivating to keep working, and the kids like the fulfillment of scratching things off.  My list has everything broken down by room.  For example:

FRONT ROOM
-walls
-baseboards
-vacuum
-window
-dust
-window screen
-blinds
-wash blanket
-beat rug
-wipe fan

I do this for every room.  Normally a list like this would be done using google keep, but my kids LOVE crossing things off the list, so I go with handwriting it to ensure the additional motivator.  Speaking of motivators...

My kids help spring clean.  Some tasks, like cleaning off the fan, they can't do.  However, most of them they can at least help with.  The kicker is to find out what motivates them and use that to get them involved.  For Larsen, it's giving him all the pennies in my cup holder from my car.  And chocolate milk.  For Rhett, it's basketball cards or going to play with friends.  Having the kids help clean gives them a sense of ownership for our house.  When we start, I tell them that I only have two hands.  There are five people that live here, and it's not very fair to expect my two hands to keep the place clean.  I then explain the goal.  Today, we are going to clean these three rooms, and if we get done then I'll give you a prize! As you can imagine, once we get going they start to lose momentum, so I throw small motivators out like letting them pick the next song we jam to--and you better believe that blue tooth speaker is rattling the windows the whole time we clean, or letting them mark something off the list and pick the next task we tackle.  You get it.  

 Have your supplies on hand and fully stocked.  I ran out of my favorite cleaning product, and it totally threw off my groove.  This was something I got asked about A LOT during my spring cleaning updates on Instagram, so I'm going to introduce the products I use for each task, and guess what? there are only two products you need! SAY WHAT?!

First, I use Mr. Clean concentrate.  This is like my holy grail cleaning product.  I use it for EVERYTHING.  I fill up my kitchen sink with hot water and Mr. Clean and use that water for mopping the floors.  I fill up an ice cream bucket with hot water and Mr. Clean to use for wiping walls, baseboards, blinds, knick knacks, etc.  Plan on being disgusted by how gross the water gets, and switching out the water at least twice.

Second, I use windex wipes.  This is not the first time I've gushed about these perfect little cleaning products.  Windex nailed it on these things.  I use these to clean mirrors, windows, appliances, and anything that could get streaky like chrome faucets or drawer pulls.  I go through these so fast that I've had to find the best way to keep them on hand.  Second to Windex just sending them my way, I've found that Amazon is the best bet.  You can buy them in bulk, shocking, and trust me when I say once you use them you will NEVER STOP.


I will close this post with one tip that is sure to blow your mind.  If you have ceiling fans, you may have noticed the disgusting dust that gathers on the blades.  Right? Now, if you take a rag and wipe the blades off, the nastiness falls on the floor and makes you gag when your toddler walks through it and treks it everywhere, or gets it on his hands and then licks them... holy dry heave.  It hurts to even joke about.   Enter the king size pillow case! I use a pillow case to clean my fan blades.  Simply slide the blade into the case, wrap your hands around the blade, and slide the case off.  The dust falls into the case, and is contained--woot!--and its like the fastest way ever to clean a fan.  Again, you're welcome!


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