The words “Spring Cleaning” are unlikely to whip you into an enthusiastic frenzy. Unless, like me, you’re a bit of a neat-freak who gets a kick from organizing and tidying. Winter tends to leave me feeling lethargic, and I get very behind with those extra household tasks. The beginning of Spring is the perfect time to re-organize your life, beautify your living space and do a spot of de-cluttering.
If you’re not sure where to begin with your Spring cleaning, don’t fret! I’ve got a whole bunch of suggestions for little ways that you can bring a little bit of organization and tidiness into your life. Just pick one task to begin with, and if you’re feeling energetic once you’ve finished that, do another. Or if you want to go completely nuts you could do the whole lot.
- Air out your bed linen. Pick a sunny day and peg your quilts, blankets and pillows onto the wash line in the sun. The sunlight will kill any nasty germs and the spring breeze will leave everything smelling fresh and lovely.
- Clean out your wardrobe. Throw away anything that’s worn out and donate or sell items that you don’t wear as often as you’d like. Check out the very first post I ever wrote for more information about cleaning and organizing your wardrobe.
- Go through your bathroom cupboards and throw away any beauty products and makeup that have spoiled or which you never use. I often feel guilty about throwing away half-used products, even if they made me break out in a rash or if the scent of them gave me a headache. If you’re the same, I’m giving you permission to chuck those buggers in the bin. They’re wasting valuable space.
- Pick out some of your favourite digital photos, pop them onto a USB and whiz down to your local department store and get them printed. On your way home, treat yourself to a couple of funky photo frames from your local op shop to display your new pictures.
- Go through your craft stash and evaluate what materials you have on hand. Spend an afternoon or a couple of evenings doing a bunch of de-stashing projects to use up the materials you’ve been hoarding.
- Empty out your kitchen cupboards. Throw away any spoiled food, broken crockery or scratched pans. Wipe out the cupboards with a sweet-smelling cleaning spray and carefully arrange everything back on the shelves.
-Play around with table coverings. If you’ve been using the same dingy tablecloth for months, pop it in the wash and treat yourself to a new set of place mats or some funky coasters.
- Wash all your windows and dust the sills to let the Spring sunshine in.
- Go through your recipe books and bookmark any recipes that you’d like to try in the coming months.
- Clean out your inbox. Create a set of folders to file important emails and delete the rest.
- Rifle through your magazine rack. Pull out all your back issues. Go through them and tear out any articles, recipes or pictures that you want to keep. Now throw the magazines into the recycling bin or donate them to your local doctor’s surgery or beauty salon.
- Empty your underwear drawer and throw away any saggy undies or faded bras. Now treat yourself to a couple of spanking new pairs of knickers and a gorgeous bra. There’s nothing like pretty new underthings to start the season off right.
- Clean out your microwave and your oven.
Do you participate in Spring cleaning? What are your favourite jobs to give your living space a lift when the weather starts to warm up?
Filed under: Advice, Life Tagged: advice, cleaning, house, housework, self care 
