Photographer: Simon Whitbread | Styling: Corina Koch
Now that the sun is out it’s time to start spring cleaning so try these five quick and easy 10 minute cleaning jobs to kick-start your spring cleaning routine in your home.
Wondering when to start spring cleaning to clean your home and whip it into shape for the warmer months?
You might find your eyes settling on the dust, clutter and chaos of a post-winter household with despair. The need for a good spring clean is inevitable each year but an entire spring cleaning list can seem overwhelming at first. We have a handful of tips and tricks to get your spring cleaning started.
1. Style a vignette in your kitchen island
Start with the busiest room in the house and one you return to time and again each day to act as a touch point to reinvigorate your resolve with each visit.
- Clear off your kitchen island or a central point in your kitchen and remove any clutter collected there
- Give the surface a thorough wipe down for a blank canvass to work with
- Create a vignette from a selection of your favourite objects
- Add an indoor plant or bunch of fresh flowers to finish the display
2. Clear the clutter and place a plant at your front door
With a welcoming entrance you’ll want to continue the theme indoors and it will spark your spring cleaning resolution anew each time you enter your home.
- Clear away shoes, umbrellas, recycling and clutter from your verandah, vestibule, or front door
- Sweep and wash down the flooring for a blank canvas to work with
- Buy new or bring from elsewhere a large pot or a group of smaller potted plants to create a lush display
3. Clear off your dining table
Who doesn’t experience the detritus of the days of the week collected together onto the dining surface, threatening it to disappear from view? A clean sweep is in order!
- Clear away flotsam and jetsam from homework, craft, reading matter and meals from your dining table
- Give the surface a little love with a clean and polish
- Place a decorative item in the centre of your table to establish a focal point and demarcate it as a “no junk” zone!
- Resolve to eat more meals there as a family so it remains clear – work out your schedules and commit to days this is possible
(Photographer: Helen Ward)
4. Organise your wardrobe by clothes length
**Beware, this job has the potential to suck much more of your time!!
As a starting point to getting your wardrobe organised for the change of season, organise your clothes by length (Kloe) and simply stop at that this time. You will then get a sense of what needs to be done in terms of culling and storing – a larger spring cleaning job you can allocate time more for later. Be ruthless this time and simply rearrange as follows:
- Hang like with like eg. Jeans/trousers, dresses, tops, evening
- Move most-used type to the area easiest to reach
- Tidy shoes into types – sandals, boots, evening etc.
5. Dust your living room
As you’ll retire here at the end of each day it’s important to get a sense of what you’re already achieved! You’ll be encouraged by your efforts and enjoy a fresh, space.
This also threatens to become a bigger project as the living room tends to collect clutter and dust due high traffic. The rationale here is to simply make a start on a deep clean by breaking it down into smaller tasks. Not everyone has time to declutter, then dust, then vacuum, then rearrange furniture etc and, as we know dusting is not everyone’s favourite job, by committing to just this you can vacuum next time, and so on.
After completing these five tasks, congratulate yourself and enjoy!
