It's Time to Plan Your Spring Cleaning...

It may still be dreary and I know spring isn't quite here, but this is when you get out your planners and start writing down in your April monthly pages all you need to clean to get ready for spring. Go through each floor of the house, each room that are alike can be grouped, and don't forget all the details! If you leave out the details, you less likely to follow through. The action part is in the details; in creates an ownership as though you can feel yourself already in the cleaning process.  It pumps you up!

Here is how you can get ready for spring, now, in your Planner Perfects:








You'll need at least 2 pages of your reinforced loose-leaf for your spring cleaning details. Create a header for your spring cleaning month, such as *Spring Cleaning 2011*, and find yourself a flower sticker and throw it up there, too.









Start at the top floor of your house and work your way down. 
Group like rooms together such as bedrooms. Write bedrooms as your subtitle and underneath it write all you like to get done in the bedrooms. Some ideas might include: washing drapes, changing sheets out from flannel to crisp cotton, polishing all wood furniture, vacuuming, etc... do this when writing all the details you'd like done in each room.





 
Bathrooms deserve their own group. Write down that they need to be cleaned, and any new cleaning supplies you might need to get the job done. My mom used to always buy a couple new cleaning items on her deep clean days, it just seems to help get the jobs done when you have fresh gloves and a new sponge. If you have seasonal decor in your bathrooms, jot down what you might want to get new, such as new hand towels, soaps, or maybe even a little vase of some sprigs of fresh flowers. 


Vacuuming your way down the stairs means you've accomplished the top floor. This is also a good time to take a damp rag, children are a good candidate for this job, and have them take their rags and swipe along baseboards and in the crease of the stairs to get all the dirt that collects there, leaving it pushed out into easy reach areas so you can vacuum it all up. 

 The kitchen, remove winter seasonal items, wash down backsplash, wash the floor on your hands and knees. Get a bucket and a couple of rags, this is the only way to really get in there and get it clean. In-between times is fine for the Swiffer, but when it comes to the deep cleaning...this is a must. Deep clean your ovens and stove-top. I have a gas stove and I use my oven cleaner for my stove top to get the burners clean from all the grime. Wash down cabinets and wash your rugs.







Family living areas. I love putting some spring pillows on my couches, put out new spring candles, vacuum out the fireplace of loose soot, polish all the wood furniture and vacuum under couch cushions. Wash the blinds and drapes, and wipe down entertainment systems.











Dining areas need attention, too, and get all that wood furniture polished and floor vacuumed or washed down if a hard wood floor. 


 

If you have a basement the same applies as the other floors of the house, get the details down such as Windexing mirrors, and glass doors, vacuuming under cushions, and behind sofas and chairs, and vacuuming your way out to show you're done.





Entry ways. Get winter gear out and spring gear back in. Wash down the back entries of all dirt, salt and grime that the winter pulls in and get fresh for spring. This isn't a Swiffer job, here. Light a candle on an entry table if you have one and put a vase of fresh flowers. This is when I decorate for Easter, too, and start placing cute Easter pieces throughout the house.




 






Your laundry room. Wash it out, get it clean. I have some tips on organizing the laundry room and for almost every room of the house and you can check that out here.





Planning your monthly, spring cleaning in advance pumps you up and inspires you, gets you looking ahead, creates less stress because you've written all the details of your spring cleaning goals. This creates purpose behind your cleaning and give you the right attitude, instead of it being mundane, boring and something that has to be done--writing it all down in your beautiful planner, creates a woman who loves to be organized and looks at this cleaning as caring for her home and family.


To get the job done easily, look at your calendar for April, and plan some deep cleaning days in each week for the whole month to get the jobs done. For example in one of your days, plan to get all the bathrooms done on one of the floors or even the whole house. On another day, plan to get all the dusting and polishing done of all the bedrooms and wash all drapes and blinds. Do you see how doing it this way gets you fresh for spring with less stress? Writing it all down keeps you Planner Perfect and organized. 

Now customize your spring cleaning to your life, to what you want to fit in to your days, and how much you will do in any given day to devote to a section of deep cleaning.


Check back for more on Planner Perfect's Spring Cleaning tips, decor ideas, and more...

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