It’s spring, the time of year when raw, unfettered daylight busts into your home like a SWAT team armed with floodlights catching you unaware.
“YOU. You, in the kitchen — put down the spoon and the ice cream carton and put up some rubber-gloved hands!”
The bright light of spring exposes homes for the Petri dishes they have become over the winter. The light beams in, exposing the dust that’s been collecting in corners since school started and the surface grime you didn’t notice because the drapes were drawn and the fires were lit.
And those cobwebs! How did I miss that one hanging in my closet like a trapeze set for spiders?
Unless you are truly a troll, this just makes you itch to clean. And so the spring cleaning frenzy begins.
“Spring is the time to clean the stuff you let slide the rest of the year,” said Anne Moseley, a self-proclaimed homemaker from Redding, Calif., who answers household cleaning questions such as how to clean the space between the oven-door glass (I know you’ve been losing sleep over that one) on her blog, .
“I hit all those places I hate to clean, but love to have clean,” said Moseley.
I’m glad to hear her say that. I mean, I am so over those people who tell you they just loooooove to clean. They are either high or have been watching too many commercials.
Before I rolled up my sleeves and grabbed the bucket, I looked for a little motivation and found a few new products, some tips to make this year’s spring cleaning less of a chore, and a list of 10 dirty places to hit.
First, two basics.
Start high, work down
This sounds pretty basic, but you can forget it if something grimy on the floor attracts your attention and you consequently embark on a cleaning binge.
Clean so dirt ends up on the floor — which you clean last. You need a systematized way of cleaning, and top to bottom is as good as any.
Shake it outside
Don’t shake indoors what you can shake outdoors — this means rugs, pillows, anything. Also, don’t sweep what you can vacuum. Both habits prevent you from setting still more dust loose in the house.
Next, the top 10 areas to tackle beyond the regular vacuuming, wiping and disinfecting. (You do this regularly, right?)
Starting from the top:
1. The ceiling
Dust ceiling-fan blades and light fixtures. Remove the glass from the fixtures, shake out the bugs (outside!) and clean the glass. While you’re up there, replace the batteries in smoke detectors.
2. Hit high shelves
Dust tops of cabinets and plant racks. Remove books and accessories. Wipe them off, then wipe down the shelves before putting items back.
3. Do the windows
Wash not just the glass, but also the window coverings. Remove and clean screens. Hose them off, scrub them with a soft brush and a mild detergent solution and then let them air dry.
Clean windows with a solution of one part vinegar to one part hot water and wipe them with a squeegee. Give drapes a good shake outside, then vacuum them with a hose attachment. Wash those that are washable.
Dust blinds and shutters or wipe with a soft rag. Moseley likes to take hers down and swish them in a washtub filled with a mild soap solution, then with plain water. Clean the tracks with a rag and a Q-tip dipped in vinegar and water, she said.
4. Spot-clean walls
To spot-clean walls, I’ve found Mr. Clean Magic Eraser works great on smudges. Also wipe down moldings, cabinet and drawer fronts, and switch plates.
5. Clean the furniture
Take cushions outside and gently beat them to get dust off. Then vacuum cushions, and in all the crevices. Wipe down wood furniture with a damp rag and mild detergent. You don’t need dusting sprays, but you can apply a coat of paste wax.
6. Refresh the beds
Launder your pillows and comforters. Flip and rotate the mattress. To freshen their scent, sprinkle mattresses with baking soda, let it sit, and then vacuum it. Moseley suggests mixing some essential oil — lemon, lavender, or eucalyptus — into the baking soda before sprinkling it on. Put bedding outside to air, and switch out winter bedding for summer-weight linens.
7. Clean floors
Outdoors, shake area rugs well, then vacuum them. Cordless vacuums now available from manufacturers such as Bissell and Dyson work better than you would think, and eliminate the hassle of switching plugs when you run out of cord. (Hey, it’s the little things that make a dirty job easy.) Polish, wax and buff floors that have lost their sheen.
8. Degrime grout
This requires good old-fashioned scrubbing (sorry). Beware using steamers on grout, say grout cleaning experts. The hot moisture can expand the material and loosen the tiles. Use a mild soap and a tough brush, rinse well, then have the grout sealed.
9. Shine up kitchens and baths
Deep clean refrigerators, freezers, range hoods and stovetops. I recently tried a sample of Bounty with Dawn, a new product that combines a tough paper towel with grease-cutting soap. It took me a while to get the hang of it. (This was the first time ever I needed to read the instructions on a paper towel package.) But now I love these pre-soaped towels. They are strong enough for washing dishes, and also work well for cleaning counters and wiping appliances. Unlike other soap products, they don’t leave a hazy film.
10. Reward yourself
Now go buy (or cut) a bouquet of spring flowers. You earned it.
Syndicated columnist Marni Jameson is the author of two home and lifestyle books, and the forthcoming “What to Do with a Houseful of Memories” (Sterling Press). Contact her through .
