Spring Cleaning - Part I

I prefer to do my spring cleaning in installments.  There is really no sense in working myself to the point of sheer exhaustion plus I don't want to make it such a monumental chore that I end up dreading it.

I like to give each room a good and thorough cleaning every six months.  This month marks six months since we moved back into our house over the Labor Day weekend.  I decided to start my spring cleaning in the living and dining room since those are the two rooms I set up first when we moved in. 

I began by moving all of the smaller pieces of furniture into the dining room, folding the area rug and setting it on the opposite side of the room and pulling the sofa and shelving unit away from the wall a good four feet.  I washed the walls and baseboards and was amazed at the accumulation of dust and cobwebs in such a short amount of time.  I vacuumed the floor and along the ceiling.  Then I washed the inside of the living room window and cleaned up the window track and sill.  The drapes were vacuumed for dust.  I washed the door, doorknob, light switch plates and outlets.

The shelf unit was washed down with glass cleaner before it was put back in place and everything was cleaned and set back on the shelves.  I wiped down the sofa and recliner and put them back in place, cleaned the lamps and shades, polished the tables with furniture polish, washed the coasters, cleaned the TV and its stand then put the rug back into place.  I vacuumed one final time.

I rolled my little computer desk forward to finish cleaning the walls and baseboards and to vacuum.  I tossed out a few accumulated papers and filed away some tax information as well as some insurance papers.  I dusted the desk and the shelves above it and wiped down my chair.  All done.

Next I removed the dining room table and chairs to the living room.  I took a one hour break before I washed the window, window track and sill.  I washed down the walls and baseboards, wiped down the china cabinet, cleaned the ceiling fan, scrubbed the tile floor with a scrub brush, cleaned the table and it's legs and did the same with each chair.  Once the floor was done I put the table and chairs back into place.  This time I angled them for something different.  We like it.

The only thing I didn’t do was the hearth and fireplace because I had just done it a couple weeks ago.  I did give it a quick dusting, however.  I also dusted all of my wall art, the clock and the mirror over the fireplace.  I chased a lot of cob webs.  Far more than I had expected to find.

All the cleaning supplies I needed to use.  Not too much.

I was amazed when I got done it had only taken me a little more than four hours to complete this project.  Far less time than it ever has before.  In the past I had spent the majority of a weekend to get all this cleaning done.  I attribute this change quite simply to the fact that I now own way less stuff.

The kitchen is the next room I plan to do and I hope to have it completely done in about two hours.  We'll see how it goes.  Next Saturday is the day I've chosen to make that happen.

Have you started spring cleaning yet?  How are some ways you tackle this job?