5 Days of Spring Cleaning: Day 1 Surface Clean

Someone asked in a meeting the other day what others were looking forward to for the Spring season. Many said gardening, taking long walks or driving and looking at pretty flowers. I piped in with what is truly my favorite Spring activity; cleaning.

There is something about cleaning that truly just clears my head. It might not be as good as actual therapy but it really does help my mental health. I love popping in a podcast, grabbing my cleaning materials and getting things done.

I’m going to share what typically are my top 5 focus areas when I want to do some sort of big clean. There have been times I have done all 5 in a day and others where it takes me several days.

I love starting with a surface clean and here’s why; we have all bitten off too much when it comes to cleaning resulting in a house torn apart and not feeling very productive at all. When I decide I need a big clean, I start with a surface clean to help myself feel productive even if I lose steam and don’t get to the other areas that I intended to.

Here are a few tips for surface cleaning:

Grab bins for each family member to help clear off areas as you wipe down. We have a huge island in our kitchen which looks really nice when it’s all cleared off. But on a typical day it is the landing zone for all sorts of things from school work and dishes to sports bags and electronics. When I get in a mode to clean, the first thing I do is unclutter areas and each family member gets a bin. The idea is that they then put those items away but you can guess how well that usually goes.

Round up the dishes. I have a teenager so his bedroom is often filled with all our dishes. I know I should make him haul them out but when I get in a cleaning mode, I often do it myself. Shame on me, I know. I have to include this step as part of my surface cleaning because I won’t put dishes into the bins.
>> You’ll want to empty your dishwasher too so you don’t have to end up putting dirty dishes into the sink.

With surfaces clutter free, do a thorough wipe down. I love filling my kitchen and bathroom sinks up with hot water and a little dawn or other cleaner and the using that as a bucket to get all surfaces clean. The bonus is it then cleans your sink and leaves the room smelling fresh.

Vacuum. Not mop because that to me is a whole process and not considered surface clean in my book. After you wipe down all surfaces, a fresh vacuum really pulls it all together.

If you accomplish just this, be proud of yourself. Unfortunately that clutter will start building back quickly so sit back and enjoy the clean for a few minutes.

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