Deep Cleaning

Since I'm a little behind I haven't been sticking to a room a day. Decluttering and purging first really makes the deep cleaning go faster. I don't exactly see decluttering and purging as the same thing. Purging to me means simply getting rid of the unnecessary and unwanted excess, where as decluttering would include purging, but also include moving things to their proper homes and/or into storage areas to lessen the stifling overload of too much visual clutter.

Forgive me while I daydream of spring a bit, it's still snowing here.

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A few posts for reference.
My Top 7 Spring Cleaning Tips
My Spring Cleaning Checklist
How Do I Clean?
Bathroom Cleaning Tips - makes the deep cleaning much easier!

These posts include both a deep clean list and quick clean list for each room:
Cleaning the Kitchen
Cleaning the Dining Room and Entry
Cleaning the Living Areas
Cleaning the Bedrooms
Cleaning the Extra Rooms
Clean the Bathrooms and Laundry

What I've been working on:
Picking up the aftermath of a toddler party with 10 3-4 year olds, tiny toys are surfacing in all sorts of odd locations
I've been wiping down shelves and knickknacks, curios and ephemera with wood cleaner and/or damp rags
Wiping down baseboards, walls, light fixtures, outlet plates, switch plates, door handles
Making note of repairs that need to be done, filters, light bulbs or batteries to replace
Emptying and vacuuming or wiping out drawers and shelves
Washing windows (inside at least, I'll do the outside once the snow is gone... in July?)

This weekend we'll be vacuuming and shampooing all the carpets, and vacuuming all the upholstered furniture and mattresses. Normally, I'd do that with the rest of the room, but I need some assistance moving furniture and with a toddler one of use has to keep her occupied. Plus, the vacuum is a bit noisy after she crashes and the house is a very open floor plan.

Spring Cleaning Derailed

Despite my best efforts, Spring Cleaning is going to be completely delayed a week. My daughter came down with a stomach bug and has been out of school for 3.5 days. While I tried to clean, because I was home, realistically I was just picking up after her and cleaning what she had messed up earlier that day.  The house is clean, but it's not deep cleaned, which is the point of spring cleaning for me.  Getting all the nooks and crannies that normally get glossed over.

She's almost 3, so I looked forward to nap time to clean and catch up on work a bit remotely. She decided it was a good week to declare a moratorium on naptime. Seriously?

So, keeping it real here, I have done no spring cleaning this week, well unless you count the spice shelf... the 1 spice shelf, not both of them, just 1. Yeah, I got a whole lot of nothing done. On the plus side, I did take some cute pictures of her yesterday. I'll update this post with a few tonight.

How's your spring cleaning going?

Spring Cleaning - Purge Week

By the time I was done with work, dinner, purging and bedtime, I struggled to find time to post last week. To catch up a bit:

How to Decluter Bedrooms
How to Declutter Extra Rooms
How to Declutter the Kitchen
Go here for the complete guide.

In the bedroom, I went through my nightstand and cleared it out, I had been storing a few tank tops in the bottom drawer, but they are now in a purge bin instead. When we bought our bedroom set several years ago, I did not buy a dresser. I purposefully chose to eliminate dressers from our bedroom and our kids bedroom, "stuff" can't get piled on top over time, and we have a few drawers in the closet for the items which can not be hung. So the master bedroom wasn't too bad to go through.

I also went through my daughter's bedroom, removed the last bits of 2T clothing and resorted her clothing baskets. She has a lot of books that I keep thinking of moving out, but once again I chose to leave them. She's too old for several of them, however when she starts reading and identifying words they'll be perfect to have around for a while. She's sort of on the cusp of being able to read, so they made the cut one more time. I did have to relegate a few of her toys back to the basement yet again. The baby toys, which she stopped playing with 2 years ago and were put in the basement then, are suddenly so interesting and fun when she finds the bins. So she'll drag them upstairs one at a time, until I go through and sort again, and have to send them all back downstairs again.

I tried to tackle the back hall closet, but I pulled most of my stuff out of there 2 years ago and it's mostly my hubby's now, so I gave up on that. I learned early on in our marriage to never throw away something of his, even if it seems broken or holey or worn out or trashed.

I also did not get to the kitchen on Saturday, so I'll have to catch up on that during cleaning and organizing, or the last week.

I love this bedroom, and have it pinned as my inspiration for a master bedroom redo, some day!

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How did your week go?

Family Room Purge

My family room has a wall of shelves, the bottom of which are full of toys which desperately need a good sorting through, which I will do this weekend. They aren't getting purged, just put away for the next little one. Everything else I sorted through. Here is the how-to declutter post for the living room.

More candles, I seriously have too many candles since I never burn them anymore with a toddler around.
A few decorations that I'll relocate or purge
A bunch of magazines, I used to keep a lot of magazines, now I get rid of them pretty much right away, since I get most of my inspiration online
A few extra vases that have come with supermarket flowers

I recently went through all my craft stuff and gave away all the crafting things that I knew I'd realistically never use. I had acquired a bit of scrapbooking items, but realistically, I do digital scrapbooking and don't take the time to do anything with the paper and supporting bits, so I passed them all off to a friend of mine, so I didn't have much there to purge.

What did you purge or declutter?

Love this room, well with about half the pillows and throws and candles.

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Dining Room Purge

Thankfully, my dining room and dinette haven't gotten too bad. Here is the how-to declutter post for the dining room.

I had a few old birthday banners that I decided to purge
I set aside a few candles to give away that I really don't care for the scent
The buffet drawer had a few odds and ends that I've been hanging on to for quite a while, which I purged (if I haven't figured out what they belong to by now, I likely never will)
And two placemat and napkin sets that were given to me, but aren't my style and have never been used

Did you manage to find anything to purge or declutter?

I repinned this dining room twice several months apart, I guess I really like it!

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Bathroom Purge

Since I've done the how-to on purge and declutter steps before I thought I'd just link them up. I started with my bathrooms since I knew they'd be pretty easy, I threw away a few things past their prime and made note of a few things I'd like to "containerize" in week 3.

My guest bathroom has 3 tall built-in cabinets, similar to medicine cabinets, but rather tall. That is the only storage in that room and one of those cabinets is our toilet paper storage (they are exactly 1 roll deep), so I only had 2 cabinets to sort through. I relocated a few things that had collected in there, but there wasn't much purging to be done.

The master bathroom has four under sink cabinets and 1 tall linen closet, so I found a bunch of things to clear out:
A bunch of hair product from the days when I used to flatiron my hair and two flatirons to give one of my nieces
A bunch of perfume samplers that I'll never use, which my nieces can have or pitch
A few towels were relocated to the dog towel bin, for bedding, dirty paws, baths, etc
A few items past their prime were pitched from the medicine basket
The far 2 cabinets hold puppy items and kid bath items, I need to get a couple plastic bin to corral the things in those cabinets better and to keep them from getting lost to the back recesses of the cabinets


I'll keep a running list of things I need to either relocate from other areas of the house or purchase for my organizing week, as I go through the rooms purging I'll make note of anything that can be relocated.

Week 3 scavenger/shopping list:
3 rectangle plastic vented bins : 1 for the puppy stuff, 1 for bath toys, 1 for kid bath products
1 new bath mat for the master bathroom

How did your bathroom purge go?

Just a little eye candy, my inspiration photograph for my master bath.

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Spring Cleaning

I'm so over winter and ready for spring. It's still quite cold here, and we're still bundling up in wool and snow suits with plenty of snow on the ground. Yet, we're opening the windows a bit during the day to air out the house. I'm tired of the stuffiness of a house shut up for winter. I'm ready to do a declutter, purge, and thorough spring cleaning! Care to join me?

I usually spend a week purging, a week deep cleaning, a week organizing and a week on the miscellaneous repairs or special projects. I divide the house up into zones to tackle on each day, and always give myself a day off each week to take a break and enjoy. This month I am also planning a birthday party for my daughter on the 13th, so I need to leave myself enough time to get that done.

I'll be deep cleaning the entire house, however these are the areas that I plan on concentrating on this year that I know need a little extra help.

For purging: closets, linens, my drawers, and the kitchen.
For cleaning: electronics, the stove, doors & windows, soft furnishings & textiles, registers & grates
For organizing: miscellaneous drawer, pantry, bathroom closets, front hall closet, garage (tall order)
Special project: create a guest room/craft room out the bedroom in the basement and finish the bathroom in the basement

My zones this spring (I'm going from least amount of work to be done to most):
Monday: Bathrooms
Tuesday: Dining Room(s) (formal/casual/kitchen dining rooms)
Wednesday: Living Room(s) (living/family/game/rec rooms)
Thursday: Bedrooms
Friday: Other Room(s) (hall closets, foyers, mud room, laundry room)
Saturday: Kitchen
Sunday: Family Fun Day!

If you'd like to jump around and do your own thing, but are looking for some sort of guide, check out the September ShapeUp Guide from a few years ago. I do a bit of a mini "spring cleaning" in the fall as well to get ready for the holidays and get all the summer bits put away and pull out all the cozier things we need for fall and winter here. Otherwise, join along here and on Facebook.

Spring Cleaning Checklist

I

've been busy with so many little things that I haven't gotten a chance to get started on my spring cleaning. I'm getting started this week, definitely won't be done by the first day of spring! However, I'm hoping by the end of March.

Here's my quick list if anyone wants to join me:

Image by James Steidl text added by me

Spring Cleaning Checklist

Wipe down surfaces, walls, trim, fixtures, electrical covers, and windows
Polish silver, brass, copper, and other metals
Wipe down chandeliers and lighting fixtures
Empty and clean out refrigerators, freezers, ovens and vent filters
Replace furnace filters and vacuum and clean all household vents
Dust and vacuum all fabric surfaces
Vacuum or clean lampshades
Clean all window treatments
Wash all windows and mirrors
Swap out storm windows with screens
Swap winter for summer clothes
Swap winter for spring décor
Replace lightbulbs, batteries in safety detectors and check fire extinguishers
Vacuum and clean all carpets and rugs as needed
Flip/rotate mattress and freshen pillows and couch cushions
Wipe or vacuum out drawer interiors
Clean out closets and cabinets
Repot plants as needed
Start garden seedlings
Hold a garage sale and donate items

Download a PDF version

I also put the list in my left sidebar, I'll mark off as I complete items there. I only have a few hours after work during the week and I need some me and blogging time as well, so don't expect too much to get done on weekdays!

Spring Cleaning - Tips

Well since I'm almost done with my spring cleaning, I thought I'd share a few of my tips to make it easier.

1. For cleaning I have a pack of 20 cheap washclothes in 5 different colors, I use a different color for floors, counters & sinks, bathrooms, walls and windows, woods. Since I use different cleaners for each of these areas I know I can just grab a rag in that color and not worry about it.
2. To wipe down the walls, I just stick a washcloth on my swiffer, I use it dry on flat paint and wallpaper and damp on semi-gloss.
3. I spray everything down in one bathroom, go to the next and spray it all down, by the time I'm done spraying, the first is ready to be wiped down, and then I go wipe down the second. I let the sprays soak a bit, letting them do their job and make it easier for me. I do the same thing in the kitchen, clear all the counters, spray them all in a clockwise direction, go back and wipe them off in a clockwise direction.
4. I have a cleaning caddy that I keep everything in so it's easy to move throughout the room and not have to constantly have to stop and start to go find different cleaning supplies. If you don't have a caddy, load up a bucket or dishpan or a basket lined with a plastic bag.
5. I keep 2 bins and a trash bag with me as I go throughout the house and anything that doesn't belong in the room it's in goes in 1 bin, anything I'm purging goes in the other. When I get to the room it belongs in, it gets put away. When I'm all done I go through and put everything left in the put away where it belongs. The purge bin gets distributed to it's rightful locations, whether to a person I think might want it or Goodwill.
6. I start in the least used rooms, and work my way to the most used rooms. You'll get more rooms done in a smaller time frame, so it'll keep you motivated to keep going.  Plus, it'll keep you from tracking a lot of stuff into the lesser used rooms.  It also seems to be the most efficient way to getting the items from the bins put away. (I seem to be collecting a lot of family room/kitchen items throughout the house, so leaving those rooms until last makes the most sense to me.)
7. I work clockwise through each room working from the top to the bottom and the outside to the middle. This makes sure I don't miss anything and I get through the room in an efficient manner.