5 Simple Steps to Sring Cleaning

It’s that time of year where everyone is posting their Spring Cleaning tips and all their pictures of his or hers freshly cleaned homes.

Let’s face it, spring cleaning has such a huge hype to it when in reality no one has time to clear out their entire homes, scrub every surface top to bottom, de-clutter, and dust, sweep, and mop like they’re Snow White.

Every day of Spring you wake up thinking I will Spring Clean my home this season. I will put on some music and I will get it done and my home will have that fresh clean feel every time I walk in the door.

It’s not that we don’t want a clean home that smells amazing and is a complete oasis every time we come home. It’s just…

TOO MUCH WORK.

By now you’ve probably already spent an hour on Pinterest saving Spring Cleaning tips and checklists to your Spring Cleaning board hoping it will give you the motivation and inspiration to get started and you will have convinced yourself that you are completely organized.

But…

The second you start to think of a plan you’ve exhausted yourself and oh hey what better way to de-stress than laying in bed with some Netflix.

You try and talk yourself into breaking it down into baby steps, “I will work on different sections over a few Saturdays, why overwhelm myself by trying to tackle everything in one day….but wait isn’t it better to just get it over with? I can just try and cram the whole thing into one day and get it all over with. Can’t I just be rich and hire a maid service? BUT why spend the money? I should just get over it and get it done myself. Ugh, I need wine.”

Seriously why can’t giving our home a nice sprucing this year be simple, doable, and feel really good when we’re done?

Spring is about new beginnings, fresh starts. Giving our home a good clean up and some tender love and care will really allow us to feel that fresh new start to the year along with giving us the ability to feel really present this Spring.

So today, I am sharing five simple steps you can take to give your home that fresh clean Spring feeling without the overwhelming hard work and time-consuming tasks.

1.) Fresh Air.

Open all the windows; light a candle, sage the home. There is nothing as simple or more impactful than just opening the windows and allowing the fresh air to release the stuffiness your home has built over winter. Just the act of standing in front of the window, placing your hand on the handle and sliding open the window, and as the fresh air breeze sweeps in and hits you, is one of those small moments in life that will always be worth living for. So open the windows in your home, all of them. Light a couple candles, at least one in each of the main rooms.

Finally, get a sage bundle and light the sage. Take the bundle in your hand and walk around your entire home, every inch of it and allow the sage to cleanse your home. Sage is known for it’s cleansing properties, take a moment to breathe it in, let the smoke of the sage bundle cleanse you of negativity and past struggles, allow the sage to cleanse the negativity and old energy of each room, and allow the sage to clear the way for new and positive moments to come.

Opening the windows, light candles, and burning sage in your home alone will already make your home feel ready for Spring.

2.) Make the bed.

Stand in front of your bed. Pull everything off, pull off all the blankets, the sheets, the pillows, until your mattress is bare. Spray your mattress with Febreze or some kind of waterless cleaner spray. Take all the bedding and get them cleaned in the wash or get entirely new bed sheets and re-make your bed. Give your pillows a good fluff, put a throw down, and then spray with some fresh scented linen spray. Yes, we all clean our sheets throughout the year, but doing each of these steps and adding that touch of linen spray will really make your bed into a complete oasis.

3.) Spotless Kitchen.

Do your dishes & put them away, clear your counters and scrub them clean, wipe down all the appliances, take out the trash and clean the trashcan. This is probably the most difficult on this list and the most time-consuming. However, the kitchen is the heart of the home and if any room needs the most care and deep cleaning it is the kitchen. So this is the only room I want you to really take the time to give it a good scrub.

Your kitchen will never feel more inviting than having clean and clutter free counters and appliances that don’t have spills, stains, and grease all over them. So really take the time to clean with purpose.

Remember why this place is sacred and why putting the elbow grease into cleaning your kitchen will completely transform your house into a home.

Finally, wipe down and set the dining room table, get some really nice candles, a centerpiece, and place settings and really transform your dining room into an elegant and inviting place for friends and family to gather.

If you’re thinking there is no point because your family uses the table for everything and everything on it will eventually wind up cluttered somewhere, do it anyways.

Your home will have a completely different feeling and yes over time your dining room table will not look like it does now, but this is why you will be able to enjoy it even more.

Give yourself permission to treat yourself and your home and savor it every day of this season.

4.) Bring in some life.

It is time to add some greenery. Add some plants whether they are flowers, air plants, a small tree, or air-purifying plants; put them in the corners of your home near windows. Put some fresh flowers on side tables and on the dining room table. Put in some air purifying plants that will continue to give your home that fresh clean feel.

If you do not a have a green thumb and kill every plant you’ve ever had, get them anyways. You will be able to enjoy them for at least through the season. Spring is about new starts, but the rest of the year is about nurturing them.

Remember to water and care for your plants because they are a representation of the year: new beginnings, all the hard work and small steps in the everyday life, and finally the time to get rid of the dead stuff and prepare to start all over again.

Adding greenery and new life into your home will really brighten up the space and give life to your home again.

5.) Liven up the Living Room.

If you have a couch or any seating in the main area of your home take all the cushions off and vacuum and Febreze the couch and cushions, fluff up the pillows or throw on some new spring décor pillows and a throw blanket. Next, dust and wipe down the mantle or main table or shelf area and add some happy spring decorations. Just by giving your seating area a quick tidying up and at least one decorative corner of your space a new look your living room will be ready for spring.

…

Spring-cleaning doesn’t have to be all about purging everything in your home and making sure every surface in spotless.

Spring cleaning is simply a way to bring life back into your home after a long winter and a representation of starting fresh.

I hope these five simple steps help you to find that balance between taking on too much and giving up altogether. These steps are a way to help remind you that it doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to leave you feeling refreshed and ready for new things ahead.