The Ultimate Spring Cleaning Checklist For 2024

April 17, 2024

It’s that time of year again! After months of hibernating inside from the cold, it’s time to do some spring cleaning.

Around half of the households in the UK say that spring cleaning is an important annual event, but for many, the idea can seem daunting. That’s why we’ve decided to make this ultimate guide to spring cleaning.

This post will cover multiple tips on cleaning and organising from industry experts. Keep reading until the end for our ultimate spring cleaning to-do list!

Spring Cleaning and Mental Health

Around 2 million people in the UK are affected by seasonal affective disorder (SAD) during the wintertime.¹

Many of those who don’t suffer from depression still notice lower energy, motivation, and mood during the colder and darker days of the year.

The impact that our home environment has on our mental health is undeniable – studies have found clear links between clean spaces and positive mental health.²

As we spend more time indoors during the winter, our spaces tend to get dirtier and more cluttered. That’s why spring cleaning is so important for many Brits.

Partaking in an annual spring cleaning event with your household can be a cleansing experience not only for your home, but for your mental health as well!

Step 1: Tidying

KC Davis is a licensed counsellor and tidying expert who specialises in helping mothers and people with mental health issues tackle the often overwhelming tasks involved with housekeeping.

She has developed a method of tidying that helps her clients reclaim power over their spaces again by breaking down major messes into simple steps.

Using her approach, she claims that you can tidy any messy room by simply completing the following 5 steps.

1. Pick up any rubbish

Begin by taking a bin bag and moving around one room. Ignore everything else except for any rubbish or recycling. Once you’ve collected everything, leave the bin bag in a designated corner of the room. Make sure not to leave the room to take the garbage out – stay in the room and leave the bag there until the end.

2. Gather the laundry

Next, take a laundry basket and move around the room collecting all laundry items. When you’re done, leave the basket in any corner of the room like you’ve done with the bin bag. Going to start a laundry load could distract you from your immediate mission – to tidy the room you’re currently in.

3. Collect the dishes

Pick up all of the dishes and put them in either the dishwasher or the sink if you don’t have a dishwasher. Save washing the dishes until after you’ve completed your current task of tidying this room.

4. Put things that have a place back

Now, go around the room and pick up everything you see that has a place, and put everything back. For now, ignore all things that don’t have a place, as that’s the next step!

5. Collect all the things that don’t have a place

Finally, this is the most difficult step. Gather all the items that don’t have a place – this should be all remaining items in the room. Place them in a pile and go through them one at a time to decide whether they should be kept, tossed, or donated. If they are being kept, try to decide on a place for them.

The process of tidying can often be the biggest hurdle to actually cleaning your home. To get over this hurdle, try creating a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere before you begin cleaning.

Start by putting on your favourite playlist to keep your motivation levels high.

Once all of these steps have been completed, your room should be looking a lot more tidy. Now, you can begin cleaning, organising, and decluttering!

2. Decluttering

Mum and daughter tidying. Organization tips.

Decluttering expert Peter Walsh specialises in mindset and lifestyle habits to nurture healthy cleaning habits.

He recommends using his unique method of decluttering. Here’s how to try it!

1. Assign a day that works for each member of your household

If you have kids, roommates, siblings, or a partner living with you, make sure they are all on board with this process. The more people taking part in this activity, the more effective it will be.

2. Give each person two bin bags

One bag will be for general unwanted clutter and the other for items that can be donated. The objective of the activity is to fill both bags with items.

3. Use Walsh’s question

If you have a hard time parting with items, Walsh proposes the idea of asking yourself the question of why they want to keep the item. If the answer is about the usefulness of the item, then it’s probably worth keeping.

However, Walsh believes that people more often than not keep unused items because they want to hold onto the idea of being the type of person who needs such an item.

For example, an old set of unused sports equipment collecting dust in the garage may mean that your loved one really wants to be the type of person who still plays this sport.

If this is the case, we recommend setting a time limit–use the items in 30 days, or they must go.

4. Make use of multi-functional items

Decluttering your home will go a long way in helping your family keep things clean and tidy.

One of the best ways to do this is to replace items with multi-functional items that are useful and mood boosting.

Throw Blankets are great replacements for multiple blankets, resulting in a less cluttered house for spring cleaning.

For example, why keep three throw blankets around the house when you can invest in one Big Throw Blanket or a Weighted Blanket that offers stress and pain relief?

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You can do this with so many things in your home, and it will make a massive difference in the amount of clutter you have lying around.

Step 3: Cleaning

Now that you’ve tidied and decluttered your home, it’s time to get to the good stuff! Get ready to clean – you’ve got this!

Cleaning specialists advise a top-down approach to cleaning each room. It makes total sense as gravity will pull every dust bunny to the floor.

1. Start with dusting

Begin at the very top and dust each room one by one. Ceiling fans, picture frames, window sills, house plants, shelves and finally baseboards.

2. Clean surfaces

Now, wipe down all surfaces. Again, go from the top down in order to avoid having to re-do any spaces. This step is especially important in the bathroom.

3. Wait 30 minutes before cleaning the floors

If a room is particularly dusty, it’s recommended to wait about 30 minutes before cleaning the floors. This will allow all of the dust to settle before you clean it up.

Hopefully, this short list demystified cleaning a little –breaking it into smaller steps can make the overwhelming task of cleaning much less intimidating.

Step 4: Details

The ultimate Spring Cleaning to-do list.

Cleaning your appliances is one of the most overlooked parts of spring cleaning, but it can set you up for success for the rest of the year.

Many companies try to sell people fancy cleaning products for these, but the truth is that natural alternatives are safer and just as effective! Here are some favourite methods as recommended by professional cleaners.

Clean your dishwasher & washing machine

Use vinegar to freshen up your dishwasher and washing machine. Vinegar is a great alternative to nearly every cleaning product, but it is incredibly effective on cleaning appliances!

Clean your oven and stove

A baking soda and vinegar mixture work wonders for this task.

Clean your fridge

This is a large task, but we promise it will be worth it. Again, vinegar is a great option for cleaning the shelves and walls of your fridge. You can also leave a box of baking soda open to absorb odours as they arise.

Step 5: Staying Organised

Now that your home is clean and tidy, let’s focus on how you can keep it that way!

Gretchen Rubin is an author and human habits expert who recommends scheduling small sections of the week for organising. She says that by breaking it up into smaller tasks, her clients can create positive organisational habits that leave their home spick and span for years to come.

When organising your closet, try asking yourself what items make you happy. Pay especially close attention to items that have multiple uses.

Our Hoodie Blankets, are a fantastic example of this as they can be used both indoors and outdoors and have multiple uses such as wearing them while studying, lounging on the couch, camping – basically any activity you can think of!

Try setting aside one hour per week to organise a different section of your home. We recommend putting on your cosy Hoodie Blanket, setting a timer and working until it’s up!

Hoodie Blankets are the perfect outfit for spring cleaning! Rated higher than the Oodie on Trustpilot!

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