Spring Cleaning- a series

I'm going to be blogging a series about how I do my Spring/Fall Cleaning. Both for my own reference and because I've had people curious about it.  I'm doing an online challenge to others where I'm posting each day 2-3 hours of work to do M-F with weekends for catch up and relaxation. I have no idea how long it will take but by the end of it 95% of your house will have been touched. For this blog, however I'll post on my blog as I get postings done and probably a few days at a time as I go. If you are interested in following along, get ready for Monday or bookmark if you want to wait until closer to Spring and just do as much as you can. I'm also timing myself to give you an idea of how long it will take for each task.  For reference my house is a medium-large 3 bedroom 2 1/2 bath.  It's not small and has bonus areas, but it's not one of the huge 6 bedroom suburb new development houses either....

Preparation:Decide how much time each day ( and when if possible) you can devote to the process.
Gather your cleaning supplies. At minimum have an old toothbrush, all-purpose cleaner (you can use diluted white vinegar), glass cleaner (I’ve heard rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle is great for this), one of those magic clean erasers and some rags. You’ll also need a vacuum. Additional supplies you may want: baking soda (drains, scrubbing, etc.),carpet spot cleaner, soft scrub or cooktop cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner & brush, squeegee, Fabreeze, Goof off, scrubby sponge, degreaser, duster (regular, long-handled and/or blind duster or attachment for vacuum), mop, broom, dustpan, apron.

You should also have a garbage can and a bag or box for decluttering readily available.

If you need any cleaning supplies or to do a major pickup, do it this weekend. This program is for cleaning all the surfaces in your home, I've found since doing this every 6 months, we have WAY less allergies, etc! We will go inside everything and declutter, but if there's pick up stuff to do (dishes/laundry/toys around the house) try to do it this weekend so we can CLEAN on Monday.

Preview for Monday: The kitchen. We won't get it all done in one day, it will probably take 2-4 days to complete the kitchen. I am doing everything and timing it to give you a general idea of how long things will take and am aiming for 2-3 hours a day. If you only have an hour a day, just follow along and you'll just be a few days behind us. I also will only do postings M-F so weekends can be relax or catch up days. I'm hoping to do postings the evening before since I'm on the West Coast.

ETA: If you are wanting to run a self-cleaning cycle on your oven, I'd recommend running it this weekend. First scrape off any large pieces of food with a nylon scraper and then find some time to close the bedroom doors, open the kitchen window if weather permits and try to get most of the family out of the house. DON'T FORGET TO TAKE THE RACKS OUT you can clean and wipe out the oven on the oven cleaning day (Day 2) but since it takes about 6 hours and can stink up your house, try to get it done over the weekend. If your oven isn't self cleaning, we'll clean it on day 2.

Day 1: Kitchen

Note, if you come across a fix it project (I realized the caulk between my backsplash and counter is all loose and needs to be redone) put it on a project list for later. This time is for cleaning, not for taking things apart to fix stuff.

Let’s just get the scariest room out of the way. 

Here are your jobs for today:

Clean up from most recent meal, including washing dishes and putting away leftovers. Fill ½ your sink with hot, soapy water for soaking or using for washing down things. 5-10 minutes

If you have a self-cleaning oven, and have a dinner tonight to prepare that will use the stove rather than the oven, consider setting the cycle. If your oven is really bad, make sure to use a nylon scraper and take off any large chunks of food first, you may have to wait until spring when you can open the windows if you think it’s going to get really smoky, but if you are putting this off, PUT IT on the calendar now. Take the knobs off and throw them in a bowl with hot water and dish detergent to soak.

Get on the counter or a stepstool-wipe down (with a cleaner) your light fixtures and wash down the top of your cabinets (if yours go up to the ceiling, you can skip this step, fridge and oven hood. The degreaser may be helpful as well as toothbrush & rags.  Anything that’s on top of your fridge and cabinets should be dusted, wiped down and reviewed-do you really need these items? While you are up there, wash down the wall above the cabinets and take down your oven hood screen and give it a scrubbing, cleaning or throw in the dishwasher depending on what you have up there also use a duster to knock down any cobwebs.

Next wipe down your upper cabinets on the outside. Do the sides, the bottoms, the sides. Use a toothbrush on any molding and pay special attention to knobs. If you have done this fairly recently, you probably just need to wash them down with a vinegar & water damp cloth, but if it’s been awhile it may take degreaser and a Scrubbing eraser.   30 minutes

If you have a bulletin board or use the front of your fridge as such, go through everything and toss old notices, etc. wipe down your fridge magents. Do not put everything back up yet.  Wipe around edges of bulletin board and wipe down all the sides of your fridge, including the hinges and the seals around the edge, pay special attention to the handles, which are a germ breeding ground. If you have stainless steel, rub over those surfaces with a polishing cloth. If you have a side by side, make sure to open the doors and get between then and on the bottoms of them. Get a toothbrush into those ice/water maker parts. You may need a little CLR or vinegar to get any hard water stains off. Vacuum the coils, make sure your drip pan’s not overflowing & wash down the air vent (hint, opening the door may make it way easier to put back on, also, using a flashlight will help you see underneath better, move the fridge out from the wall and wash the walls behind it and sweep and hand wash the floor underneath. Use that toothbrush on the molding behind the fridge, clean under any cabinetry that’s over the fridge. Move the fridge back in place. 30-45 minutes

Clean your microwave and/or toaster oven and the counter area (or above stove) that it’s on.  Clean the outside, scrub with a toothbrush in between dials and buttons. If stuff is stuck on in there, while you are cleaning the outside (use a brush on the vents), throw a dish with some vinegar inside and microwave for 2-3 minutes and let it set another 5 minutes.  I’ve had excellent luck with getting the inside sparkling with elbow grease, degreaser and a Magic Eraser. Clean the counter under it, the wall behind it (including backsplash). 10-25 minutes.

Other small appliances: Clean out the crumb catcher in your toaster, wipe it down (use a toothbrush for buttons, etc.) run vinegar then a few clean water settings through your coffee maker, wash the carafe with some white vinegar and salt, descale, wipe down and deep clean any other appliance that you have out on the counter tops. If you have time, start cleaning the ones you have put away that you don’t use often like mixers, waffle irons, fry daddy, rice cooker, crockpot, etc. that you summerarily clean when you use them.  This is also a good time to start thinking about appliances you have that you NEVER use or use once a year. Think about blessing someone else with them and borrowing them as needed. 15-30 minutes depending on number of appliances. 

Now that we’re on to countertop appliances, it’s time to discuss countertops. First, get all the papers off. Don’t get distracted going through them. Put them in some sort of box and with your office stuff. If your office space is in your kitchen, we’ll deal with that another day.  Take a look around your counters.  Is there stuff there you don’t use often that could be put away (you may not have room yet, but after cleaning out cupboards, hopefully you will!) Think about if you were a potential buyer of your house. You want to see as much counter space as possible.  Think about where you use things. Are your baking things near where you mix things up? Are your knives and cooking utensils near the stove?  Is your coffee/tea near the coffee & tea maker? Are your spices near the stove (note spices should be kept away from heat, so keep this in consideration. Personally I moved mine to a drawer NEXT to the stove). Do you have those cute little containers of flour, sugar, etc?  Do you think you could make room in the pantry?  Trust me, they’ll get less dusty in there and you’ll have more room to cook, but if you bake every day, maybe it makes to have them out. Think about how YOU use your kitchen. 

An example of this is the last time I cleaned my kitchen I realized I wanted more prep space by my stove, include more electrical outlets available. I have 4 in that corner, but between a coffee maker, blender (I use it every day so it gets to stay on the counter) and the toaster, when I wanted to use the crockpot, etc. it was getting tight. Our morning routine is to make sandwiches for lunch while breakfast of waffles (I make them ahead and freeze because the littles have them EVERY morning) is made.  So, I moved my toaster to above my dishwasher, which I don’t use much unless I’m washing fruits and veggies along with my breadbox which keeps things out of the way for veggie washing. The breadbox, right next to the toaster has bread for sandwiches,  a knife and small cutting board (we make our own, so I need to slice it), bamboo tongs to take the waffles out, Nutella which is what the kids have on the waffles everyday and my Amish friendship bread starter.  In the morning, I open it up and when we’re off to school I close it and everything’s tucked inside. I think it’s working well.

First, clean off the stuff that belongs in other rooms. Put it in the dining room for now. If you have other family members, delegating putting this stuff where it belongs while you work on the kitchen is a good idea.

Next, wash down your counters and all walls/backsplashes around the counters (don’t worry about the sink yet). Soft Scrub is excellent for getting those juice stains up or those pesky hard spots off the counter.  Lift up those clean appliances and clean under them. Wipe off the phone (germ alert!) dust any wall knickknacks and consider whether you love them or if blessing someone else with them would make less work for you. When you wipe the walls, make sure that you are also washing the electrical outlets which tend to get fingerprints on them and the tops dusty. Wipe the bottoms of your upper cabinets if you didn’t earlier and wipe that little border piece of wood around the edges of the counter.  Declutter & wipe down any storage on the counters-pen holders (do you need 15 pens that don’t work on the counter?), fruit bowls, bread box, etc. Refill napkin holders, salt & pepper shakers, etc. or if they are almost empty, throw them through the dishwasher or wash by hand. 15-45 minutes.

Since we’re at a good stopping point, throw your rags in the wash and enjoy looking at clean counters. 

Preview for Day 2: More cleaning, primarily the stove, inside fridge and the sink and window area

Preview for Days 3 & 4: starting to go inside cabinets, drawers, pantry-cleaning and decluttering

Preview Day 5: Floor, baseboards, walls, outside of lower cabinets

Preview Day 6 (Week 2): Dining Room