Spring Clean Your Way to a Beautiful Home
If you need extra motivation to tidy, spring cleaning is a great reason to organize, declutter, and redecorate. We find that the first step to a truly clean home is decluttering. While you might not traditionally think of decluttering when it comes to spring cleaning, a decluttered home is easier to clean and brings calmness to your life. When you remove all that stuff from a room, you can sit down, look around, and develop a much better understanding of what your space really looks like. Plus, you’ll likely be less stressed without all of those things blocking your view. Who doesn’t need to reduce the level of stress in their life?
Some of us have already done a good portion of the decluttering after spending most of 2020 inside our homes. No matter where you are in your spring-cleaning journey, our process will help prepare your home for the new season.
DECLUTTERING
When it comes to decluttering, there are two popular methods to try out. We’ve found great success from both and recommend trying a combination of the two.
Marie Kondo
By now, we’ve all heard of Marie Kondo’s famous “spark joy” method. Her bestselling book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up has helped a lot of people, and her subsequent TV show led to so much decluttering that thrift stores were overflowing. We love that this method is based on identifying what brings you joy and cultivating as much of it in your life as possible.
We’ve found the most success using this method on clothing. Taking a hard look at your wardrobe and asking each item if it brings you joy really helps put your clothing choices in perspective, especially if you’re being honest with yourself. You might like the concept of high-waisted wide-leg jeans, but the actual reality of wearing them might not bring you joy.
Becoming Minimalist
Less popular than Marie Kondo’s books, The Becoming Minimalist Method by Joshua Becker is about de-cluttering one room at a time. He recommends starting with the rooms you use the most so you instantly see the benefits. We’ve found this method to be the most useful when there’s a lot of decluttering you want to get done. For example, when it comes to your kitchen, you might ask yourself, ”How many potholders do I really need?” You have one oven, two hands, but have some collected four potholders. Or maybe your thing is big stirring spoons and you realize it’s time to narrow down the kitchen gadgets and duplicates.
By combining these two methods, you feel the immediate gratification from the Becoming Minimalist approach and the joy that comes in identifying the items in your home that make you happiest. Keep in mind that while decluttering may feel wasteful, there are many options for donating your clutter to people in need. Thrift stores that are accepting donations are the obvious choice but don’t forget the power of Buy Nothing groups, which can be found for your neighborhood on Facebook.
DEEP CLEAN After the decluttering is finished, it’s time to use that elbow grease and start the deep clean. There are lots of things you can spend extra time cleaning once or twice a year such as taking time to not only vacuum your floors but also getting behind the headboard and sofa.
Since we’re curtain experts, we have specific tips for deep cleaning curtains: While your curtains are hanging, you have two options. You can vacuum them if you have a small attachment for your vacuum cleaner. Or, if you have a steamer, that is the ultimate! Steaming is like giving your curtains a hot bath and ironing them all at one time.
Another option, if you have space (not a city dweller) is to take your curtains down and hang them outside for a few hours. Curtains can gather a lot of dust.
When the curtains are off the rod, take this opportunity with a damp rag to wipe down the rod and maybe even the wall. Dust is sneaky!
If you want to wash your curtains, make sure you check the care instructions and do a spot test. A lot of curtains that are lined are made with multiple fiber contents that could react differently to washing. If the care instructions say dry clean, then follow that instruction.
REDECORATE This is the best part. You decluttered, you cleaned, and can now redecorate. This may mean taking some of those special treasures that bring you joy that you found during the decluttering and putting them someplace that makes you smile. It may mean a fresh vase of flowers. If you are ready to take the plunge, new curtains paint and decorative pillows are the top 3 ways to freshen up a room.
Remember, whatever you choose, make it fun. Involve everyone that lives and uses the space. At the end of the day, an incentive like a movie or ice cream can help motivate the crew.