Spring Cleaning

Now that’s we’re full swing into spring, it’s time to dust off your dusters and get to work. Below is a list of items I thought of plus here’s a quick Spring Cleaning Checklist from Martha Stewart.

• Open all your windows and doors. Leave them open for 30 minutes to turn over the air. I like doing this at least once a week once the weather permits.
• Change your furnace filters. This should be done every 1-6 months depending on what type of system you have and what size filters it uses.
• Clean out your refrigerator and freezer. You know there are things that expired a year ago! We all have those hidden in the dark depths of the back corners. Get movin'!
• Flip and spin your mattress (I never do this but they say you're supposed to).
• Pull out couches and chairs that you don’t normally vacuum behind and vacuum the area once in each direction (a carpet cleaner told me to do it in both directions for maximum cleaning).
• Go through your files and get rid of statements and invoices that are too old. I think "they say" you need to keep these items for 3-5 years so anything older than that should have a rendezvous with your shredder.
• Clean out your closet. Take a load of clothes to consignment and a load of clothes to a charity. Spread the love. There's no reason the sweater you’re not enjoying shouldn’t be loved by someone else.
• Look underneath your bed. Yowser. Forgot that was there, didn’t you? Clean her out and vacuum if you have a proper attachment.
• Tackle the garage one Saturday afternoon. You can do it! Think of all the space you could clear out for more junk from the house. Sort, relocate, donate, dump.
• Check your fridge to see if the condenser or coils need to be cleaned. Manufacturers recommend doing this two or three times a year to keep it running efficiently.
• Take apart your oven hood to see if the fan or vent needs to be cleaned. I checked ours and was appalled at all the build up behind the pristine metal cover. That fan really pulls the grease up. They recommend cleaning this multiple times a year as well (not once every five years like I'm averaging). Seeing the build-up made me all the more happy that I run the fan religiously when I cook so the grease is being sucked up into the vent rather than dispersing in the air.
• Pull out your washer and dryer and collect missing socks.
• Make it a point to clean out one drawer, cupboard or closet every day or every week. You don't have to make it perfect, but 20 minutes can do wonders for an over-stuffed drawer or piled high closet.
• Buy a new toothbrush if your bristles aren't straight (every three months roughly).
• Exfoliate.
• Go through your kids toys. Downsize, donate, store for the next bambino.
• Burn your CDs (or have Ripstyles do it for you), then move 'em out. (Easy Street Records in Seattle will pay $2-5 for unscratched CDs.)
• Dust those places you may forget about or can't reach (tops of mirrors or artwork, baseboards, bookshelves, closet shelves, etc).

If you manage to check two or three off your list - then bravo ladies and gentleman! You gotta start somewhere. I'm slowly chippin' away one by one.