Can you hear the birds chirping? That’s right, it’s spring again! A good spring clean is on the to-do list for most people, and it definitely should be if you’re planning to sell your property this spring. From doormats to your ceilings we’ll make sure you won’t miss even the most inconspicuous dust collectors.
Phase 1: The Plan And The List
Always have a plan! Deciding you can declutter, reorganise, clean every cobweb and dust bunny in one weekend is very ambitious and may leave you feeling defeated when you can’t meet this goal. Be realistic about how much you can conquer in your given time-frame, or space your plan out over a few weekends.
Writing yourself a list will help you to identify all the areas which need cleaning, but really, this should be your entire house, inside and out.
Once you have all the items on your list, highlight the priorities that will take a bit more elbow grease. Next, divide and conquer. Delegate jobs where possible and get to work!
Phase 2: Where To Start
Closets, home office and kitchen are great places to start. To declutter your closet put all the clothes and shoes you haven’t worn in the past year in a bag and say goodbye! If you haven’t worn them for a whole year, it’s unlikely you will wear them again (except for those special items like the dress you wore to your best friend’s wedding or that tux you bought as an investment piece.
Next up, your home office. No doubt this space is getting far more use these days which means it is probably also home to a lot more items…or junk. Make use of filing cabinets or systems and put all loose paper away, this always makes you feel like you have accomplished something! Tidy up any loose cables and try to place them out of sight.
The kitchen is probably one of the easy rooms to tackle when spring cleaning. Go through your pantry and fridge and throw away any out-of-date items. Stocktake your cutlery, glassware and crockery. If you have plates from 3 different sets, get rid of those that mismatch, the same goes for any glasses and mugs if you do not use them. If you have any pots and pans that are on their last legs dispose of them too. Lastly, give your appliances a thorough clean, get all those sauce spills off your cooktop and out of your microwave, clean the grease out of your oven and get all those toast crumbs out of your toaster!
Phase 3: Move Along Room By Room
When cleaning the rest of the rooms in your home, take a top to tail approach. If possible remove the furniture or as much of it as possible and start by cleaning the walls, ceilings, fans, lights and windows. Then you should move onto the furniture and floors. Moving furniture out of the room means you won’t be enticed to simply mop or vacuum around the item, plus, they won’t get in your way when you’re cleaning the ceiling.
Don’t forget your give your window furnishings a good clean, if you have Venetian style blinds or any furnishing that you cannot easily clean take them to your local blind cleaners. Make sure you have you upholstered furniture and mirrors on your to-do list.
Phase 4: Refresh And Revitalised
Now that your property is looking, feeling and smelling oh so spring clean, you can start to add some updated décor items! As your walls are super clean, could they do with a new accent that will add some personality to the space? You can never go wrong by adding a few more pot plants to bring some more life into your home!
Donna Etchells - McGrath Estate Agents 