Spring Cleaning

Spring is one of the best times to sell a home but let’s face it - a deep clean of your house is great 
whether you are selling or not! I can attest that a super clean and organized home creates better 
appeal to buyers, but I can ALSO share that when my own home is super clean, I love it even more.
Let’s take your home one room at a time (which experts also tell us is the best way to clean it) and 
discover tips to make it easier, faster, and better. But first, a quick decluttering

If you are like me, your social feed is full of people engaged in decluttering efforts. It’s such a sensible 
and emotionally satisfying thing to do. Here’s how to make it easy on yourself and unburden your 
home of things no longer needed, useful, or loved:

• Go Room by Room. Start with décor. Do you still love all those “pieces”? Separate the ones 
that no longer make you happy and put them in a donate or sell box.
• Empty closets. Daunting? Yes. Set aside a rainy Saturday for this one. Pile clothes and shoes 
on your bed and start working your way through them. If it doesn’t fit, you don’t love i
anymore, or you haven’t worn it in a year (!), it’s time to retire it. 

 

• Do the same with dresser drawers. Use those donate and sell boxes!

• Your kitchen holds more treasures. If you aren’t using those fun little appliances you once 
loved (hello waffle-maker and quesadilla press), it’s time to let someone else love the
instead.

• Toys are a feel-good project. Kids outgrow their toys – that’s part of the natural order of things. 
Donating them to a thrift store means kids younger than yours will get a chance to play with 
them too.

Congratulations – you have de-cluttered. Let’s start cleaning! Here are some tips for each room that I 
hope will inspire you:

Bathrooms. Ugh. No one likes this job. You already know how to clean countertops, floors, toilets
etc. But how about the grout in showers, floors, etc.? If it has become discolored or just looks bad, tr
this:

• Sprinkle baking soda on the grout lines and then spray with white vinegar.
• Let it bubble for a bit.
• Then scrub it with a brush.
• You won’t believe how good it will look!

Kitchen. Stainless steel appliances are everywhere. For the most part, they are easy to keep 
presentable but if you see stains or marks on them, try this easy method:
• Mix warm water and a small amount of dish soap.
• Apply it with a soft microfiber cloth. Wipe in the direction of the grai
• If that isn’t enough, try rubbing in a paste of baking soda and water, then rinse thoroughly and 
buff with a dry microfiber cloth.

Bedrooms and living rooms offer an opportunity to tackle two things you might be avoiding (or is it 
just me?) - lampshades and ceiling fans. Check out these tips:
Lampshades accumulate dust on top. You will be forgiven for not noticing UNTIL you turn on a lamp 
in a dark room. Yuck! The easiest way to remedy this is with a lint roller. Simple and quick!
Ceiling fans are also dusty – even if you never turn them off! It makes sense to clean them when you 
reverse their flow with each season (direction in summer should be counterclockwise to help create 
downdraft, which creates a cooling breeze, and in winter a clockwise direction is better to circulate 
warm air around the room). Here’s how to clean them:

• Standing on a stepladder (and with a spotter!), slip an old pillowcase over each fan blade – 
obviously, the fan should be turned off firs
• Squeeze the pillowcase tightly around the blade on both sides as you slowly pull it off the 
blade. This will ensure that all the dirt, dust and other stuff will be pulled right into your 
pillowcase! When you have done the whole fan, take the pillowcase outside and turn it insideout and shake it off. Then just throw it in the wash.

 

Finally, let’s talk about the biggest problem in your laundry room. Washing machines are not (as you 
might hope) truly self-cleaning! Here’s how to clean it – once a year or so:

• Make a cleaning solution with 1 cup of white vinegar and 1 cup of baking soda.
• Add the solution to the detergent dispenser to loosen any built-up gunk. Let it sit for a few 
minutes, then run a wash cycle on hot. 
• Once the cycle is complete, use a scrub brush or toothbrush to scrub the inside of the 
drum. Pay extra attention to areas that may have built-up mildew or stains.
• Run another cycle on the hottest setting to rinse out the drum.
• Using a clean, damp cloth, wipe down the drum and door seal to remove any remaining dirt 
or debris.

I hope these simple tips will inspire you to tackle your spring cleaning. And if it looks good enough to 
SELL afterward, please give me a call!