Before you start

The night before your big spring clean gather all your supplies in a bucket, include any cleaning products, rubber gloves, bin liners, baking powder and white wine vinegar plus your most upbeat CD’s to keep you motivated.

Plan your meals for the day, have a healthy breakfast, throw something in the slow cooker or choose a takeaway as you won’t want to be cooking at the end of your mammoth cleaning day – keep some snacks on hand too and put a nice chilled bottle of wine in the fridge to enjoy afterwards!

Start with an empty dishwasher, washer and dryer. Before you start on each individual room collect blankets, throws rugs and pillows and put them in the washing machine

Clean light fixtures and window blinds – spray windows with a glass cleaner and spray and wipe all the mirrors too.

The Bathroom

So you are ready to start on the first room – the bathroom.

Descale taps and chrome fittings, especially if you are in an area that has hard water, not only will limescale make the fittings look awful, but by leaving this you are much more likely to have leaks and need to replace fittings too. If you leave limescale for a long time then it can become really difficult to remove – white wine vinegar is great for descaling – use a toothbrush for any tricky areas.

Next it is the bath – use a microfiber sponge to rub your cleaning products into the bath and shower – leave for about 30 mins before you rinse away

Grouting is there to stop the walls and floors getting wet, use baking soda and hot (not boiling water),dip in a toothbrush and scrub away!

Use natural products rather than chemical ones for the essential cleaning of the toilet – again baking powder and white wine vinegar is a natural thing to use – leave for 15 mins, scrub and flush – also change your toilet brush at this time and pour a few drops of essential oil into the holder – put essential oils in the bathroom bin too so that it stays fresh, but this can also be used as an antiseptic – always ventilate your bathroom well after cleaning.

Hair, beauty products and toothpaste can bung up the bath, shower and sink, again white wine vinegar and soda poured down the plughole can help – leave it for 30 mins before washing away with water.

Descale the shower head – fill a small sandwich bag with white wine vinegar, for best results leave overnight, you can wash a shower curtain on a gentle cycle in the washing machine.

If you have children, wash plastic toys in the dishwasher, but remember to remove any batteries first.

Don’t forget your makeup bag – if you haven’t used a product for a while then throw it out, the only exception is seasonal items – wash makeup brushes with shampoo.

The kitchen

Next onto the kitchen – oven cleaning is time intensive, but by putting bi-carbonate of soda into a water spray, this will give you your own handy oven cleaning solution (avoid the heating elements) – leave this overnight and wipe clean the next day (ok this bit takes you over the spring clean in one day!) spraying with vinegar to remove any remains – if you don’t fancy getting stuck into the oven then a professional cleaner may help with this one to save you time too.

Get  your fridge sparking clean – stains, food matter and water can build up – again a toothbrush and toothpaste are great at removing – the chemicals found in toothpaste will help to remove stains easily. Clean your fridge on the day before you do your main shop

To get rid of any fridge odours, cut a lemon in half placing one half at the top and one on the bottom shelf – this will absorb any odours and leave your fridge smelling fresh – lemon also de-odourises microwaves too – just add to a cup of water and heat slowly.

The Bedroom

Revamp your wardrobe – separate your clothes into seasons, try on your outfits, do they still fit, if the answer is no, then get rid of by donating to charity or selling on e-bay.

For the clothes you want to keep, bag up if they are out if season and store somewhere .

A golden rule for clothes – trash, give-away, store or put away for use

Bedsheets can be cleansed by using bicarbonate of soda (which can also be used for cleaning the mattress – leave for 8 hours vacum up any excess powder and your mattress will be as good as new)and wine vinegar as this can help breathe life back into them and help get rid of any lingering odours – make sure you rinse thoroughly afterwards though too, to get rid of the vinegar smell before using.

Deep clean your carpet, you’ll be surprised how much dirt, hair and dust can accumulate – remember to clean your vacuum cleaner beforehand.

Some final tips

Don’t use the same cloth around the house as this will hang onto grime from the previous surface – bathroom germs on kitchen counters is a definite NO

Feather dusters are notorious for spreading dust

Change your vacuum cleaner filter before your big spring clean

Clean a room from the top down

Don’t  spray cleaner directly onto furniture as this can cause a build-up leading to greasy furniture and surfaces

Clean the washing machine – skin cells and dust mites can linger in the machine drum meaning that washing is being done in dirty water .

Don’t worry if you are selling your home and not fully decluttered

So your home should now be spic and span and  decluttered – if you are looking to sell your home, don’t worry if you haven’t totally decluttered every room as at David Phillip Estate Agents in Bramhope,  North Leeds  we have some clever photographic techniques to do this for you and enhance the look of your property.

National no Housework Day

Also to all those men and women tempted to do the spring clean this weekend, Sunday  April 7th is National  no Housework Day, so the laundry basket will be fine until tomorrow and you have enough plates for today, so leave the dishwasher until the morning just this once  – today is the day to let it all slide.

No-one knows who came up with national no Housework day but that person has given you 24 hours off – the spring clean in one day can wait until another time.

To view some of the lovely properties on our books or for a free valuation t: 01134 676 400  w: davidphillip.co.uk  e: info@davidphillip.co.uk.