The Spring Cleaning Edition

It’s that time: mid Spring. You started off the season all Spring-like with your bouncy step and energy for days and good intentions. Sunshine! Sunlight! Warmth! Imma going to do all of the things. Clean this, organise that, look at me go! 

…then it’s October…and next week it’s flipping November. I KNOW! Don’t worry, I’m totally with you – every year I’m all about The Great Spring Clean (most years because we’re inevitably moving house again, ugh!) But this year I’ve thought better of it. I’ve waited for the dust to settle, so to speak…because my house is quite dusty, you see. Now it’s late October I feel ready to tackle the ‘Spring clean’, I’m in the right head space. I don’t have the bouncy energy or cleaning mojo, for sure, but I think I can tackle reasonable and achievable things to create some simple order in this little ol’ farmhouse of ours.

If you Google or search on Pinterest ‘Spring cleaning list’ your brain might hurt and then explode. It’s a daunting, scary place. (You just went and did it didn’t you? Welcome back. It’s not so scary here.) So instead, I’ve got a modest list which in reality I will only tick about five three things off. But whatever. Look! A list! See, I’m organised…

• wash all windows, inside and out, and mirrors
• wipe down skirting boards and windowsills
• run a clean cycle with jug of vinegar then bicarb through dishwasher
• wipe down external doors
• sweep and scrub back porch
• wipe down kitchen cupboards, drawers and baseboards
• go through wardrobe, donate or ditch
• organise kitchen drawers: utensils and plastics primarily
• sort through toys: pack away age inappropriate or donate excess
• clean out gutters
• clean out chimney and fireplace
• organise office space and desk drawers
• pack away Winter scarves, hats and boots
• dust, polish and wax wood furniture
• move furniture and vacuum behind/under
• rotate rugs
• sort through linen and towels, match up and organise
• pressure wash exterior of house and back porch
• oil outdoor table and chairs
• scrub shower tile grout with vinegar, lemon and bicarb soda
• clean shower head with a bag of vinegar tied over it and leave overnight
• sharpen kitchen knives
• empty pantry, throw out old food, re-organise shelves and containers
• clean fridge with water, vinegar and vanilla

All of these things I feel are realistic and achievable for me to undertake whilst I have a toddler attached to my leg or on my hip. Any other items requiring more effort, time or brain capacity I am drawing the line at. Granted, some of the items on the list Matt will tackle (I’m looking at you gutters and chimney sweep…) but I know that if I tackle even half of these things my house and life will seem more ordered, simpler and calmer.

Spring heralds the end of the fire for us here. A few weekends ago we made The Big Call that we’d had the very last fire for 2015 – and so we cleaned out the fireplace thoroughly (the vacuum is involved and pulling apart of the fan), Matt got on the roof with the funny chimney broom wearing Victorian britches and a red kerchief around his neck and cleaned the flu good and proper. No more fires means no more dust, the very bane of my life during the Winter months. I love our fire…but I loathe the dust and ash and grit that goes along with it.

Going through all of the stuff has also been front of mind lately – I’ve been listing lots of excess stuff on our local Facebook buy/swap/sell group, and also trying to be quite ruthless in op shop donations, always adding to the bag in the boot of my car. We live in a teeny tiny home. Sure, you’ll hear me bemoaning our lack of storage space, but honestly small space simple living is great. Of course I dream of having a linen press, of having a pantry, of a bath, of a wardrobe in Eleanor’s room…but even given the opportunity to build The Dream Home, I think we would keep it rather small and simple. (Is it just me or do big houses just make you think of all the cleaning?!)

It also helps that my husband has a cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness-and-I-am-a-God mentality. For sure. But…he’s also a huge hoarder (refer back to the start of the last paragraph).

Do you do a big annual deep Spring clean?
Or just find it overwhelming and it never gets done?
All good intentions and all that…
Good luck!