Spring Cleaning doesn’t have to eat up a month’s worth of weekends, you can knock out the majority of it over one weekend and still have time to go out to dinner and catch a movie! Efficiency is the key. When you clean in an efficient way, then you accomplish so much more. Cleaning out the cupboards and pantry could be an 8-hour job or a 90-minute job, depending on the productivity of the person performing the task. So slip into comfy sweats, crank your tunes, and get started! Kitchen/Pantry: Set a timer, you should be able to whip your kitchen into shape in 90 minutes or less. Have your garbage and recycle bags handy, set the oven to “self clean” and then start going through your cabinets and drawers. Top to bottom, left to right. Wipe down as you go. Drawer organizers help and can be key to getting your spices and food storage containers under control. Also, clean up the family junk drawer (everyone has one). When you get to the pantry, indiscriminately toss anything that you haven’t been using or eating on for the past few months. Glass jars or bins (or try bpa free plastic) work wonders to organize and stack cereals, pastas, and dry baking supplies. Bathrooms: Give yourself 60 minutes if you have the standard 2 bath home. Then, with waste bags in hand, go through the drawers and cabinets and throw out all expired products. (Keep it “green” by recycling what you can!) Buy some attractive storage bins and separate out the hair products from the medicine cabinet and the nail polish from the face wash. Wipe down the cabinets inside and out as you go. Closets & Drawers: Depending on how many closets you have this should take 3 hours or less. With bags in hand donate any clothes you haven’t worn in the past year or that don’t fit. (If you are hanging on to clothes you wore to prom in 1989 for sentimental reasons that’s fine, just make sure it has a nice spot that’s not causing clutter.) Then organize the hanging clothes by section i.e. sweaters, dresses, blouses, skirts, suits. You can also go short sleeved to long and keep them in color blocks. Drawers can go in groups i.e. underclothing, pj’s, t-shirts, jeans. If your shoes are a problem get some shoe racks so you can see all your shoes and keep them neat. Office: You can make this really quick when you go paperless. But if you aren’t ready for that, grab a stack of manila folders and a sharpie and start organizing your life away. Keep important documents like birth and marriage certificates in an easy to access (but secure!) area. Shred what you don’t really need and file away the rest. Boom. Done in 60-120 minutes depending on the how long your clutter has been allowed to accumulate. For a really deep spring-cleaning, have me out and I will take care of the carpets, furniture, rugs, and windows.
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