Happy Wednesday everyone!  I thought I’d start this post off with a little fun fact, Saturday is this little ole blog’s birthday!  It’s going to be 2, can you believe it?  I can’t, it’s almost like a third child in that regards.  It’s hard to believe that it was only two years ago that Travis and I made the decision to start planning to move closer to family.  A lot can happen in two years, including writing a post that is similar to one you’ve already posted.  Umm, yeah, well you see, with the anticipation of spring being on many people’s minds, and myself being eager for warmer temperatures, new blooming flowers, and all the wonderful smells that come along with spring, I thought it would be a good time to talk Spring Cleaning.  And I thought it would make a great What Works for You post.

So I started planning this post, and I went back through my archives looking for the post I shared last year with all my spring cleaning checklists, and do you know what I stumbled across?  You guessed it, a WWFY post about Spring Cleaning.  I’ve spent this morning trying to figure out what else to post about, I had nothing else planned.  I thought about tossing in a 5 Random Things post, but that seemed kind of lazy.  Then, just when I was about to throw in the towel, inspiration struck – why not turn last years post into a collection post?  Just click the subtitles or pictures to be taken to the original post, or if it’s one of the printable, just simply click it’s picture to download!

Spring Cleaning or No Spring Cleaning?

What is spring cleaning?  And why do so many of us do it?  Well, this post on the Encyclopedia Britannica Blog has some insight into the answers.  The part that I really liked was the third paragraph where they talk about what the trade-off is for modern living compared to the days before natural gas furnaces and electricity.  Aside from practical means, there are also many cultures where “spring cleaning” has spiritual significance.  Here is a fabulous article from TLC’s How Stuff Works, which explains these so much better than I can.  This article left me feeling as though spring cleaning could have a more meaningful application than simply cleaning the house for cleanliness sake, which appeals to the side of me that always seems to be seeking a “good” reason for doing something.

Last year I took at look at the whys of spring cleaning, not just the what.  Looking into the history and the reasons helped me develop a better understanding of what spring cleaning for me looked like.  I shared a bunch of links in that article to some great blog posts and other sites, if you’re looking for ideas, check it out.  Near the end of the post, I shared two links that sort of follow the belief that if you can spread spring cleaning out through out the year, and if you do that, then you don’t have to set aside time to do a major cleaning in the spring.  So, if you’re thinking spring cleaning isn’t for you, maybe check those out.

Last Year’s Spring Cleaning Plan of Attack

Spring cleaning did not get me excited last year… at all!  It was a torturous month for me where every little job nagged me and dragged me down.  This year, I’m feeling the opposite.  I’m ready to freshen our home and welcome in Spring.  I truly believe that my outlook this year stems from knowing our home better. We’ve been here for a year and half now, instead of just six months.  I know how we use our home through every season, and I know what needs more attention seasonally and what doesn’t.  That being said, I’m taking similar steps to the ones I took last year….

1. I focused solely on cleaning.  For me, this isn’t about organizing or purging, this is purely about tackling seasonal cleaning.
2. I took a look at my Indoor Home Maintenance check list, and made note of all the cleaning tasks I’ve skipped.
3. I added anything extra I could think of that needed to be cleaned.  Like light fixtures.
4. I limited myself to adding only a couple of extra jobs that aren’t really cleaning, but aren’t organizing either.  Like packing away seasonal clothes.
5. I know what I clean and how often, so some things didn’t make sense to include.  Spring cleaning every room from top to bottom just isn’t needed in this house at this time.  Perhaps in the fall I’ll tackle some of the items I didn’t include in this list.
6. I made sure to remind myself that I was working with a schedule (weekdays) a time frame (before the end of April) and a budget (which means I put off having the carpets cleaned for a few more months)

I used my goal setting printable to help me plan out each task day by day.

Spring Cleaning Printables

And lastly, I shared not one, but THREE different Spring Cleaning checklists;

I haven’t made any changes to the check lists, but I did change the file for the master list from a zipped folder to a PDF containing all the pages.

This year, I’m using a combination of the Master List and the One Task at a Time.  I’m eager to see how it works.  Last year, spring cleaning felt like such a chore.  Sure it got done, but I really wish I would have just waited until I was ready for it.  This year I can’t wait to get started!  I want to throw open all my windows and let the sunshine and fresh air clear away the winter blahs, which means I should probably put cleaning the windows at the top of my list.  🙂

What about you?  Are you spring cleaning this year?  Are you skipping it?  Do you have a seasonal routine you follow?  I would love to hear from you!