With Spring quickly approaching so are those warmer months of spending time outdoors, traveling, and staycations; making it the perfect time to get ahead of your spring cleaning. Winter storms, muddy boots, playful pets, and all the muck that the winter months tend to bring indoors make spring cleaning in February a great way to get organized as well as possibly cash in on some end of season wear and equipment deals; before your active summer plans begin. Here are some ideas and tips for spring cleaning to get you off to a great start.
Winter Wear
Winter wear takes a beating with rain, sleet, mud, and repetitive wear. Doing a complete inventory of what you have and what has seen its last winter will allow you to have a better understanding of what items need repairs, which items are unsavable, and what may be missing from your collection.
- Hats, Caps, and Gloves – These vital purveyors of warmth and toasty-ness, are also experts escape artist leaving you searching high and low for a hat or gloves mate at the most inopportune moment. Pull out all of your hats, gloves, and caps give them a deep clean, match them up with their mates and other accessories, and then stash them in your coat pockets and glove box for the next time you need them. Keep a handy plastic or decorative storage bin next to the doors of entry full of extras for those times that guests are caught off guard by the weather or to replace items that are lost during use.
- Coats, Windbreakers, and Jackets – Give outerwear a good once over inspecting seams, zippers, snaps, and buttons repairing those items that need repairs. Check that everything still fits after a winter of hibernation comfort eating and donate those items you can no longer wear and don’t foresee getting back into by next winter.
Now that you know what you have and what you need to replace, you can keep an eye out for them when the end of season sales saving you money and leaving you prepared for the next year’s season.
Floors and Carpets
One of the hardest places in the home to keep clean during the winter are floors. It’s important to do a deep clean of all tiles, grout, wood, linoleum and carpeted floors at least every spring.
- Wood Floors – Following your floor manufacturer’s recommendations, thoroughly clean and polish all wood surfaces and trim dusting corners, under counters, and beneath the furniture. This will not only make your home look cleaner it will increase the longevity of your flooring.
- Tile Floors – Using a 1/3 mixture of bleach to water mop tile and scrub grout lines. Follow-up with a comprehensive rinse using a steam mop to remove all residue and kill bacteria, allergens, and mold spores.
- Carpeted Floors – Thoroughly vacuum up all pet hair, dust, and leftover crumbs, then steam clean all carpets remembering to move coffee tables, chairs, and other furniture that is difficult to get close to during your regular cleanings. This is important for anyone who suffers from hay fever or allergies because it minimizes the amount of dust and allergen accumulation prior to hay fever season commencing.
Once you have your floors and carpets sparkling clean, use throw rugs and runners in high traffic areas to make regular clean up easy, by simply placing them into the washer when they get dirty or need a touch-up. Now that you’re ready for spring and summer to commence don’t forget to give Browning Park Mini Storage a call to store your prepared winter tubs and gear once the heat finally appears.