It’s time for every Marie Kondo fan’s favorite event of the year—spring cleaning. It’s the season where people everywhere clean out cluttered closets, scour dirty grout, eliminate dust, and bring order and tidiness to their homes. As you embark on your cleaning crusade, don’t forget these commonly ignored areas of your home. We’ve compiled one cleaning task in each room that can be easy to overlook but is essential for a squeaky clean house or apartment.
Living Room
Your throw blankets. If these days they’re more like “throw-away” blankets, it’s time to give them a thorough wash. Make sure to follow any instructions to preserve delicate or temperamental fabrics. If a throw is just too far gone, consider repurposing it as a pet car seat cover to keep hair from taking over your vehicle.
Dining Room
Your fancy chandelier. If you let it go too long, dust and cobwebs can accumulate in the curves and crevices of your light fixtures. Use a cloth to dislodge any dust and dirt and polish your chandelier back to its original glory. While you’re at it, give the light switch a disinfecting wipe-down. You’d be surprised how dingy switches can get over time.
Bedrooms
Your mattresses. Through regular use, mattresses can accumulate sweat stains, bacteria, old skin cells, and other cringy things. That’s why properly cleaning your mattresses must be on your to-do list. According to Apartment Therapy, the best way to refresh your bed is to follow this five-step process:
- Run a vacuum cleaner over it to remove visible debris.
- Tackle noticeable stains.
- Use baking soda to remove odors.
- Give it some fresh air to remove bacteria.
- Keep it covered as a preventative measure for the future.
Offices
Your paper overflow. Ideally, you should be doing this more than once a year, but it’s not uncommon to have a backup of paid bills, bank statements, ads, magazines, and so on. Toss anything unnecessary, and keep the important items in an organized filing cabinet. Better yet, scan critical documents and file them digitally.
Bathrooms
The shower curtain. It’s not difficult to do, but it is easy to forget about. Stop ignoring the unsightly mildew patches on your shower curtain and get rid of them with a quick wash. Yes, you can put plastic curtains in the washing machine. According to HGTV, the best way to do this is to run them through the laundry along with two towels, adding half a cup of baking soda in the wash cycle and another half a cup of vinegar in the rinse portion.
Kitchen
The appliances—all of them. That means your refrigerator (How long has that been in there?), dishwasher (Yes, the thing that washes your dishes needs washing too.), and—this is big—coffee maker. If it grosses you out to imagine the buildup that could be lurking inside your Mr. Coffee, run the brew cycle with white vinegar, followed by several brew cycles of pure water. Your house may smell odd for a bit, but you’ll be grateful for the taste of fresher coffee.
Whole House
The walls and trim in every room. If you’re struggling to remember when you cleaned these areas, it’s clearly time to give them a refresh. Baseboards and walls can get scuffed and scraped, and your spring cleaning should include a thorough removal of any marks. For extra credit, repaint your baseboards and crown molding. You’ll be surprised how better it can make your home look!
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Have you been neglecting one or more of the things mentioned in this article? If so, add them to your cleaning checklist and get closer to achieving a spotless, orderly home.
