Four Ways to Start Your Spring Cleaning Early

Spring is a time of new life. Trees sprout new leaves, flowers grow, and the world seems to refresh itself. Spring can inspire a new sense of purpose, so it’s natural for people to clean up their homes during this part of the year.

We call this “spring cleaning,” but that doesn’t mean you have to do it during the spring. If you’re looking around your home and thinking it could use a good sprucing up, why not start early?

These tips will give you a head-start on spring cleaning:

Clearing Clothes

In the dead of winter, you’ll need your warm clothes. However, when spring arrives, those clothes can end up just hanging in your closet. Winter is a good time to sort your clothes by season.

When the weather warms up and you no longer need warm clothes, consider putting them in self storage until winter is about to roll around again. When winter comes back, you can put your summer clothes, like tank tops, shorts, and skirts, in storage instead.

The Post-Christmas Toy Shuffle

Children eventually outgrow not only their clothes, but their toys, too.

A month or so after Christmas, have them pick three or four of their old toys to donate. This may be difficult for your kids at first. Don’t force them to give away things they still play with. The point is to clear out things they don’t. It will also help teach them generosity and gratitude for their new toys.

You can do this for your own things as well. If you’ve gotten some new jeans for Christmas, you may want to recycle your old, fading jeans. If you got some new books, and are running out of shelf space, you may want to donate books you read years ago.

Clean a Little Every Day

Typically, spring cleaning can take days of concentrated effort, so an advantage to starting early is that you can do just a little extra cleaning every day, and have it all done, by the time spring comes.

After you take care of any cleaning you do daily, like taking out the garbage, doing the dishes, or sweeping, do a little more. Spend 15 to 30 minutes on your wardrobe. Go through that pile of magazines and decide what you can donate or recycle. Go through your closets, garage, attic, or basement. You may have things there you no longer need that you can sell or recycle. If you do find things that you need part of the year, put them in self storage.

If you find this work tedious, we understand! Put on some music, a podcast you enjoy, or an audio book.

Gather Your Supplies

Would you still rather do all your spring cleaning when spring comes around? You can still get started early by gathering supplies for cleaning and organization. If you plan to put items in storage, get some plastic bins. Matching bins often stack inside each other, and you can set their lids on top. Make sure you have bags for your vacuum cleaner, window cleaner for your windows and mirrors, and a duster for your shelves.

We hope these suggestions help make your spring cleaning a breeze this year, whenever you choose to handle it.