Stress-Free Spring Cleaning

Allergens abound as the weather warms, and there's never been a better time to clean your house from top to bottom. While cleaning a house may not top your bucket list, it is a wise ritual to reduce seasonal allergy sniffles and launch a bright, sunny, healthy spring. Use these tips to embrace spring cleaning with open arms.

Plan

Break down the daunting task of scrubbing your whole home into manageable chunks that allow you to see success. Create a checklist for each room that outlines what needs to be cleaned, how it should be cleaned, and what the end result should be. For example, here is a plan for a bathroom:

• Remove all towels and linens, including shower curtain, to be washed
• Remove all products and toiletries and dispose of any that are not in regular use or are very old
• Remove all trash and disinfect trash receptacle
• Spray tub, toilet, and sink with multi-purpose cleaner and allow to sit
• Use glass cleaner on all mirrored surfaces
• Dust and polish light fixtures; replace any mismatched or ailing bulbs and check for signs of wear
• Remove exhaust fan grate and clean; replace
• Scrub tub from top down; use bristle brush to deep-clean grout
• Scrub toilet bowl and wipe down toilet exterior with bleach wipes
• Scrub sink and polish metal faucet; dry
• Wipe interiors of cabinets and drawers; replace liners as needed
• Wipe down baseboards with damp cloth
• Scrub floor and wipe dry
• Replace fresh towels and retained products and toiletries

This amount of detail will empower family members to divide and conquer the workload. Remember to clean from the top down—if you polish the coffee table and shampoo the carpet, don’t spoil your hard work by then dusting the ceiling fan.

Motivate

Make a day of your spring cleaning. Clear your schedule of other obligations, fire up an energizing music playlist, and order delivery. Enlist friends and family to make it a social affair with many helping hands. Minimize breaks so you don’t lose momentum, and vary your tasks when you feel your focus fading. Finally, keep your eye on the prize—picture the final product and imagine the satisfaction of a clean, organized, healthy home. Celebrate when you are done with a hot bubble bath in your gleaming tub, a new book in your freshly-organized living room, or a luxurious meal in your sparkling kitchen.

Sustain

Pay it forward to yourself by sustaining your effort daily; you’ll be glad you did so next year. Review your checklist to see what tasks could be added to a daily, weekly, and monthly rotation. Add one new task at a time: this week, introduce a habit of rinsing dishes and placing them inside the dishwasher rather than setting them in the sink. Next week, purchase a daily shower spray to add to your routine, preventing soap scum build-up. Incremental steps like these can reduce your spring cleaning obligation in the future and contribute to an overall healthier home environment.

Benefit

Cleaning will also benefit your allergies and mood. Spring pollen can cause hay fever, but you don’t have to suffer double by also dealing with pet and dust allergies indoors. By keeping your house clean and de-cluttered, your sinuses can get a break from the offenders outside and take a breather—literally!

It’s no surprise that less clutter means less trapped allergens and happier sinuses, but having less clutter can boost your mood and mind, too! Reducing and organizing your belongings can increase your productivity by improving your ability to focus and process information. According to a UCLA study, physical clutter causes stress and sensory overload while inhibiting creativity.

Don’t limit yourself to cleaning in the spring season, however. Use spring cleaning as a time to jumpstart a new, healthy habit that will benefit your body, mind, and mood year round!