Cleaning the house may not be at the top of your to-do list , however, it can help reduce seasonal allergies as the weather warms. Keeping your house clean and decluttered means fewer trapped allergens and easier breathing. It can also boost your mood! According to a UCLA study, physical clutter can cause stress and sensory overload.

Here are some ways to tackle clutter and manage spring cleaning tasks that can result in a healthier you.

Have a Plan

Break down the task of cleaning your home into manageable chunks. Create a checklist for each room that outlines what needs to be cleaned, and how it should be cleaned.

Here is an example plan for a bathroom:

  • Remove and wash all towels, linens, and shower curtains
  • Dispose of all products and toiletries that are no longer used or outdated
  • Remove trash and disinfect the trash can
  • Spray tub, toilet, and sink with multi-purpose cleaner and allow to sit
  • Clean glass and mirrored surfaces
  • Dust and polish light fixtures; replace any mismatched or ailing bulbs and check for signs of wear
  • Clean exhaust fan grates
  • Scrub tub using a 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 a damp cloth
  • Scrub floor and wipe dry
  • Replace towels and toiletries

Remember to clean from the top down—if you polish the coffee table and shampoo the carpet, don’t ruin your hard work by dusting the ceiling fan last

Motivate Yourself

Make it fun! Fire up the music and order takeout. Recruit family and friends who to help, and minimize breaks so you don’t lose momentum. And finally, keep your eye on the prize—picture the final product and imagine the satisfaction of a clean, organized, and allergy-free home.

Sustain Your Habits

Sustain your cleaning habits. Review checklists and determine what tasks can be added daily, weekly, and monthly. Introduce new habits such as rinsing dishes and placing them inside the dishwasher rather than leaving them in the sink. These small changes to your cleaning habits can help reduce the amount of time it takes to deep clean your home which leads to a healthier environment.

Use spring cleaning as a jumpstart to forming new healthy habits that will benefit your mind, body, and mood, year-round!


Articles by tag

2020 2021-top-workplace 4th-of-July ACLS AED air-purification allentown Allergies Announcement Antibiotics anxiety Aspen Hill coming soon Asthma award awards back-to-school baltimore baltimore-child baltimore's-child baltimore-sun beach bedside-manner bel-air Best of Best urgent care best-for-families Bestof best-of best-of-2019 Best-of-2020 best-of-award best-of-awards bestofcountytimes Best-of-Jewish-times-winner Best-Urgent-Care Best-urgent-Care-Bowie-Blade-News best-workplace bethlehem Biking Black-Friday blog Blood-Donation BLS Blueberries Camping capital-gazette careers Cholesterol Circadian-Rhythm Cold cold-prevention colon-cancer concussion coronavirus covid-19 COVID-19-Test CPR cramp-prevention Dehydration dental-health Depression Dermatitis diabetes drowning Drug Screening Dry-Skin eastern-pa easton Eating-Disorder employees employment Ergonomics E-Scooter exercise eye-health face-mask Fall fall-sports Farmer's-Market First-Aid Fitness Flu flu-season flu-shots food-storage food-swaps football For Men For Parents For Women for-moms for-parents fredericksburg Gastrointestinal General Generation-X-Health Gift-Ideas Goals Halloween hand-foot-and-mouth Hand-Washing Hanukkah harrisburg headache Head-Lice Health Healthcare health-history health-symptoms Healthy Living healthy-eating healthy-living healthy-swaps Heart Heart-Disease Heart-Health Heat Heat-Exhaustion heat-safety hiking Holiday holidays horizonBCBS horizon-blue-shield Hydration Illness Inclusivity Inclusivity & Accessibility inclusivity-&-accessability injury-prevention Insect-Stings insurance jetlag jobs Kidney Kwanzaa Laughter lehigh-valley life-support-class Lightning maryland Mask meal-prep mechanicsburg medical-records melanoma memory-retention Men's-Health mental-health Migrane millennial Millennials Mood Improvement Movember MRSA new jersey new-center new-jersey new-year New-Year's northern-va northern-virginia nova Now open in Annandale Nutrition Occupational Health ocean-safety osteoporosis outdoors Paddle-Sports PALS Parenting Parenting-Tips parent-tips patient-first pennsylvania pets physicals poison-ivy poison-prevention Power-Outage Pregnancy probiotics Productivity Protein recipe Recipes registration resolutions richmond River Running Safety Safety Tips safety-tips Seasonal-Affective-Disorder shin-splings Sickness-Prevention simply-the-best skin sleep Smoke-Detector Smoking Snow soccer sore-throat south-jersey Sports Sports-Physicals spring-cleaning St.-Patrick's-Day Stitches strep Strep-Throat stress stress-managment Stroke summer summer-sports Sunburn Sunglasses Sun-Safety sunscreen Swimmer's-Ear swimming TBI Teal-Pumpkin Teething Thyroid tick tips-for-parents top-physicians top-workplace Travel traveling-tips travel-tips Travel-Vaccines urgent-care Urinary-health vacation vaccinations vaccines Valentine's-Day Valentines-Day Video Vitamin-D volunteering Walking washington-dc washington-post washington-post-2019 Water-Sports Weight-Lifting Wellness Winter Workouts Yard-Work Yearly-Physical