6 Spring Cleaning Tasks To Tackle

Has anyone else been overly in the mood to clean? While that statement probably only applies to myself and Monica Geller, if there is ever a time to feel the urge to clean it is Spring. Before heading home last week I accomplished what tends to be for me the biggest spring-cleaning undertaking, switching my closet for the appropriate season. Fortunately, not all spring cleaning tasks can seem quite as time consuming as that. Once I did tackle that chore, I was motivated to take the spring cleaning mentality to other areas of my apartment. I thought it would be fun to share some tasks (both big and small) that you can do in your own space to freshen things up for the new season. Many of these tasks are still on my to-do list to accomplish but I’m telling myself that that is ok since Spring has only just begun.

Closet

This was the first task I tackled since I knew I wanted to get my winter clothes into my closet at home and in order to do that I would have to clean out my closet before heading home for Spring Break. It’s amazing what a deadline can do for motivation. One day maybe I’ll have a closet big enough for all season of clothes in one place (one serious luxury of my closet at my parent’s house), but for now in order to fit everything I have to rotate my clothes by season. I shared a post about how I did that in the fall that could prove to be helpful for any of y’all in the same boat. The best tip for doing this is to take everything out first. Your room will look a whole lot worse before it gets better, but by doing this I do a much better job of evaluating all of the clothes I have and determining whether or not a piece is worth keeping.

When spring cleaning your closet, definitely work to make some piles of clothes that are taking up space without being worn. I separated my items into a pile to consign and a pile to give away. My friends love when I take the time to clean out my closet since I give them first dibs of the pile I’m giving away. Just because I am not wearing it doesn’t mean that someone else won’t get use out of it. The trickiest part about the pile to consign is determining whether or not I can take the items now or if I’ll need to wait until the proper season. Most consignment stores only want pieces for the relevant season so if you can hold off on saving the pieces it may be worthwhile to get some cash for those nicer pieces you own but no longer wear.

When I had finally finished switching my closet over to spring and summer a couple of weeks ago the sliding door ended up popping off of the hinges so I was especially glad everything was neatly organized since I had to wait for that to be repaired. You win some, you lose some I suppose.  

Bathroom

Two places come to mind when it comes to spring cleaning my bathroom; under the sink and my shelves. I’m good about regularly cleaning my space (aka windexing the mirror, cleaning the toilet, and scrubbing the shower) but my shelves and space under the sink are often overlooked and in turn pretty disorganized. My bathroom has very limited space, so if it looks disorganized it can seem especially small.

Let’s start with the shelves. I ordered these awesome acrylic shelves right after moving into my apartment since aside from the little counter space and storage underneath the sink I knew I’d need to have a way to access regularly used products. With blogging comes the opportunity to try a number of different products and frequently those products are makeup or skincare. Without these shelves, I’m not sure where I would put it all. In order to clean these shelves a bit I started by taking all of the products off (a blank slate seems to be the trend when I clean), dusting them, and then taking a Lysol wipe to them. Now that the shelf itself is clean, rearranging the products so that what I use most is within reach makes a big difference. If you have a limited amount of space in your bathroom and need something that is practical but doesn’t take up too much visual space I can’t recommend theseacrylic shelves enough.

Under the sink was a much larger undertaking. Again, I started by taking everything out (which left nowhere for me to move in my bathroom (yep, it’s that little). I have been using two small storage containers to separate cleaning supplies and other products. Overtime I had become a lot lazier with keeping things in their proper place. With a trash bag next to me, I was able to get rid of a number of things that I wasn’t using or were old while sorting the items into their proper container. It was amazing how much space was cleared under my sink now that everything was in its proper bin instead of just sitting on the shelf.

Phone Photos & Social Media & Emails

A frequently overlooked item when it comes to cleaning is your phone, but in my opinion, it may be the “space” that needs to be cleaned the most. Yes, definitely take a wipe to it to get the germs off, but don’t overlook cleaning out different apps on your phone. For me, that means deleting random screenshots and photos, unfollowing accounts that I no longer really care to look at on social media, and unsubscribing to emails that are cluttering my inbox. If it’s been a while since you’ve tackled cleaning up these different areas it may be time consuming at first, but as you remember to clean these areas up every couple of months it will become a bit easier. Take it from me, I hadn’t put any of my photos from my old phone onto my computer until right before getting a new phone and I DEFINITELY should’ve been doing this over time. I’ve learned my lesson and won’t neglect spring cleaning (or cleaning in general) of my phone again.

Bedside Tables

When I was deciding on nightstands for my apartment I knew I needed one that had storage of some sort. Unfortunately, the top drawer of my nightstand has become a bit of a catchall and junk drawer. While it does hold the books I’m reading and various items of that nature, it is also home to some batteries, a remote control, and small items that I don’t really have a dedicated place for but know I need to save. This may be one of the quickest things you can clean and since it may be a location you use frequently you’ll feel especially good about tidying it up.

Purse

I kind of doubt that there are any guys reading this but if so, feel free to skip right along (unless you want to apply this to your briefcase or work bag). This is another quick place to clean that gives you nearly immediate satisfaction. I am sure I am not the only one who leaves gum wrappers and receipts in their bag after using it. Emptying the contents and getting rid of anything you may not need in your current bag shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes and maybe it will give you some motivation to tackle another area of spring cleaning too.

Car

Before a trip I try to take the time to clean out my car and give it a little TLC. It’s amazing what a good vacuum and wash will do but what about the dust building up? I have started to keep Lysol wipes in my car to clean the dashboard of any dust but also like to make sure that I have those and napkins on hand for any unforeseen spills or messes. I also do my best to clean out any trash every time I get gas and try to make sure that anything I take to my car (tote bags, lunchboxes, coffee mugs, etc) comes out that same day. When I’m tired after work an extra trip to my car to retrieve these things can be the last thing I want to do but it’s worth it in the morning when I can get into a neat and clean car.

Are you motivated to clean yet, or are you exhausted just thinking about it? Let me know how you’re starting the process of spring cleaning in your own space.