Spring Cleaning, Decluttering, and Natural Cleaning Sprays
Spring is coming!!
Spring is the season for new beginnings and always brings me a renewed sense of motivation. Maybe it’s because the sun is shining a little bit longer in the day, and we’re making plans for more outdoor fun and maybe even some safe travel?!
Spring is a perfect time to put some love into your home and get some spring cleaning tackled. Spring cleaning is about confronting nature and cleaning away the dust and dirt that may have accumulated in your home over the winter months, while tidying (as Marie Kondo puts it) is confronting yourself and tackling the accumulation of belongings in your home. If you take the opportunity to declutter first, it will be much easier to clean! If you are like most people your cleaning supplies probably need some decluttering as well, so we will start there and discuss how to declutter those cleaning supplies so when you tackle spring cleaning it is much easier.
How to declutter your cleaning supplies
● Gather all of your cleaning supplies together from all over your house to one location
● Take advantage and wipe down inside the cabinets, the shelves, and any other surfaces where these items were stored.
● Sort all the items you took out into categories. Like Laundry, cleaning sprays, soaps, brushes, etc.
● Tackle one category at a time. Keep the items you like and use, donate items that you don’t use anymore, and toss expired items responsibly (check locally on your city’s website for what can be recycled and what needs to be saved for hazardous waste collection).
● Check out https://www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners/ to see your cleaning supplies rating on health and environmental toxins if you are interested. You might be surprised!
● If you have items in boxes or bottles with loud advertisements on them consider replacing their containers to solid or clear ones to make space feel more calming. I love using glass spray bottles like this one for my DIY cleaning solutions as well as decanting laundry powder.
● Put the items back in their new homes in a way that is most functional for you. Try to keep your most frequently used item as the most easily accessible ones.
● Bonus tips: Add baskets or boxes to contain different categories of things. You likely already own some. You can also add labels so everyone in your household knows what is what and what goes where!
● And when you are ready: get a cleaning caddy put together to tackle those big cleaning jobs throughout your home.
Many of my clients end up switching to more nontoxic cleaning supplies or end up making their own. Here is the recipe of my favorite all-purpose cleaner:
If you are not a DIYer, Branch Basics is a great company that sells a concentrate that you dilute to make your own cleaning solutions, which is great because their cleaner is safe, effective, nontoxic, and using a concentrate and reusable spray bottles means a lot fewer plastic bottles being used and produced (which is better for the environment), not to mention they simplified the whole process of cleaning products which I love! I liked their product so much I requested to be an affiliate to provide you with a discount.
Use the code MINIMALISTA for 15% off all Starter Kits, (except the Trial Kit). Check them out here.
If you’re feeling motivated to do some spring organizing and decluttering, but don’t know where to start, I am here for you. I’d love to help you make your home a place you love to be and give you more space to breathe. Contact me for a free consultation.
