It’s warming up in most places, and I feel inspired for a soulful spring cleaning checklist! Spring is in the air. I hope that regardless of where you live, you feel energized and ready for a new season. Even though I live in Houston where we only experience two main seasons (HOT and moderate cool), I still always feel excited for spring and the feeling of regeneration and newness it brings.
Last year I did a major decluttering challenge. Since it became the first time I EVER focused on decluttering… I had a LOT to do.
After buying an Ebook on how to declutter to get myself started, I ended up creating my own process.
Instead of going room-by-room, I went area by area beginning with the areas that motivated me most. I started with clothes, then makeup, then my kitchen. Then I went back to the bedroom and cleaned the top of my dresser, and then the drawers. I eventually decluttered the whole house, with the exception of my husband’s office and the garage (which require much more of his feedback).
In the end, I really enjoyed decluttering and simplifying… It changed my life. And I’m ready for more! I created a soulful spring cleaning checklist and printable planner for getting started.
Want to join me? Keep reading!
P.S. I know the title of this post includes “spring cleaning”, but this planner really works for any time of year.
Spring Cleaning Checklist
My general philosophy on decluttering and simplifying is to work from broad to narrow, and from outside in. So, that’s what I’m doing here…
Step 1: Overall “Sweep”
My first step in a soulful spring cleaning checklist is an overall sweep of the house. An added benefit of starting “wide” is getting oriented with the areas you want to spend the most time on this season.
Start by vacuuming floors. I have all hard surface floors, so consider mopping as well. We keep up with our floors pretty well, but we also have a lot of pets! So during spring when the shed a lot, a little extra sweep does a lot of good.
Next, move to more specific, but large areas. Clean the walls, dust the blinds and wipe down your baseboards. If you have kids…get them to wipe the baseboards.
Step 2: Living Room
Next, aim for another large, main area in the house. I started with the living room. I laundered all the throw pillows and sofa cover.
I also vacuumed the sofa and chair in our living room, and dusted all of the picture and artwork frames.
Lastly, I dusted all of the electronics and cleared any clutter. We have a lot of decor in my living room. My husband loves these small collections, and I try to keep it to an organized chaos.
Step 3: Kitchen
I love my kitchen and cooking every day, so there wasn’t a lot to do here. But, I made sure to go through the refrigerator and pantry and get rid of expired food. There wasn’t much after my big declutter last year!
I wiped down the oven top, all appliances, coffee maker and cabinet doors. (How did food get ALL the way up there??)
Step 4: Bedroom
Next, I cleaned up our bedroom. This is an area of the house I tend to collect junk. My dresser starts collecting items like clean underwear, worn clothes from yesterday, jewelry I took off late last night, etc. You know the drill…
I also washed pillows and our duvet cover, vacuumed the area rug and washed our dog beds.
Step 5: Bathroom
I then moved on to the bathrooms, which mostly needed a bit of clutter clearing and wiping down. Bathrooms are another area in my house that get attention often, so collecting “stuff” is the biggest problem there.
One thing I’m really happy about in my bathroom is how few things we keep on the counter. I used to keep TONS of beauty and cosmetics items on the counter all the time. Makeup, lotion, brushes, hair gel. When I cleaned, I’d put it away for a day, only to take it out again the next time I use it and leave it out.
Minimizing my makeup and cosmetics allowed me to store it and find it easily when I need it. 10/10 would recommend simplifying your beauty routine!
Step 6: Routine
Speaking of routines, I’ll end with this. Remember how I said I like to go from broad to narrow, and from outside to in?
I like to use spring cleaning as an opportunity to assess what could be “cleaned” from my routine.
What am I doing for work that takes a lot of time, and has little results? For example, checking email 10x per day has diminishing returns. Checking it twice a day makes sure I catch everything important in a timely way.
Are you happy with how much TV you watch? If you cut an hour out a week, what could you do instead?
Don’t think *major overhaul* here. Think *small adjustment* you easily commit to.