Top tips for a deep spring clean

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Whenever the weather gets warmer and the daylight lengthens, our thoughts turn to a deep spring clean. But you don’t need to wait until Spring to get cracking on a big tidy up and declutter project, and we can help you every step of the way. We’ll provide you with some hints of what products to assemble, what order to complete the tasks, room by room and, most importantly, once you’ve put in all the effort, how to keep your home as shiny as a new pin!

How to spring clean

Let’s start with the basics. These are tried and tested ways to make what can seem like a daunting task more manageable.

It’s best to work from the top down. This means from the bedrooms down to the kitchen if you live in a house, or from the ceiling of a room to its flooring. The reason is so you can get rid of any dust or dirt you may find, and you don’t have to keep moving furniture over.
It’s also a good idea to gather up all your cleaning products and equipment before you get started. And we’d suggest playing your favourite music while you work, so it’s a more pleasurable experience. Then fling open the windows in each room to allow the fresh air in, and crack on.
Don’t take on too much in one go. Allow yourself plenty of time to have a thorough declutter, and remember to do all the sentimental things last – like reorganising your photos, or throwing out children’s clothes or toys. This can often take longer than something less emotional like vacuuming behind the fridge! You may want to leave tasks like this until you’re in the right frame of mind.
If you find it hard to get motivated, set yourself an alarm – for instance, work for 20 minutes, then see if you can do more. It’s likely you’ll be in the zone by then and you’ll want to continue. Or provide yourself with an incentive – a coffee break, an episode of your favourite box set if you finish the kids’ bedrooms – or a reward at the end of the day for all your good work.

Spring cleaning checklist

Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to begin. To help you, we’ve compiled a handy guide to jobs that you might not first think of week by week. If you manage to tick off most of these on the list, you’ll be achieving great things!

Spring cleaning checklist: bedrooms

Remember, a deep spring clean only needs to be done once or twice a year at most. It’s normally a good idea to plan to do it when the seasons change from cold to warm weather or vice versa.

Clean, then put away winter clothes, bedding, shoes or boots
Wash and wipe down windowsills and windows
Take down curtains, wash or dry clean them if appropriate
Dust tops of picture rails, dado rails or skirting boards
Wipe tops of wardrobes
Wipe down all lampshades
Clean walls if needed, not forgetting light switches
Clean mirrors
Vacuum bed and turn mattress if possible
Declutter and clean all surfaces, including your bedside cabinet
Move furniture slightly if it’s creating dent marks on your flooring. We’d suggest you read through our easy to follow guide on how to lift your carpet pile which explains how to fluff up a flattened carpet and make it look as good as new.
Empty out all cupboards, wardrobes and drawers, and make three piles: donate, keep, mend. Your charity shop will thank you, and it'll make it much more easier for you when it comes to looking at space-saving storage ideas.

Spring cleaning checklist: Bathrooms and shower rooms

These are extra seasonal jobs to add to your usual weekly routine of disinfecting and polishing. As bathrooms are often a place where clutter can gather, it makes sense to keep the place where you get clean, as hygienic as possible.

Wipe down all walls and surfaces
Tackle any mould or darkened grout with a specialist product or a solution of bleach and water
Clean around the back of the loo or any exposed areas
Disinfect loo brush and holder
Throw away any old or expired medicines or cosmetics
Ensure your cabinets are clean on the inside and out
Do an audit on bathmats, towels and, if necessary, donate or recycle any you don’t need any more
Check your flooring. Is it hard-wearing and easy to clean? Is it water-resistant and copes with all the spills and splashes you can expect in a bathroom? If the answer is no to any of those questions, then perhaps it’s time to think about replacing it with some laminate. As well as being a stylish addition to your bathroom, laminate needs minimal effort to keep it looking its best. It’s specially engineered to resist water for up to 72 hours and even works with underfloor heating.

Spring cleaning checklist: living/dining rooms

Once you’ve tackled sleeping and washing areas, it’s time to move onto the spaces where you spend your days and evenings. This is a good route to follow:

Work your way down from the ceiling to the floor as we’ve said before, taking care to vacuum or wipe down lampshades, wall art, framed photos.
Wash or vacuum curtains and nets if necessary, and clean blinds
Wipe down skirting boards and all walls, including light switches
Dust surfaces. Remove books and ornaments from shelves and give them a good clean, too.
Declutter! Do you need everything that’s ended up in your living room? Again, fill a bag to take to the charity shop or local recycling centre
Wash throws, blankets, cushions on your sofa if appropriate
Disinfect your remote controls
Vacuum carpets and check for stains. You may’ve noticed now the rest of the room is all sparkling clean, your flooring looks like it’s better days. So it may be time to tackle any marks, and our carpet cleaning care guide can show you how to remove everything from wine, blood, tea or even a small cigarette burn.

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Spring cleaning checklist: kitchen

And finally, here are our spring cleaning tips for the busiest room in most homes. Aside from the usual tidying up you probably do every week, we’d suggest you tackle the following once every six months:

Sanitise cutting boards
Sharpen large knives
Descale kettle if you live in a hard water area
Get the crumbs out of the toaster
Defrost the fridge and freezer if necessary, taking an audit of what food you have, and mark up everything you’re keeping with dates
Clean behind all units if possible
Declutter all drawers and recycle or donate unwanted items
Clean your extractor hood, oven and hob. If you have the money, you may want to outsource this job! Oven cleaning can be a messy, smelly business, so it’s best to choose a day when you can open windows and spend some hours on getting it pristine again.
Wash floors and check their condition. The kitchen is usually the heart of the home and plenty of people use it as their dining space, homework area, and hang out too. So you need a flooring that’s tough, durable, and comfortable underfoot. We’d recommend luxury vinyl tiles in your kitchen or utility. They look sensational and come in plain plank-style wood effects, or classy herringbone patterns. But instead of all the problems that old-fashioned wood floors have with moisture or staining, LVT is slip and water resistant and easy to keep clean.

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Make your own spring cleaning products

In order to save money and be a little kinder to the planet, put the bleach and the heavily processed cleaners down and why not go back to more natural ingredients? These tend to be readily available, non-toxic and can work just as well as commercial products. We’re talking bicarbonate of soda to deodorise and remain stains; vinegar and lemon juice to cut grease and remove perspiration stains from clothing; cornflour to clean windows; and what your granny might have called ‘elbow grease’ – working hard doing the cleaning yourself! – plus hot water and soap!

We hope we’ve encouraged you to embark on a deep spring clean. If you need further advice on what would new carpets, vinyls, engineered wood or laminates would best in your own home, our friendly and expert floorologists in every store will be delighted to give you free advice. You’ll also find our brilliant Ideas Hub is full of insights and inspiration on organising different rooms in the house, including our guides on planning a walk-in wardrobe, tips on maximising the space in your wardrobe, and tips for wallpapering!

Post author

Claire Murphy Copywriter Former lifestyle journalist, keen amateur upcycler, full of value for money ideas

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Published: 23-03-2023