Spring Cleaning | Pad Patter 03.25.23

[ArmyGrl]

It's the time of the year to clean up the yard. Remove all the fallen branches from winter. Remove some invasive honeysuckle. Gonna need to mow the yard soon too.

Inside the house, it's time for a deep clean. Shampoo carpets. Wipe down baseboards. Clean the windowsills. Pull the oven out and clean behind it. Wipe the dust from lightbulbs, etc. Our house stays decently tidy and clean. But, I only do a super deep clean about twice a year.

Do you do Spring Cleaning?

If you live in an area with hard water, do you have remedy for removing water spots from glass and faucets?

I've tried a number of off-the-self products, like Lime-a-way. But, I don't feel they work any better than my normal cleaner. It's typically elbow grease that removes the hard water spots. If you have secret for removing hard water stains, do share!

 

[umyesh]

I use elbow grease to remove hard water too. I’ve been scrubbing our upstairs tub this week and it’s exhausting!

I should go do all the stuff you listed above…

 

[amien1]

Do you do Spring Cleaning?
Oh yes- a lot of Spring sorting too- we go through all our closets & take out whatever winter stuff that will be too small by next year or wasn't worn (not likely to wear it next year.) Same with shoes. Insided- I usually do a deep clean during spring break where we wash walls/baseboards and chose a room or closet to organize.

Outside- there's not too much besides fertilizing lawn and getting our little fountain going again. It's still a bit too cold here in the PNW- we got snow yesterday & it is freezing still at night. ALMOST time to spring tidy!

We do a big garage clean out in the spring too- literally take everything out of garage- pressure wash the floor & clean off all shelving.

If you live in an area with hard water, do you have remedy for removing water spots from glass and faucets?
I use this stuff for our water faucets & shower heads- it works great, especially with a sponge & wear gloves- since it'll take off your skin too! For our glass shower doors- one of the best ways to clean spots is with a used dryer sheet that I get wet & scrub the glass (usually after going over with the bioclean.)

 

[HavaDrPepper]

Too early to do outside work and today wouldn't be a good day to even try. Winds up to 50mph at times. I have watched the treetops sway in the wind off and on today. Too bad it isn't blowing the leaves that collected since the December cleanup off of the patio. I'll have to get those off probably in April, maybe May. We have had snow in April the last couple of years so temps are not quite warm enough for me to be out. Don't put furniture out until May. I have a lawn care service that does the fertilizing 4 times a year. They will probably come in the next couple of weeks. My neighbor mows my lawn but it doesn't need it yet. As for the landscaping, I'm having some work done this year so until that is done I'm not going to worry about (not that I would do it anyways with my bad back).

As for the inside, since I did the purge in 2018, there isn't a lot of closets etc to go through. I do need to clean the office real good but I always do it in nice weather so I can go outside and breathe clean air after stirring up all the dust (allergic to house dust). I never got around to washing the inside windows and curtains last summer, will try to do that this summer.

I squeegee the glass shower doors after every shower to keep the water spots away. Have done that since they were installed almost 6 years ago. The cleaning lady cleans the bathroom really good every visit.

I don't have carpet so that's not something to worry about. The floors get mopped when the cleaning lady comes and I use a dust mop or the iRobot in between visits.

 

[dawnmarch]

I try to keep the place clean and I declutter all year so I'm not really a spring cleaner, in particular. I do have a bunch of spring yardwork that I do including pruning my roses way back and other bushes that need chopping. And starting a few things from seeds.

 

[ArmyGrl]

we go through all our closets & take out whatever winter stuff that will be too small by next year or wasn't worn (not likely to wear it next year.)

I'm do for a wardrobe purge too! Thanks for the reminder.

 

[ArmyGrl]

oo bad it isn't blowing the leaves that collected since the December cleanup off of the patio.

This made me giggle as it brought back a memory. This past fall, I used a leaf blower and piled the leafs into one big heap (to pick up with a wheelbarrow the next day). I didn't check the weather however. And the next day a BIG wind storm came through. No idea where my pile went. But it wasn't in my yard anymore.

 

[HavaDrPepper]

This made me giggle as it brought back a memory. This past fall, I used a leaf blower and piled the leafs into one big heap (to pick up with a wheelbarrow the next day). I didn't check the weather however. And the next day a BIG wind storm came through. No idea where my pile went. But it wasn't in my yard anymore.

Yeah, I had the same thing happen last fall. I knew my neighbor was going to mow on the weekend so I worked on Friday to get all the leaves off the patio and into the yard. Some were back on the patio the next morning. Then there was the time in November that he collected the leaves on Wednesday to put by the road for the weekend pickup (he was going out of town on Thursday til Sunday) and we had very high winds on Saturday. The pickup was done on Sunday. I watched the piles of leaves by the road get smaller and smaller on Saturday. I'm sure the neighbors along the road to the east were not happy about all the leaves that came their way! My road is an east-west road and we get winds out of the west 95% of the time. I have one tree but you wouldn't know it because I get the leaves from the "woods" to my west in my neighborhood!

 

[tjscraps]

We need to declutter the inside of the house, but we are a long ways away from doing anything outside - we still have several feet of snow outside.

For the inside we tend to put a ton of things away in the wrong spot over the winter, just being lazy, and I need to go through closets and such and tidy back up. Funny, you'd think that over winter when we're stuck indoors we would want to do that, instead of when we're able to start going outside again, but never seems a priority til spring!

 

[bcgal00]

I only have bushes and trees in the yard out back so not work to maintain those but I consistently sweep the two patios and clean up after the dogs. Hubs mows the lawn but that won't need to be done for another month or two. We'll power wash the outside siding and sidewalks. Windows will need to be done and may hire someone to do them b/c neither of us wants to climb 2 and 3 stories to wash windows. Inside we'll wash windows and sills, and the blinds will need cleaning. We'll wait another month until its warm enough to leave the doors and windows open for the day to shampoo the carpets so they will dry faster.

 

[tiffany scraps]

We need to declutter the inside of the house, but we are a long ways away from doing anything outside - we still have several feet of snow outside.

For the inside we tend to put a ton of things away in the wrong spot over the winter, just being lazy, and I need to go through closets and such and tidy back up. Funny, you'd think that over winter when we're stuck indoors we would want to do that, instead of when we're able to start going outside again, but never seems a priority til spring!

SAME! I really wish we'd learn to put things away correctly as we go. It would make life so much easier

 

[LivyBug]

I'd love to do a deep clean this spring. My lease renewed this month, and when I moved in last year was the last time we got a deep deep clean of everything.

I'd also like to clean up our yard, the flower beds are unmaintained. I'd like to have a cute space in the backyard for seating too to enjoy the spring and summer weather.

I've already done some decluttering of my closet but it could use another run through, as well as the rest of my belongings.

My plan for all of this is to make a list and tackle one or two things a day. I'd love to do it all at once but I don't have the time to do that!

 

[gonewiththewind]

Our home had a deep clean by our new cleaning service in December. She's been coming since then every two weeks, so it's stayed nice and clean.

I generally clean and organize spaces throughout the year. I have to space things out as my back becomes VERY ANGRY if I try to do it all in a weekend (or a week for that matter).

My latest clean out was the cabinet under our kitchen sink. I totally forgot to take my before shot!

 

[ArmyGrl]

My latest clean out was the cabinet under our kitchen sink.

I'm lovin' all the containers!!!!

 

[designbylime]

I'm thinking of it but think I will get my daughter over and do it
Can't you use steam to clean the hard water stain?
I use my steamer for most of the hard stuff.

 

[ArmyGrl]

I'm thinking of it but think I will get my daughter over and do it
Can't you use steam to clean the hard water stain?
I use my steamer for most of the hard stuff.

Hmmm. I am intrigued. I have not heard of steam cleaning windows.

 

[Karen]

I can't believe you almost have to mow the lawn already @ArmyGrl ! Ours hasn't even thought about growing yet. The daffodils and irises are peeking up a few inches now though, so it's coming soon! Our yard is super tiny and my hubby usually does a good job of raking all the leaves in the fall, so we don't have too much yard work in the spring. There are a couple of sticks that fell recently, but that won't take long to pick up.

As for spring cleaning inside, I did some this weekend. I did a HUGE purge in my close and yesterday took two big tubs of clothes and purses to donate. That felt awesome! I also did some cleaning inside including the baseboards which were badly neglected. I'm hosting my book club at my house tonight for the first time inside the house, so I wanted to pretend that I'm a neat and clean person for at least the first time some of them see my house. It's so nice and clean right now and I love it, but it never stays clean. Weird. Lol!

 

[ArmyGrl]

I can't believe you almost have to mow the lawn already

It's mostly the spring onion and weeds....that are already 1/2 foot tall. We keep getting RAIN!!! So I can't mow down the weeds yet. I did get some invasive honeysuckle cut down and poisoned yesterday. Because we live on the midpoint of a hill, the honeysuckle removal will take about three years to complete. Otherwise, we are at risk of removing too much too fast and water washing away the soil in massive amounts. Ticks are out here too - ten of them on me yesterday.

 

[Mrsdudds]

I always have a spring clean. Starting with the house and then moving to the garden.

I spring cleaned my bedroom yesterday, started by pulling everything out from under the bed then hoovered all the floor. Thew out any rubbish, clothes that no good and broken shoes. Then polished and tidied rest of room. Finished with fresh bedding on bed, nothing beats climbing into a freshly made bed.

Next weekend we plan to spring clean garden, jet washing patio, taking rubbish to skip and sorting out our shed.

I also have a pre Christmas clean each year as well.