Spring cleaning: The ultimate checklist

Every year, the time comes for you to do your annual spring clean. It’s the perfect opportunity to refresh your home after the winter and transform it into a fresh, relaxing paradise.

Knowing the best way to spring clean your house, along with where to start, can be daunting. That’s why our experts have compiled the ultimate spring cleaning checklist, along with some handy storage tips, to help your home look immaculate heading into summer.

If you’ve something planned during March, April or May, and need to create extra space, explore our short-term storage plans, as they’re completely tailored to suit your unique requirements.

Simple spring cleaning checklist

What is a spring clean?

A spring clean is just another name for a ‘deep clean’ of your house, but traditionally, because the weather gets warmer during the spring months, it means that windows and doors can be opened, while you’re cleaning, to let in much needed spring air.

These breezes blow away the cobwebs, dust, and everything else to make your home much fresher.

Things you need for a spring clean

Before taking a look at our house cleaning checklist, there’s several products you’ll need to have so you can carry out a successful spring clean. These include:

  • Extendable duster
  • A powerful vacuum cleaner
  • Rubber gloves
  • Microfibre cloths
  • Multi-surface cleaner
  • Bin bags
  • Dish detergent
  • A mop and bucket
  • Disinfecting spray
  • Scented room spray, candles, or incense
  • Scrubbing sponges
  • Bicarbonate of soda
  • Polish
  • Lemon juice
  • Vinegar

Because a thorough spring clean can take several days, we advise blocking out a weekend to carry out this yearly task.

1. The kitchen

Tidy your cupboards and drawers

Constantly stocking up our food supplies means that we sometimes keep out-of-date food or empty packets without realising. Empty out all your cupboards, your pantry, and your drawers to see if there’s anything you can recycle or throw away.

Once all your cans and packets are sorted, you can start to clean away any stains or crumbs with your microfibre cloths. Once done, put your newly organised food back into your cupboards, making sure to use disinfectant spray to clean away any germs or dirt.

A good spring cleaning tip is to put any opened food packets into plastic storage boxes, as these will keep your foods fresh, and create more space in your pantry.

Cleaning your oven

Your oven is often the most difficult kitchen appliance to clean, but there are ways to make it much easier. Mix bicarbonate of soda with water, then put it directly onto the glass; leave it for around 20 minutes and then simply wipe off the solution, removing the grease and dirt in tow.

Tackling your fridge and freezer

Two appliances that need TLC as part of your spring clean are your fridge and freezer. Deep clean the inside of your fridge and wash the outside with multi-surface cleaner. Putting slices of lemon onto a plate inside your fridge is an effective spring cleaning idea that’ll help remove any unpleasant odours.

When it comes to your freezer, clean the inside and outside as much as you can, and also see how much ice has built up inside. If there’s a lot, your freezer may need defrosting by turning it off at the mains and transferring any frozen food you have to another freezer, so the built up ice can melt.

Defrosting your freezer takes several hours, so it’s good to start this in the morning and keep checking on the ice levels throughout the day. The last thing you want is your kitchen floor covered in water!

Once your freezer has defrosted, it can be turned on again and your food put back.

2. The living room

Dust and polish your ornaments

To start with, grab a duster and start cleaning away any dust from frames, mirrors, or decorative items. If your ornaments are looking a bit dull, gently use a microfibre cloth, and a little bit of polish, to make them sparkle.

Don’t forget any books you’ve got stored on bookshelves or in your living room too; they need to be cleaned to stop sunlight and dust damaging the pages.

Clean your sofa and around furniture

Many of us often vacuum and dust our settees regularly. However, as part of your spring clean, take off all your cushions and vacuum the sofa frame itself. Make sure to put your cushion covers in the washing machine, to get everything nice and fresh.

Also ensure you move any other furniture you’ve got in your living room away from the walls or its usual spot, so you can clean and vacuum around those areas too.

Freshen up your carpet

Spring is the perfect time for cleaning your carpet. When you’ve moved your couches and furniture, if you notice any unsightly stains, wash these away with a carpet cleaner solution to freshen it up.

After cleaning away any stains, give your carpet a thorough vacuum and hoover up any dirt, crumbs, or pet hair. Plus, as we mentioned earlier, having your windows and doors open lets the dust naturally travel from your carpet into the atmosphere for an all-round clean.

3. The bedroom

Clean your bedding

Cleaning your bedding is a crucial factor in getting a good night’s sleep. So, remove all your bedding, sheets, blankets, and pillowcases, and put them in the washing machine. Wash and dry them thoroughly, so you can be sure of a peaceful snooze.

As an added touch, why not light a candle to help you relax on your way to the land of nod.

Flipping your mattress

The next part of your spring cleaning list is flipping the mattress. Turning it over keeps it clean, along with helping to distribute the comfort fillings evenly, which stops you getting a bad back while snoozing.

Whenever you’re moving a double or king-size mattress around your home or into storage, it’s good to get someone to help you due to them being bulky and heavy.

Cleaning under your bed

After you’ve removed your bedding and flipped your mattress, take a look under your bed. If you can, vacuum underneath your bedframe and throw away or recycle anything you don’t need.

Tidy your wardrobe

As the weather starts to get warmer, your spring clean is the best time to rearrange your wardrobe. You can store away any clothes you don’t need into a storage unit, or sort them neatly into containers at home, so you’re ready to refill your closet with your spring outfits.

4. The bathroom

Clean your bath and shower

When you get into your bathroom, the first thing to do is disinfect your bath and shower. It’s common to notice mould while cleaning them, so don’t worry. Humidity causes it to appear, but it can be easily removed by mixing vinegar and baking soda into a cleaning solution.

It’s also good to check your plughole doesn’t look rusty. If it does, give it a thorough clean with solution made from lemon juice and baking soda, then wash away with warm water and a scrubbing sponge.

Wash your bathroom mirrors

Your bathroom mirrors will need a good clean after they’ve been hit with so much steam, soap, and water. Use your trusty lemon juice along with dish detergent and vinegar, to wipe down your mirrors, and make them look as good as new.

Clean your shower curtains and bathmats

Much like your bedclothes, get together any bathmats in your bathroom and put them in the washing machine for a thorough clean.

As well as your bath and shower, mould can appear on your shower curtain. Also giving it a wash in your washing machine will help clear the mould and leave it looking brand new.

5. Extra spring cleaning tips

The best way to clean all your windows

Nearly all rooms have windows, so make washing them part of your spring cleaning routine too. All you need is a bucket, a cloth, some warm water and dish detergent to get them all sparkling.

Plus, a spring cleaning tip of old; get some newspapers and rub them against your dry windows; the ink helps make your windows even shinier.

Test your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

It’s vital to check that your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors work throughout the year. Make checking them part of your house spring cleaning ritual, to keep everyone safe.

Top up your first aid kits

With the warmer weather soon arriving, it’s inevitable that there will be more grazes and accidents taking place outdoors. To make sure you’re prepared for anything that might happen, take a look at your first aid kit, and top it up with any plasters, bandages or other items you may need.

Carrying out everything as part of our spring cleaning checklist ensures you’ll have a clean and happy home for the rest of the year. If while you’re spring cleaning you come across the kids Lego®, there’s lots of fun storage ideas that’ll keep it safe and tidy around your house.