It’s a long weekend, and while spending time with family at Easter is likely your first priority, it’s also a great time to do some cleaning and organizing.
If you’re like most humans, you’ve put off quite a few chores during the darkest and coldest months of the year, choosing to cocoon on the couch binge-watching TV and eating snacks instead. But now that you’re able to venture outside into the fresh air and feel the sun’s warmth, you’re likely starting to feel the motivation to finally tackle those projects.
If you do somehow find yourself with some free time over the holiday, here are some great tips to help you get a jump on your spring cleaning.
1. Purge your closets
This is the perfect job to do right now since you might already be moving your winter clothes into storage and replacing them with lighter-weight jackets and footwear. It’s a good time to assess what you still need for this spring and summer, and what you no longer want to hang onto.
When sorting clothes and shoes, ask yourself a few questions. Does it still fit? Are you wearing it regularly? Are you still in love with it? Apply these principles while sorting into three piles: keep, donate/sell and discard or toss. Choosing to donate over Easter is a great feel-good project to help you give back to others who may be less fortunate. Once this is done, immediately take your donate pile to a Goodwill or Salvation Army store. If that’s too inconvenient, or you don’t have a car, many of these places will pick up items for you. If you have quality pieces you’d rather sell, locate your nearest consignment store to upcycle.
2. Tidy up the garage
Start this project on a warm, dry day so you can pull everything out onto the driveway. Set aside what you want to get rid of and, just like your closets, organize it into three piles.
Once the garage is empty, use kitty litter, sawdust or cornmeal to soak up any grease or oil. Sweep it up and then use dish detergent, water and a scrub brush to clean any stains. Don’t forget to look up and sweep away the cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling or rafters. When repacking the garage, put the less-used and seasonal items on harder to reach shelves or in stacked, labeled plastic storage containers. Put frequently used items in front and on easy to access shelves or racks.
3. Clean your patio furniture
If you have a deck or patio that you’ve been keeping clear of snow, it’s not too early to set out your patio furniture in order to soak up the warm sunshine.
Whether you store your patio furniture inside, or covered up with a tarp outdoors, your patio furniture will need some spring-cleaning before you use it. Use soapy water and a soft brush or sponge to clean dirt and dust off your metal, wicker, PVC or wooden patio set. If your patio set has removable cushion covers, wash according to the instructions on the tag.
4. Prepare your front and back yards
Since you’re outside cleaning anyway, you might as well start prepping your yard for the fast approaching summer months. Depending on how much lawn is exposed, you can assess any damage and get started on fixing it. If you don’t hire a lawn company to power-rake and fertilize your lawn for you in the spring, you need to do that yourself.
If raking the thatch and debris off your grass is physically difficult for you but you want to save money, it’s possible to rent the tools to make this task easier on your back and hands. Even if you don’t have seasonal allergies, it’s still a good idea to wear a mask to filter out as much dust and mold as possible while you’re working, and use safety goggles to keep it out of your eyes as well.
5. Organize the basement
If it’s still too chilly outside to work on your garage or yard, tackle your basement instead. The same principles of setting up three piles the way you did with your closets and garage still apply here. You’ll be shocked at how much easier it is to organize all your useful items after all the useless “I’ll hang onto it just in case” junk is gone. If you still haven’t used that one weird screw or scrap of wood after ten years, let it go. Just remember, the ultimate goal is to have more stuff in the sell/donate and toss piles than in the keep pile. And keep in mind that Giveaway Weekend is coming up on May 10-11, so getting rid of unwanted stuff couldn’t be easier than setting it out on your curb!
6. Inspect the exterior of your home
In winter, the most time you were spending outside your home was to slalom to your car or shovel your walkways. Now that the snow has mostly melted, it’s the perfect time to walk around your home’s exterior and look for any damage that might have occurred during the coldest months.
Look for signs of damage on your roof like loose or curling shingles, damaged gutters and downspouts, peeling paint on your eaves and soffits, cracks in the stucco and foundation, loose siding, broken basement windows, etc. Now is the best time to start lining up experts to come do the more complicated repairs, like roofing or replacing old windows and doors, before their spring and summer schedules fill up.
7. Brighten your home with paint
You don’t need to paint entire rooms to get the full effect. Touch-ups make a huge difference and can be handled by almost anyone with a steady hand. Touching up all those scrapes and dings on the door frames, window frames and baseboards will immediately make a home look clean and fresh. The same goes with marks on the walls. If they don’t scrub off with TSP, feather some paint over them with a foam brush and it instantly looks like you painted the entire room.
For a really fun job, paint your front door an eye-catching colour for that extra welcoming touch.
8. Liven up your linens
Laundering bed linens regularly is a given, but you also need to remember all the throw pillows on top of the bed. And don’t forget your couch and dining room chairs. If you don’t have removable slipcovers on your larger furniture, use a fabric refresher spray, mist it on, let it dry, and then vacuum, both on top and underneath. Do the same to the decorative pillows you have on your couch, and any throws you’ve been using to get extra cozy. Don’t forget the pet beds, toys and blankets. Wash these with hypo-allergenic detergent and double-rinse if you have pets with sensitive skin.
9. Bring in the spring freshness
To really enhance the freshness of your home, open some windows. If you hang heavy drapes to help insulate your home during the winter, now is the time to switch them out with lighter fabrics. You want to take advantage of every sunbeam!
Seasonal decorating is always fun. Along with brighter textiles, since this weekend is Easter, you could hang a colourful wreath on the front door and add some fresh flowers in vases around the house.
Don’t think of adding store-bought flowers as a waste of money. Instead, think of this as a lovely little reward for all your hard work. Flowers from the grocery store are not only affordable, but remarkably fresh. They’re also incredibly convenient to pick up along with those yummy chocolate bunnies you plan to nibble on while having fun dying eggs for that final flourish to your Easter decor.
And here’s the unexpected perk to all of your hard work: If you’re planning on selling your home this spring, or later in the year, not only will getting some of these jobs out of the way now help prevent that panicked rush to do them after your REALTOR® suggests getting them done, it will also help you get top dollar for your home once it sells.
Have a Happy Easter!