While many of us are taking to Netflix and reading our way through lots of books, this extra time is a great chance to give the forgotten areas of your home a little spring clean. But where should you start?
There are lots of areas of your home you may have overlooked during your weekly clean. To make sure you’ve got it covered, avoid heading straight towards the larger areas of your home, like the kitchen and bathroom straight away.
As leading therapist Sally Baker says, “Don’t set yourself a job of cleaning the whole kitchen as that can easily trigger you to feel overwhelmed. Ideally break domestic tasks down into incremental, manageable steps.”
Instead, start with the areas of your home that you don’t normally clean. Sally advises, “As you clean each part acknowledge the difference you have made and how much you have achieved.”
So, where should you start with your spring cleaning?
Cleaning houseplants
If your houseplants have managed to stay alive throughout the winter, then you probably know what great benefits they give both you and your living space. Not only do they improve the air quality in your home but have been proven to uplift your mood with their forest colours and vibrant flowers.
However, houseplants also harbour a whole lot of dust. So give them a 30 second low power shower or gently give them a once-over with your hairdryer on a low heat to get ride of unwanted dust.
Cleaning throw pillows
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Often forgotten about because we don’t sleep on them, throw pillows have the potential to collect food, pet and cosmetic stains, as well as dust and dirt.
Luckily, most throw pillow covers are removable. Put them in the washing machine (checking the label for the temperature), or vaccum any dust from them and sponge clean with an upholstery cleaner.
Pillows can be cleaned, and then reshaped after washing by fluffing them in a dryer with no heat, using a couple of dryer balls.
Cleaning skirting boards
They’re around by our feet, so skirting boards are sure to gather lots of dirt and grime. Especially as, when you’re cleaning shelves or something at a higher level, dust also falls onto your skirting boards.
To make sure this doesn’t happen, before hovering, wipe a dust cloth over your skirting boards and finish with a quick polish to keep them looking fresh.
Cleaning your mattress
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You might have a protective bed sheet that gets washed regularly, but sweat and other nasties like dead-skin, dust mites and stains can still make their way through to your mattress, resulting in poor hygiene and air-quality in your sleeping space.
So according to the experts, you should clean your mattress at least twice a year by removing all your bed linen, hoovering the surface of the mattress and then treating any stains or discolorations with an upholstery cleaner.
Cleaning blinds
Spring is almost in full bloom and one of the most annoying things about blinds is how much dust you can see on them as the sun shines.
Some types of blinds are easier to clean than others, but you should clean your blinds once a month ideally to get rid of any dust or germs that lingering on them. For venetian blinds and plantation shutters, wipe down each slat with a damp cloth and some washing up liquid.
Cleaning underneath furniture and appliances
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We often think that if we can’t see dust and dirt, then it’s not there. But it’s very much still lurking under all the areas we’ve forgotten to clean like fittings in your home. If left for ages, the dust underneath can start to cause health problems.
Underneath armchairs, beds, sofas and appliances like microwaves are a good place to start.
Cleaning bed headboards
Every night your headboard comes into contact with your skin and hair, meaning that oils, sweat and make-up will transfer easily onto it.
Different fabrics need to be cleaned differently, to make sure they retain their texture and colour. However a simple fabric-safe detergent and vacuum should do the trick with most fabric headboards.
For a full guide doing a spring clean one of the most forgotten areas of your home, read Time4Sleep’s handy guide.
Remote controls, door handles and light switches
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With the recent epidemic, it makes sense to be cautious when cleaning objects that people handle a lot around the house – like door knobs and light switches.
Clean with your standard disinfectant, using Q-tips to get in and around the buttons on your remote control.
Cleaning your washing machine and dishwasher
Mould and grime can easily build up in the moist environment of your dishwasher, so a little spring clean is good to do every few months.
To clean out your washing machine, run it through an empty cycle at the hottest temperature with two cups of white cleaning vinegar added to your usual detergent. After that, run a separate cycle at the hottest temperature, adding half a cup of baking soda to the rum.
For your dishwasher, run a cup of white vinegar through the machine on a standard cycle every couple of months.
READ MORE: How often you should be cleaning households appliances
Cleaning brooms and mops
Finally, the objects you use to clean often need some spring cleaning too! We don’t keep sponges and clothes for years like we often do with these objects.
Soak brooms and mops in a water and soap mix, with bleach to keep them sparkling and hygienic.