Spring cleaning is just as much about organizing your house for the new season as it is deep cleaning. Whether you’re scrubbing windowsills or clearing out your closet, here are a few easy steps you can take to get organized during the big purge.
Touch up paint and carpet spots
Spring cleaning is a great time to finally get around to those little carpet stains, paint touchups or floor scuffs you’ve been avoiding. Take a walk around your house and use Post-it® Index Flags to mark any area that needs a little spot treatment. Then treat each area individually, removing the flags as you go.
Purge the clothes buried deep in your wardrobe
As you shift your clothes from winter to spring, think about starting fresh with a new wardrobe. The hardest part of a clothing purge is admitting you’ll never wear your favourite shirt again. To find out which clothes don’t make the cut, place a Post-it® Index Flags on each hanger in your closet. Each time you wear a piece of clothing, take off the flag. If there are still flags left after a month, consider those pieces of clothing eligible for donation.
Organize and label your pantry
You’d be surprised how many things in your pantry may be expired. Remove any items past their expiration date or items you haven’t cooked with during the last year — if you haven’t used it by now, you aren’t going to. Next, group ingredients in categories, and label a container for each category, using Post-it® Super Sticky Notes or Index Flags. (For example, rice, quinoa, couscous and noodles could be in a container labelled “Pasta and Grains.”) Your pantry will be more organised and you’ll save time cooking, too.
Organize your mudroom by family member
As the seasons change, so does your outdoor gear. As you replace mittens with umbrellas, buy each family member a bin dedicated to their belongings. Place a Post-it® Super Sticky Note on the front of each bin and label it with the right name. You’ll reduce clutter and keep everyone’s stuff in one spot.
Dedicate sections of your house to donating, selling and keeping items
Throughout your spring cleaning purge, use a Post-it® Super Sticky Note to label bins as “Donate,” “Sell” and “Keep.” Put each bin in a different area of the house and let everyone know that that’s the place to put items to be donated, sold or kept. If all you have to do is fling something on a pile, it’s easy to get rid of the clutter in a room so you can get down to business.
