The Tuesday Ten | Spring Cleaning Tips!

Today's Tuesday Ten comes from an amazing Client and good friend of mine, Kacey Tanner. I met Kacey last year when we took her daughter's Easter Pictures and I was so blessed to photograph their wedding last September. Kacey has been super supportive and is one of those amazing returning clients that I just love. Not to mention we went to Lake Powell together in October and she is a blast to hang out with! She cleans houses and I can say she's awesome! There are times when I just haven't been able to get to some cleaning with working full time, doing photographing, traveling etc... So I've hired Kacey to come help me out! Today she's giving us tips on Spring Cleaning!

Spring Cleaning 2015

(Photos found in Google Search)

It's that time of year again... for Spring Cleaning!  I have been housekeeping for 9 years now and over all those years I have learned some little ways of going about Spring Cleaning or even cleaning in general.   We all love a spotless and tidy house, right?  But do we have time to do all the dirty work or even think about all the tasks we have to accomplish?  Hopefully some of these tips and tricks will help you conquer some if not all with life's busy schedule.

#1: Start with your kitchen.  The one place that you and your family are always in and out of.  Start out with the stove.  It is the one appliance to accumulate the most grease and grime in the kitchen (the next being the microwave.)  My favorite cleaner to use on hard grease is Bar-Keepers Friend and Fabuloso.  Sprinkle some of the Bar-Keepers Friend on the top of your stove, let it sit for 2-4 minutes, scrub with wool scrubber and wipe off with a wet dishcloth.  Fill up your sink about 1/3 of the way with warm water and pour 1 tablespoon of Fabuloso in.  With that mixture, soak your dishcloth and wipe off the top of your stove.   You can wait for it to dry or take a microfiber towel (or paper towel) and wipe off the excess.  Start one your microwave next.  Once you've gotten your stove and microwave taken care of, go clockwise around your kitchen on scrubbing your counters, cupboards, appliances and any other items that have been looked over in the past.

#2: Bathrooms.  One of my least favorite spots to do cleaning.. Clear the bathroom of everything.  Drawers, shelves, shower, under the cabinet, everything.  An easy way to know how to do so is clear out everything that could be organized.  Once you've cleared out the room, get yourself some baskets for your shelves and cabinets and organize the small things that take up the most room in a way that it all won't get cluttered again.  Anything that hasn't been of use for the past 6+ months, chuck it!

#3: Closets.  A place where a lot of things can quickly be thrown to get out of the way.  Clear out all clothing and items that are not on hangers and go through everything.  The same with the bathroom items, if anything hasn't been used in the past 6+ months can be chucked, unless you just KNOW you'll use/wear it.. But in my case, I've had that happen my entire life, and I never end up using anything I save over a year old.  I've learned not being a pack rat isn't such a bad thing in the long run.

#4: Living Rooms.  When it comes to getting comfy and relaxing on the couch after a long day, what is the first thing you MUST have?  That's right, BLANKETS.  If your household is anything like ours we have more blankets than a family of three would ever need.  We have no short on blankets whatsoever.  I've tried multiple things to keep them organized and easy accessible but haven't found a trick that has worked for us just until this year.  For the 3-4 blankets that we often use for lounging, we have them folded up in the corner out of the way on the side of the credenza.  Seems like it would be more of a clutter doesn't it?  I thought the same thing at first but so far it has worked great for us.  The extra blankets and pillows that we have are tightly folded and placed under the spare bathroom cupboard cabinet.  They are out of the way and they're somewhere where they can all fit nicely.  If you can get those everyday used blankets under control, you'll be surprised on how much more tidy your living room will look.

#5: DUST EVERYTHING.  With a swiffer, with a pillowcase, with a cloth and pledge, with your vacuum attachments; Whatever it may be, dust everything.  Especially those ceiling fans and atop your kitchen cabinets.  You may be asking, "a pillowcase?"  Yes!  They are perfect for ceiling fan dust.  Grab an old pillowcase and slide it over your ceiling fan blade until it won't go anymore.  Cup each side of the blade with your fingers and slowly slide the pillowcase to the end.  Repeat with the same pillowcase for the rest of the blades unless your ceiling fans have accumulated a lot of dust over the winter then you will want to have another pillowcase on hand in case.  To help your ceiling fan look extra clean, get a microfiber cloth and multipurpose Pledge cleaner, spray the cloth with the Pledge and wipe each blade.

#6: Garage.  Unfortunately another one of the places that can so quickly accumulate junk.  Once again, the first thing to do is take everything down from shelves, cupboards, hooks, screws, nails, etc.  Anything.  You want to take it all down.  Take it all down and set it in the middle of your garage or outside of it.  Start organizing everything by the items you use on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.  Place them in your garage on the shelves, or wherever you please, that they are at an easy access but not somewhere that it's going to make your garage space look cluttered.  Secondly, tools.  If you or your husband have tools, used or not, make those everyday used tools a priority for easy access as well and those "project tools" up on shelving until they are needed.  Thirdly, with any extras you have left in your middle of the garage pile; chuck it, DI it, or store it if you will have further use of them.

#7: Lawn.  It's April and so far we've had pretty good weather for yard work and mowing so I'm hoping most of everyone has already done this step, and if not then I suggest get on it ASAP!  Get your lawn mowed and fertilized.  With the storms that are supposed to be rolling in soon your lawn will love the extra boost of love and being groomed.

#8: Flower Beds. Free Weeds!  Weed everything out.  It is the best time to do it while everything is not in full bloom and the temperature isn't scorching hot.  Also remember to fertilize your flower beds if you have bulbs planted or any other flowers.

#9: Laundry. If you have some, or tons, of mismatched socks that you've been searching for the mates in loads of laundry over time and shoving them in a clothes basket until you do find them, chuck them all and replace them!  Of course go through them all and try to mate up some of them but if you've had these mismatched socks for over 6 months, it's time for them to go.  Once you've got your laundry washed, folded and out of the way, you'll be able to do everyday house chores more easily.

#10: Carpets.  Get those carpets cleaned for the first time of the year and make your home cozy.  Having your carpets cleaned and shampooed can make all of the difference in how your home looks.  We have been in the debate of replacing our carpet for two years but after we have had them cleaned a couple times and purchased our own shampooer, we have literally saved our carpet and of course our wallets!

Happy Spring Everyone!

Kacey Tanner

kacey_23@live.com

435.213.5993

If anyone has any interest in having some housekeeping done you can contact me at 435.213.5993 or kacey_23@live.com