Spring Cleaning 2014 - Entryway

An Ode to Spring Cleaning

The Sun is out, it’s full and bright.

Oh but our homes! In broad daylight!

The dust swirls about, the windows tell a tale.

There’s work to done, our chore list won’t fail.

Get the family involved, sing a song or two.

Spring Cleaning time is here and there is much to do.

~K Quinn

Spring, it's that time again. Some may not look forward to the cleaning involved, but I actually get excited about it. I know that I'm going to give my house a good top to bottom cleaning, that my home is going to smell clean and fresh and that I'm also preparing it for the new season ahead.

Did you know that women used to spend up to two weeks in the Spring and Fall, cleaning their houses in anticipation of the new season?

I don't spend that much time, more like a week to get it all done, but the reason is that I clean on a daily basis and don't let things really get piled up so it does help when it's time for the big clean.

The rest of the week I'll be Spring Cleaning around here.  I am sure most of you have a way of doing things and don't need any help, but nonetheless, I'm still going to share my daily cleaning list and what I've done, as well as share some before and after photos.

The first thing I do is throw open the curtains, pull up those blinds and open the windows to let in the fresh air.

I already have a list of which room I'll be tackling each day, and as I do those, I'll post them here for you.  What I have listed as needing to be done, is according to my house and my needs, some of you will need to do different things, some will have to do more, others will have to do less, but these lists are what works for me so you can get a basic idea of what I'm doing.

Here's the schedule for the week:

Monday - Spring Cleaning *Entry Way*
Tuesday - Spring Cleaning *Kitchen and Dining Area*
Wednesday - Spring Cleaning *Bedrooms*
Thursday - Spring Cleaning *Office and Bathrooms*
Friday - Spring Cleaning *Living Room*
Saturday - Spring Cleaning *Laundry Room*

Initially, I had planned on doing the Entryway and the bathrooms today, but I have some paperwork that came up regarding our Tricare, and I need to get that taken care of.  I will just do the bathrooms on Thursday when I do the office which doesn't need much cleaning since we JUST got it set up this weekend.

Just look at how dirty that door is. Gross!!! Lots of little hands in and out, and well to be fair, adults too. We had a lot of traffic going in and out for a long time, and even though it's slowed down now, it still gets quite the work out, so that is first thing I did.

 I use a magic eraser for the harder spots, but for everything else I just use a scrubbie sponge and my Orange Infused Vinegar. If you want to know how to make that, just check it out here. (I use my vinegar solution to clean EVERYTHING from doors to windows to window sills, walls etc).

I gave the whole door a good cleaning, including the window on top, both inside and out. Also gave the walls a good wiping down and dusted all the picture frames hanging on the stairwell. Once the door was done, I moved onto the metal stair railings.  Gave it a good dusting then sprayed some of the vinegar on an old towel I use for cleaning, and wiped it down.

The window sill gets really yucky, lots of dust and dirt. I dusted it all, then wiped it down with a disinfectant wipe to some of the harder spots off, and finally sprayed it down with the vinegar too. Washed the window on the inside and outside with the vinegar solution as well and DONE.

That plastic bag has books to be donated, I have it at the door so I can grab it next time I head out, but it's an eye sore and it's bugging me, so it's gone.  The little watering can is not supposed to be there, I don't even know how it ended up at the door.

Cleaned everything up, got rid of the bag, the watering can, the door knocker and random piece of duct tape??  I don't even know how to explain that one.

Much better.

I also moved my big candle holders down to the wall by the door.  The entryway looks better, smells nice and fresh and now I can move on to another room of the house.

Tomorrow I'll be tackling the Kitchen and Dining Area.  Now I don't know if I'll get both done, it depends on just how much I have to get through, but if I don't get to the dining area then I'll just move it to another day.  The point is that it gets done, if I need to extend my cleaning until next week, then I'll do that.

So there you have it, I think my Spring Cleaning is off to a good start.

Are you Spring Cleaning too?  Do you have any products you absolutely love using?