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Spring Cleaning

February 19th, 2010

Mother said,
“We’ll start housecleaning tomorrow, bright and early.”

Almanzo hated house-cleaning. Everything in the house was moved, everything was scrubbed and scoured and polished. All the curtains were down, all the feather-beds were outdoors, airing, all the blankets and quilts were washed. From dawn to dark Almanzo was running, pumping water, fetching wood, spreading clean straw on the scrubbed floors and then helping to stretch the carpets over it, and then tacking all those edges down again.

Laura Ingalls Wilder (Farmer Boy)


It’s not spring here in NE Ohio, that will be a long time yet, but it is time however to start thinking about the spring cleaning. It’s much better to get these chores out of the way before spring actually starts, since spring is a busy time in the garden. All those chores that don’t need done on a weekly/monthly basis make up the spring cleaning list: rolling up rugs and scrubbing the floors, washing curtains, wiping down mouldings, cleaning light fixtures, clearing out dressers, organizing kitchen drawers, going through the pantry, etc.

I’ll be spending some time each week for the next month or two getting these big tasks out of the way. I already cleaned the kitchen drawers, organized the pantry, and cleaned the window moulding. Next to be checked off my list will be cleaning all the light fixtures, then I’ll move on to the dressers & closets.

Do you do spring cleaning or do you have another system for keeping order & cleaning the house?

11 Comments to “Spring Cleaning”
  1. Tree Huggin Momma on February 19, 2010 at 8:20 am

    I just clean in large bursts when I have the time and the energy (so not often enough)
    .-= Tree Huggin Momma´s last blog ..In the Name of Progress =-.

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  2. kitsapFG on February 19, 2010 at 9:06 am

    I used to use the month of February and do a clean sweep of one room (or a couple of smaller areas like the closets) each weekend – such that by the end of the month the entire house was in great shape to go into the spring season. For some reason, the past two years I have just not had the energy or interest to tackle such a thorough process – choosing instead to just do a pantry clean out and such. I really could stand to do this though. Maybe I will tackle it in March instead this year. Better late than never!

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  3. Jennifer on February 19, 2010 at 9:14 am

    I’m always motivated to do fall cleaning. I suppose it’s my way of nesting for the winter. Sometime mid-January I notice all of that nesting mess and feel it’s time to reorganize before we spend the spring and summer outdoors.
    .-= Jennifer´s last blog ..Bugs. =-.

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  4. megan on February 19, 2010 at 10:14 am

    I’m usually jumping at the chance for a Spring Clean around now, but I just haven’t been inspired to start it this year. Maybe I should mix up a batch of all of my cleaners with some nice essential oil to see if that will get me in the mood. Our house could definitely use it! And it really needs to be done on these rainy days before planting time arrives.
    .-= megan´s last blog ..First Seeding =-.

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  5. Kelly on February 19, 2010 at 10:24 am

    I wish I was organized about it but hubby and I tend to have our internal clutter/clean meters that, every few months, start ringing madly and we end up have a big clean-up weekend where we work until the ringing starts. We end up subconsciously noticing little things (dirty or cluttered) over the weeks and when the meter starts ringing those are the things that get cleaned. Most recently it was the molding for my husband and the floors and windows for me.
    .-= Kelly´s last blog ..Vertigo… Again =-.

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  6. Morgan G on February 19, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for my husband), I inherited a cleaning OCD from my mom. I do it throughout the day, every day – good thing our home is small! While I don’t wipe down the baseboards regularly, I just might start after this reading this post. : )
    .-= Morgan G´s last blog ..Homemade Beer-brewing Workshop =-.

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  7. Amy on February 19, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    I have a great deal of old wood in my house that I love to clean and polish with Howards Feed n Wax. It is a beeswax citrus mixture and it leaves all of my wooden surfaces deeply oiled and smelling of beauty. This oft inspires me to tackle less pleasant tasks because one cannot have such enchanting floors and not clear window panes! “The windows are the eyes of a home.”

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  8. Sarah Jane on February 19, 2010 at 5:28 pm

    I am a notorious slob. It doesn’t mean I like being around messiness, I just always seem to end up there. Right now I’m trying to clean up as much as possible before I head out of town early tomorrow morning. It’s never nice coming back from a relaxing trip to a pig sty!

    Something that helped me, that I found recently was Martha Stewart’s website. They have nice convenient lists for cleaning by how often you should do it. They have daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal lists.
    .-= Sarah Jane´s last blog ..Alien Illusion Scarf =-.

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  9. stefaneener on February 19, 2010 at 6:52 pm

    No, only when there’s a house improvement project going on. Too many little people around. Daily management is enough for now.
    .-= stefaneener´s last blog ..Chitting and Kitty =-.

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  10. Sustainable Eats on February 20, 2010 at 2:24 am

    I used to follow the Martha Stewart spring cleaning schedule and then I kept breaking the light fixtures when I took them down to clean. So I’ve just stopped. Having young kids, a home based business, growing all our food and cooking everything from scratch also put an end to that free time. And you know, it doesn’t really seem *all* that dirty without polishing the cabinets or washing the light fixtures. The windows, on the other hand, well I think I just need to hire someone to do those.
    .-= Sustainable Eats´s last blog ..Buying Bulk Meat – What you Need to Know =-.

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  11. […] are quick to heat up. This saves me time on these busy spring days and helps clean out the pantry. Spring cleaning is also happening, washing the curtains and hanging them out in the sun to dry and bleach out. […]

    Reply to Sunday Photos….Springtime Activities « Not Dabbling In Normal's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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