Spring Cleaning Hacks for Busy People

Three cheers for spring cleaning!!! Hip, hip, hooray! Hip, hip, hor – wait, what? I feel you, girls. Spring cleaning isn’t at the top of my list of favorite things to do, either, but I do love order and I love how a neat house gives me a restful spirit. So, what are we to do? I’m here for this discussion and heads-up, it’s going to be a brief one. I want to share two simple house management ideas that rescue this busy Keggie time and again, and I’m going to smash them together to help us remember. I call my action plan: Daily Bites.

Daily refers to the simple practice of picking up throughout the day and then before I turn in for the night. Here are some examples. It means dishes don’t stay in the sink and shoes aren’t strewn in the living room. They’re taken to their place in the closet or at the back door. (The dishwasher may be full, and usually is, but the sink is clean, and an empty sink makes me happy!) And in case you’re wondering, yes, I did this when I had kids at home and it’s still a requirement when I have grands overnight. Ask them!

Bites refers to breaking chores down on the regular. For instance, when we remodeled our master bathroom we left it open to the master closet. I love the floor plan. My closet may be on display, which could be a problem, but it has actually helped me keep it somewhat neat. I decided to use a disclaimer there because my neat is not my mother’s neat. That’s another story. The woman has always been a cleaning machine! But, back to our discussion. Let’s apply my Daily Bites model to my closet.

Taking the time to pull everything out of all my closet shelves is next door to impossible for me. However, I was reminded to write to y’all earlier this morning when I took the time to pull everything out of ONE shelf. I tossed what needed to go to the trash can, and bagged what someone else might find usable. Now, that shelf is clean and the next time I take a bite out of my closet, I’ll do another shelf! Keeping an ongoing “donation bag” makes this easier and when it’s full I can drop it off at my local center.

Granted, Daily Bites is a spring cleaning mini hack. I’ll save more of my deep cleaning tricks for another day but do let me know if you adopt Daily Bites in the interim. I’d love to know if it helps YOU!

Hugs, Shelli