Ah…spring cleaning. To quote a song from an episode of Rocko’s Modern Life, “It’s a sick, disgusting job, but it’s gotta get done!” Pretty much.

I hate cleaning, which is one reason why I outsource most of our housework to my kids. But I generally get excited about the idea of spring cleaning. The actual chore, though, is not one of my favorite pastimes.

This year, however, I’ve actually managed to get some stuff done! And I did it by creating a spring cleaning plan of attack. (Yes, I’m basically saying that spring cleaning is war. It’s either the germs or me.)

Here are the three tips I used to tackle spring cleaning this year!

Image c/o: odua / depositphotos

How to Create a Spring Cleaning Plan of Attack

Clear the clutter.

One of our biggest problems was that we simply had too much stuff. When I see clutter, I can’t even visually get past it to see what else needs to be done. That stuff had to go. The book “Simple: 30 Ways to Declutter Your Life” gave me a nice motivational kick-in-the-pants to get started.

So I gathered up a ton of our board games and sold them at a consignment sale. Then I had all the kids go through their closets and try on all their clothes. What didn’t fit went into grocery store bags and into the clothes collection boxes in our area.

I also had a lot of stuff that needed to be filed or shredded. I had the kids sit on the floor and separate the things to be filed according to category. Then I could just put each category away at once. The shredding I took care of myself.

Once all of that was done, I could finally start thinking about the actual work of cleaning.

Divide and conquer.

Now it’s time to divide your house into individual areas that you can reasonably complete. Our house isn’t large, but the thought of cleaning the WHOLE thing from top to bottom is a bit too much for me.

So I think “Kitchen”, “Living Room”, “Bedroom”, etc. And, depending on how much has to be done, I might divide it even further: “Sewing Table”, “Bookshelf”, “Ridiculously Junky Kitchen Drawer”. (You know you have one.)

Tackle one zone at a time.

Alright. You’ve got your decluttered home. You’ve got your territory marked. Time to get to work! Do one area at a time and focus on one task at a time.

So, if you’re working in the living room, you might do all the surfaces, then the windows, then the floors. Or if you’re cleaning your bathroom,  you might start with mirrors, then walls, surfaces, bath, and finally toilet. (Unless you’re the kind of person who wants to get the toilet out of the way first. Which is genius.)

And that’s how I managed to actually spring clean my home this year! For more homemaking tips, follow my Taking Care of Home board on Pinterest!

What’s your spring cleaning plan of attack? Share your tips in the comments!