Does the thought of spring cleaning make you want to hide under a blanket?  Do you wish there was an easy way out of it?  What if I were to tell you that there is not one or two, but there are THREE different paths you can take to NEVER have to spring clean again?!  Let’s go!

Ah, the snow has melted and flowers are blooming!  Nothing could possibly ruin this fresh feeling of spring!  —Until you remember….. dun, dun, dunnnnnnn…..

SPRING CLEANING!  Noooooooo!!!

I know I’m not the only one who feels this way.  Nod your head if you agree.  (I knew it, haha).

Because of this, I am happy to share 3 different methods that you can choose from so that you NEVER have to shudder at the thought of spring cleaning again!

I know you’re intrigued so let’s just get right to it!

1.  Just (Don’t) Do It

We’re playing the opposite of Nike here, haha.  This may seem like a joke or a cop-out, but I’m serious!!!

Did it ever occur to you that it’s ok to have dirty baseboards?

Think about what you want, and what does and does not matter to you.  If you are not bothered by the dust on the light fixtures, then let it be settled that you don’t have to remove it.

Oh, but I’ll bet those inside voices in your head are screaming like crazy at the thought of this!

This is your opportunity to really look at your inner self!  Don’t do things because other people say you should, do things because that’s what YOU have decided YOU want to do.

And if YOU want to skip the deep cleaning altogether, then go for it.  You could also consider a “partial” spring cleaning, and just do the jobs that you care about.  Maybe dust on the door frames doesn’t bother you, but you’d like your windows clean.

Whatever you choose, I encourage you to not let any “outside voices” influence your decision.  The time has come for you to take charge of yourself and your life, and this includes the way you do or do not spring clean.

If you know that this option will never work for you, then read on to see what’s next!

2.  Hire It Out!

Eh??  What do you think? 

If you’re anything like I used to be, you might be thinking “there is NO way I’m going to pay to have someone come clean my house, when I have no reason I can’t do it myself”.

I completely understand that point of view, and I would like to share a new outlook.

First and foremost, there is no shame in hiring some cleaning help!  Guilt can also go out the door!  It is not your innate job to do all the cleaning yourself.  Sure, back in the day everyone did their own cleaning because there wasn’t anyone else to do it.

They also milked their own cow, grew their own food, and made their own clothes.  Do you feel like you have to do all THOSE things, or are you fine to pay someone else to do them?

Ok, so why not pay someone to clean your house as well?  Yes, you can clean your own house easier than you can milk your own cow, but the principle is that there is no shame in asking for help.

If you have a busy life with raising kids, working 20-40 hours outside the home, making meals, keeping up on laundry and dishes, caring for your own health or someone else’s, or anything else that is time consuming and/or mentally draining, then why not seek some assistance to get your spring cleaning done?

If you WANT your house deep cleaned, but YOU don’t want to do it… this is your best option.  Can I convince you that you can afford it too?

I used to think that I didn’t have money to put toward cleaning help and then I realized that “if there’s a will, there’s a way!”

Where I live, the average rate is $30/hr.  A lot can get done in a few hours, so let’s say you were going to put $100 toward spring cleaning.  That’s a lot of money, but if you find it in the cracks of your budget, you won’t even notice it is missing!

How often do you go out to eat, or pick up fast food for dinner?  Cancel that 3 or 4 times (or less if you have a big family) and you’re already half way there!

When you’re getting groceries, try my favorite trick of requesting $10 to $20 cash back each time!  It’s a low enough amount that it won’t be missed, but they’re big enough bills that after doing it several times in a row, it can really add up quick!

If you haven’t made it to $100 yet, here are a few more ways to find some extra cash in the cracks:

Pass on the salon haircut (for you or the kids).

Hold off on purchasing new clothes for a while (again, you or kids).

Ban yourself from Amazon for a month.

Refrain from walking into the gas station for snacks, just pay at the pump.

Omit the cookies, soda, granola bars, and other snacks from your shopping cart.

Live off your food storage for a couple weeks.  (It makes for a good practice run, and it’ll help rotate the food too –triple win!)

Use your birthday money (that’s a gift well spent!)

Sell some used items on the classifieds.

Bake some cookies, send your kids out to sell them by the road, then take the money from them and tell them it’s for a good cause.

(Ok, sorry about that… I’m busting up laughing at myself.  Of course the last one was a joke.  But it was no joke for John on Kid History 6!  Haha!) 

Trust me, the money is there somewhere.  I feel very confident that no matter your financial situation, you can come up with $100 or more.  Even if you have to save $8.33/month all year to get it.  If there’s a will, there’s a way!

“But Kayleen…. I would be mortified to let another person come that close and personal with the nasty neglected parts of my house!”

Ah, yes… the embarrassment.  I’ve been there.  Get over it.

I had a girl come spend an hour cleaning my laundry room after we had baby chicks in there for a couple months.  If you don’t already know the significance of that, it means that there was a quarter inch of dust EVERYWHERE!!

Another time I had her come clean my bathroom.  It took her the full hour because it was disgusting.  I hadn’t touched it in wayyyyyyy too long!

Did I want to hide my face under a pillow?  Yes.  Did I get over it and throw a party in the bathroom when she was done because I was SO HAPPY that it was immaculately clean without me having to lift a finger???  YES!!!  (Minus the party part).

I was embarrassed for no reason.  She was happy to put her ear pods in and go to town while listening to her jam.  A professional cleaner sees it all; your house is nothing special.  And once they’re done you will feel sooooooo good!!!

So how about it?  Want to give it a try?

Maybe you’re thinking that you just get satisfaction from cleaning things yourself.  If that’s the case, then look no further than the next option.

3.  Do One Cleaning Job a Month

Yup!  You read that right… you never have to “spring clean” because you have a system that gets the job done a little at a time throughout the year. 

The upside to this is that you never have to feel overwhelmed with one huge job, but the downside is that nothing is clean all at the same time.  (Personally, I think the pros outweigh the cons).

January – Baseboards

February – Wipe down interior doors and doorframes

March – Wipe down cupboards, cabinets, walls

April – Light fixtures and fans

May – Clean out cupboards

June – Windows & window sills

July – Clean oven and fridge

August –

September –

October –

November –

December – Relax for Christmas!

There’s an idea of what it can look like!  With four blank months to either fill in your own job, or take off!  Depending on how often you like to dust, you can use them to dust 4 times a year.  Or clean out closets, drawers, or the garage (I’m constantly cleaning out closets through the year, so I personally don’t consider that a once a year job)

If you like this, and want to take it a step further, we can talk about my 1-job-a-day chart! 

A simple system where you make a list of ALL the jobs you want to do, and how often you’d like to do them (this includes laundry, mopping, bathrooms, etc.).

Then you plug them into their places on the chart and voilà, you’re set and ready to go, without ever having to think about which jobs to do and when again.  It’s already decided for you, and it’s only one job a day.

Disclaimer:  there are some jobs that won’t work for the chart like dishes and making dinner (haha yes, that’s a chore for me).  Anything that you need to do every day obviously won’t work.  So we’ll call it the“1-job-a-day + the daily jobs” chart!

Want to see the plan I made for myself that I have yet to stick with for an entire year?   (I was doing really well with it, until something threw me off).

First off, let’s make sure to put some attention on the fact that I gave myself Fridays off!!  Craft time!  Woohoo!

As you can see Mondays are “clean the floors” day.  I used to be able to get away with sweeping once a week, but since my family has grown, it’s more like a daily job. 

However, I’ve decided not to worry if the crumbs build up.  I’m still just going to sweep once a week (and if I happen to pass a broom over things during the week, great, but if not, it’ll at least happen every 7 days).

Wednesday – Laundry.  That’s wash, dry, fold, put away.  Everything that can’t wait another week.  (Kids do their own these days, and Tyler has always done his own).

“Misc. Project” on Tuesday and Thursday means I can choose anything from the list on the bottom right.

Bathrooms get cleaned every OTHER week (definitely a stretch, but it is what it is!)

Mirrors and dust each happen once a month.

Where it says “(yearly)”, depending on the month, there are 2 jobs listed.  So for January it says baseboards/showers.  So I would clean the baseboards on Tuesday and the showers on Thursday.

Showers get cleaned every other month, so they show up on the “yearly” list 6 times.  Clean fridge is on there twice.

This is what I mean when I say YOU pick what jobs to do, and how often you’d ideally like to do them.

So that’s the chart!  Do you like how I totally explained that in a way that sounds like it’s a system I’ve been using for years and am currently having success with?

I will repeat again that YES, I have used it; and YES it was awesome; and YES I dropped the ball on it; and YES I’ve done it off and on throughout the years; and YES I am going to change some things on it and start using it again this month; and YES I want you to hold me accountable!!!  Will you please??

I really love the idea of one job a day, but I struggle with changing my habits and following through for myself long term. 

So if this sounds like something you want to try, and if you also have a hard time being accountable to yourself, let me know and we can pair up and help each other succeed!  (I am serious –email me!)

But back to just the spring cleaning part, how simple is that to just focus on one main task a month, whether you do it in one day or spread it out a little bit.

If you’re not convinced that you want to work at it year-round, and you also passed on the first two choices, then I’m out of options for you to never spring clean again. 

But maybe seeing these three possibilities is just what you needed to realize that you really do want to spring clean after all!  If that’s the case, all the more power to ya!

Sometimes when we don’t want to take a path in front of us, all we need to see is where the other paths lead to know that where we were headed is actually our best choice.

With that, can you think of another way to “never” have to spring clean again?  Tell me I missed something, I would love to have another option myself, haha!

For now, I’m going to go for the 1-job-a-day chart, which incorporates everything.  What choice are you going to make? 

(Side note:  Passively not choosing anything would basically be the same as purposefully choosing option #1).

Happy cleaning!  (Or not cleaning!)

Kayleen

SDG

Does all this talk about cleaning make you realize how much you DON’T LIKE to clean??  There is hope!  Check out my post You Can Love What You Hate! 

Are you feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or just a little “off”?  Read 5 Tips to Help Maintain Balance for some help in feeling like yourself again.