Tag Archives: spring cleaning

Starting your spring cleaning?  Lookup!  Ceilings, ceiling fans and lights first!

If you’re following along my Kitchen Deep Spring Cleaning Master List, you know it’s time to start Spring Cleaning: Ceilings, Ceiling Fans and Lights.  If you haven’t started spring cleaning that’s a great place to start.  Today is all about looking up.  How often do you actually look up at your ceiling?  Probably not often, but it get really dirty up there.  So, let’s get started.

Why start with the ceiling?  Because according to Sir Isaac Newton, what goes up must come down.  You’d hate to have everything looking pristine and picture perfect in your kitchen and then realize you have tons of cobwebs in the corners of your ceiling and light fixtures and then have all of that dust fall on everything you just cleaned.  Let’s start with the ceiling.

Tools Needed For Ceiling:

A broom, or duster long enough to reach the ceiling and those corners

Dust rags, microfiber cloths or paper towels

Glass Cleaner

Mrs. Meyer’s Multi-purpose Cleaner

To begin, I went ahead and took down my curtains to keep them from getting any dustier.  Starting in one corner of the room, start removing cobwebs and dust and work your way around the room.  Check the ceiling around light fixtures, smoke alarms and ceiling fans and the tops of cabinets for dust.

Take down light fixtures and clean with glass cleaner inside and outside of the globes and set to the side to dry.  Don’t forget to wipe the dust off your light bulbs!  But do this with the lights off.  Replace any burned out bulbs now, or replace with more energy-efficient ones.  Replace globes when dry.

Ceiling fans get really dirty, at least in my house.  In most rooms of the house, I can use the pillowcase trick to capture the dust off the blades, but in the kitchen where cooking oil travels in the air, the dust tends to stick a little.  Gross!  See the pic?  I’m almost embarrassed by it.  Please ignore the mess in the background!   This is a real house and that just happens to be the next room on my spring cleaning list.  Look the broom is in the corner, so you know I’ve been cleaning!  Also, on my to-do list, get the trim moulding done!

Told you it was icky!  So how do you get a really icky ceiling fan sparkling clean?  First I used my vacuum cleaner with the long hose attachment and vacuumed off as much dust as I could.  Then I took all of the blades off and took off the globes.

Cleaners used for ceiling fan:

White Vinegar

Baking Soda

Dawn Dish Soap

Wash Rag

First I used  hot water and Dawn and gave them a good wash.  This removed a good bit of stuff.  Then I scrubbed them with a paste of baking soda and vinegar.  It was amazing!   A couple of the blades I had to go over a couple of times, but they came clean.  I did the same things with the globes.  Place them on paper towels to dry.  I guess I should also include that it takes a Route 44 drink from Sonic and some pretzels to get this done. Look!  My cow is hiding!  He’s shy.

See how pretty the blades are now?  Just ignore where I got paint on them from when I painted the ceiling.  Note to self…take the ceiling fan down before painting the ceiling!  Next, I cleaned the fan itself and I used Mrs. Myers Multi-Purpose Cleaner.  Once everything is really dry, put it back together and you’ll have a super, sparkly ceiling fan!

That’s it!  Next you can move on to windows and walls.  But at least now with clean lights you can see everything that needs to be cleaned.  I was surprised, how much brighter my kitchen was after cleaning my light fixtures and they weren’t dirty.  On to the next part of spring cleaning!  Don’t forget to download your Kitchen Deep Spring Cleaning Master List!

Welcome to my new series Spring Cleaning Time!  

It’s time to get our houses in order and have less stress and more time, which is exactly what every woman needs.  This is not your typical spring cleaning where you give most things a good cleaning, this is a true deep cleaning of everything you own as I discussed here.  But, it’s not meant to be overwhelming, which can and does happen when we start large projects like this.  Honestly, I have found it to be liberating and with each item I clean or purge, my stress level goes down a tiny bit and I enjoy the room a little more.

Like I said in the series introduction, this is a true deep cleaning taken room by room and sometimes, project by project.  Today, I’m posting the master list for the kitchen.  I think this is the hardest room in the house and why not get the hardest over first?  I was always taught to do the hardest, or messiest thing first and work your way down.  Then the last thing you do is a piece of cake!

So here is the list:

 

To print or download a pdf please click here…Printable Letter Size Kitchen Deep Cleaning Master List

I’ve tried to include everything that I could think of, or that I personally did in my own kitchen, but I’m sure there are things that I’ve missed. Fill them in on your printout and then let me know so I can update my list.

Next up will be a post about products and how-to’s that I’ve used in the kitchen.  There are some great products and simple techniques that will make your deep  spring cleaning simplified.

Happy spring y’all!

The birds are chirping and the sun is out and my van is now turning yellow, that means it’s time for spring cleaning…

I love spring cleaning!  I know, I must be crazy, but there is just something about the act of spring cleaning that makes me feel good.  I feel organized, lighter, and I even like cooking and cleaning more when my house looks good.  Even with my kitchen floors a mess from remodeling, (no, we haven’t even came close to finishing the kitchen floors) and I need to repaint the kitchen cabinets and I still need to get all the trim work finished, and I’ve noticed the ceiling needs to be repainted, I still feel better.

There are tons of things I’ve noticed I’ve got to do by spring cleaning.  I think a lot of things we overlook because we get so used to them and simply ignore them over time.  This year is the first time in years that I’ve done a true deep cleaning of just about everything in my kitchen.  Don’t get me wrong, I spring clean just about every year, but have I really deep cleaned?

This spring, I’ve decided to challenge myself.  I gave myself the challenge of doing a very thorough deep cleaning of each room of my house and as I go through each room, make a list of things that need to fixed, finished, or changed.  I’m going to purge and get of anything that is broken and can’t be fixed, anything that I don’t use, and anything that I don’t like.  I’m no longer going to display items that I’m not really crazy about just because someone gave it to me.

I’m going to clean, really clean each and every nook and cranny.  I’ll be posting my lists of what I’m tackling in each room and those may even be broken down by what I’m cleaning.  For example:  I’m currently in the kitchen and yesterday I did the windows.  So I’ll make a post about how and what I used to clean my windows.  I know all of this may sound boring to you.  But, I have found out that I’m learning about myself as I continue through this project.  So far, I’ve found out that I don’t like a lot of stuff sitting around.  I honestly thought that I liked having lots of decorations, but I don’t.

As I clean and purge, I have found out that I’m really more of a minimalist than I ever thought.  I’m more of a clean freak than I ever thought. I’ve also discovered an effect on my mood that I didn’t plan on.  I’m less stressed when I walk in my kitchen.  Even though I’m not finished with the kitchen yet, and the sink is overflowing from last night’s supper, I’m actually less stressed about it than I would have been a week ago.  I think because now when I walk in, I don’t see all the clutter, all the dirt and all the dishes and I’m not as overwhelmed.  Not to mention, my body is so sore.  I mean, I’m on a heating pad each night to sleep and taking Tylenol.  Who knew spring cleaning could be this much of a workout?  Boost!

I know, there are tons of spring cleaning checklists on Pinterest.  But, I bet none of them are going to be as detailed as mine.  As I work each room, I’ll post the list and as I work on each item on the list, I’ll post more details, including products that I’m using, tips and links.  I’ll also post about any decorating that I do also, I already have several DIY crafts for the kitchen!

Spring cleaning can get mundane and boring at times.  To make it a little more fun, try these ideas:

• Crank up some music
• Listen to a podcast
• Listen to a book
• Call a friend while you clean
• Enjoy the quiet?

Keep checking back for more spring cleaning tips!