5 Tips for Preparing for Your Spring Cleanups

With springtime upon us, it’s time for the annual task of spring cleaning. Ever wonder why spring? Why not winter when we’re holed up in our homes looking for indoor activities to do? The tradition of spring cleaning first began as a way to rid the home of winter’s mess. With people keeping their doors tight to trap in the warmth, as well as people making fires, soot and grime was accumulating after months. With advances in modern heating systems, this type of formal cleaning is less necessary for its original purpose, but it is still as beloved. The longer days and warmer temps have reenergized us and helped get us excited for this rewarding process.

Purging items you haven’t seen in years (perhaps didn’t even know you had), creating piles for those in need, sanitizing high-touch surfaces. These are all parts of what makes spring cleaning so fulfilling. Pick a weekend, schedule a property clean-up service and get down to work. But before getting started, check out our tips on how to prepare yourself and your home to make it a huge success this year.

1. Get Mentally Organized and Make a Checklist

In order to properly tackle your spring cleaning and not get overwhelmed, make sure to get organized ahead of time. Map out what areas of your home you want to address – garage, kitchen, den, yard, etc. Are there certain rooms you’ve been neglecting for months – or even years?

Make a checklist for these areas, all that you want to accomplish. For example, for the kitchen, you’d want checklist items for wiping down cabinets, shelves, the backsplash, countertops, the inside and outside of appliances. You can also add dusting the blinds if you have those in there.

Don’t neglect your outdoor space especially because it may need some extra attention after a long winter. Sheds are often places things go to die. Walk around your property and look at what needs to be tackled out there.

Making a checklist ahead of time will make you more efficient, as you won’t forget to do certain tasks and you’ll feel less overwhelmed in the moment.

2. Have All Your Supplies Ready

Go through the process in your head and come up with a list of items you will need. If you don’t already have these, you’ll need to purchase them before you get started. It can be very frustrating to have to stop in the middle of a task and head to the store because you don’t have everything you need. The essentials include:

• Gloves
• Sponges and scrub brushes
• Multi-surface cleaners, bleach, glass cleaner
• Vacuum
• Mop
• Microfiber cloths and any other necessary rags
• Trash bags

3. Declutter Your Home

Spring cleaning is a great excuse to finally get rid of stuff you no longer need and use, especially if you can pass it on to others who can use it. Research shows that decluttering can improve focus, reduce anxiety and help deter procrastination. You can break it down by category and work your way through everything: clothing, books, children’s toys, furniture, etc. The queen of organization Marie Kondo recommends taking a look at each item and considering if it gives you joy. If not, it’s time to let it go. Maybe you bought a shirt just because it was on sale, but then realized you only wore it once because it never really fit you properly.

Even if you only have 10 minutes to spare one morning, you’d be surprised how many items you can go through. Ask a friend or family member to help out if you feel overwhelmed. Make it fun by putting on music or a podcast.

When it comes to furniture, make a list of items to get rid of, don’t overexert yourself trying to move them. Leave that to the pros.

4. Clean up before the Cleanup

As anyone who has ever used a home cleaning service knows, step one for you is always to clean before the cleaners come to clean. A tongue-twister and what might seem counterintuitive, but it is critical. You can’t get to countertop surfaces and rugs if there is stuff covering them. So, before you try to dive head first into scrubbing fingerprints off your cabinets, make sure the space is clear. Put away items on the counter that aren’t used every day. Put clothes away in their drawers. Get rid of old and moldy food in the fridge. Pick up toys from the floor that are just asking to get stepped on. As you move on to the actual cleaning, you’ll need to move items out of the way, but doing some of this ahead of time will save you steps when you’re ready.

5. Hire a Reputable Junk Hauling Service

Once you’ve finished up and have accumulated bags of stuff to get rid of, perhaps even appliances that are no longer super reliable, you’ll need to turn to the experts. Prepare for this step ahead of time by booking a junk hauling company at the beginning of the process. This will also keep you honest on a firm deadline for your cleanup.

Risking injury to yourself in not properly loading, then driving back and forth multiple times to the dump isn’t a good use of your time. Work with professionals who have been trained on not only proper loading but also disposal of items. When you work with Junk Bros, we’ll go through your items to determine whether they can be donated, recycled or dumped. When we can donate, we take the items to local charities around Treasure Valley. Some items cannot be donated for various reasons and will have to be taken somewhere else or scheduled for pickup. In addition, there are laws about disposing of certain hazardous materials. Junk Bros is well-versed in all of this and will do the sorting for you as part of our property clean-up.

Junk Bros is locally owned, made up of courteous professionals dedicated to junk removal in Treasure Valley. When you work with us, you’ll get:

• Prompt service
• Good communication
• Competitive prices
• Easy and reliable services

Contact our Boise junk removal experts today to get started on a free estimate. We’re available Monday through Saturday and offer same-day or next-day service.