Housewife MacGyver: Spring Cleaning

It's spring here in the northern hemisphere (despite the impending snow this week in my geographical area), so that means...

SPRING CLEANING!

I love the *idea* of spring cleaning. Making everything fresh and new once a year. Cleaning the winter grime off your windows/cars/souls. Getting rid of accumulated junk. Freeing the other accumulated junk that I call "projects" from the storage shed.

But where to start with the *action* of spring cleaning?

I'm a list-maker, so I sat down and started a list, working from the top of my house to the bottom, inside and out. Washing windows, wiping down walls, dusting the doors/frames, wiping out cupboards -- the list can start to get really long, and I want to do things in an organized fashion. Plus, I am not near being a clean freak, so I'm probably missing something that all the "normal" people do every spring.

The solution? Consult the interwebs (aka the internet). The interwebs have ALL the answers.

I found a bunch of great spring cleaning checklists, and sure enough, I *was* missing a few things (like vacuuming out the vents and polishing the silverware).

But I wanted something that I could print out and check off. I need to have some reward for all this cleaning.

I had resigned my must-have-it-my-way self to creating an awesome printable spring cleaning checklist (to share with you all, of course), when I found this one at CasaSugar. It's super awesome and organized without being overwhelming, so why should I reinvent the wheel? The grid appeals to my technical writer heart. :)

Click here to go to download page

The checklist gives you seven cleaning tasks and and five organizing tasks in the five main areas of your home (which makes it easy to adapt to any other areas you may have the urge to spring clean as well). So, in your entryway, kitchen, bedroom(s), living room, and bathroom(s), you first clean by dusting, wiping, spraying, dry cleaning, washing, tidying, and adding a finishing touch and then you organize by relocating, donating, recycling, tossing, and adding storage space.

It's so genius I wish I didn't have the scruples to prevent me from copying it and passing it off as my own. But, scruples are a must, so go here to CasaSugar to download and print the spring cleaning and organizing checklist.

And, if you'd like some more in-depth instruction and tips, check out the Spring Spruce Up event where these fantastic bloggers show you how to spruce different areas of your home:

• Laundry Room | Mama’s Laundry Talk
• School Room | Homegrown Mom
• Craft Room | Many Little Blessings
• Bathroom | Feels Like Home
• Playroom | …Life’s About a Dream
• Garage/Storage Space | A Slob Comes Clean
• Master Bedroom | Raising Arrows
• Homeschool | Jimmie’s Collage
• Kitchen | So Happy Together
• Garden | An Oregon Cottage
• Backyard | Successful Homeschooling

Now, to convince myself that it really is necessary to dust all those obscure (and not-so-obscure) areas that accumulate rapidly since I loathe dusting... What's your most loathed spring cleaning task?