How to naturally spring clean your whole home
After a winter spent largely indoors, it’s time for spring cleaning, BC. Here are some tips and tricks to spring clean your whole home, including fresh takes on eco-friendly cleaning plus a room-by-room checklist.
Step 1: Gather natural cleaning supplies
To make your cleaning routine less wasteful and environmentally harmful, avoid traditional cleaning products which contain chemicals that can impact our air, water and wellbeing, like ammonia, chlorine, phthalates, perchloroethylene, triclosan, 2-Butoxyethanol and sodium hydroxide.
Try getting your cleaning products from some more environmentally-friendly brands like: Elva’s All Naturals, Bio Vert, Attitude Living and Aspen Clean Here’s what you need to get started:
- All-purpose or all-in-1 cleaner
- Bathroom cleaner
- Floor cleaner
- Scouring or scrubbing brush, and cloths
- Trash bags
Or if you prefer the do-it-yourself approach, you can concoct your own all-purpose cleaner. Infuse one part vinegar, one-part water, lemon rind and rosemary sprigs for one week and you have a natural cleaning liquid. Just make sure you don’t use it on granite, quartz or marble counters, as the acidic vinegar and lemon could damage the stone.
Step 2: Prepare to clean
Before you clean your surfaces, clean up stuff. Grab everything loose (clothes, shoes, electronics, toys, dishes, dog beds and dishes) and stash it away in cabinets, drawers, closets, on shelves, the dishwasher and in your garage or mudroom.
Step 3: Clean top-to-bottom, dry-to-wet in 10-minute chunks
Just like when you’re painting, it’s best to clean your home from top to bottom. By starting high, you’ll dislodge all the dust, cobwebs and dirt and it will fall down to the floor. Vacuum the cobwebs from your ceiling and walls, then sweep and vacuum your floors. Next, you’re ready to wet wipe your walls and mop your floors.
If spring cleaning is beginning to feel like a marathon, break it up into productive, 10-minute bursts. Start with the following general maintenance tasks you should do every three months, then begin tackling your place, room by room.
- Clean your doors and switch plates: With a damp microfibre cloth, wipe away smudges and fingerprints from your doorknobs and switch plates.
- Fire Extinguisher: We recommend regularly performing an inspection on all household fire extinguishers to ensure the unit has not expired, the pressure gauge is still within the correct operating range and there is no physical damage to the unit. Additionally, make sure to clean any dust, oil or grease off the extinguisher which could prevent it from functioning correctly.
- Alarms: Test and replace your smoke alarm batteries and CO2 detectors
- Air flow: Check and replace, as needed, your air filters, air vents and registers
- Lights: Clean or replace your light fixtures, light bulbs and light switches
- Handles: Sanitize all your door handles
Here’s our room-by-room cleaning checklist to get you started:
- Dust and wipe high kitchen surfaces like your walls and tops of your fridge, microwave, range hood and cabinets
- Clear and clean off your countertops
- Clean your stovetop and grates
- Clean your oven with a natural or homemade cleaning solution (traditional chemical oven cleaners are bad for your health)
- Purge old, expired or unwanted food and condiments in your pantry, fridge, and freezer
- Clean your appliances and fridge, defrost your freezer and wipe all fridge drawers, shelves and seals
- Clean grease off your cabinet doors and backsplash
- Deodorize and degrease your kitchen drain (here’s how to naturally clean your kitchen sink and disposal)
- Wash your dish rags and clean your bacteria-laden sponges
- Wipe baseboards and then mop the floor
- Vacuum dust and cobwebs high on the walls
- Dust and clean your light fixtures
- Dust, vacuum and naturally clean your blinds, curtains and curtain rods
- Clean your windows and window sills
- Vacuum and spot clean your chairs and cushions
- Vacuum and shampoo the floor, rugs and carpets (learn how to deep green clean your carpets)
- Discard old or expired personal care products and makeup
- Take old medications to your local pharmacy
- Wipe the walls and ceiling
- Clean the cabinet top
- Sweep/vacuum the floor
- Naturally clean & defog your mirror
- Clean your shower and tub with a solution of vinegar, warm water and microfibre cloth
- Clean your showerhead (try this baking soda & plastic bag trick)
- Clean your shower curtain liner
- Clean your toilet and hardware
- Wipe baseboards and mop the floor
- Vacuum or wipe the ceiling and walls
- Tidy the entire room and clean your laundry supplies and jugs
- Clean your dryer vent and clear out the lint trap
- Clean your washing machine (use orange or lemon Kool-Aid powder as the citric acid crystals scrub away rust and gunk)
- Wipe those baseboards
- Vacuum and mop the floor
- Tuck the vacuum out of your way
- Open the window to air it out
- Tidy and organize your closets
- Donate your old, unwanted clothing, or host a clothing swap with friends
- Vacuum cobwebs on the ceiling so the spiders don’t crawl down into your sleeping mouth
- Strip the bed and wash your sheets, duvet, pillowcases. Wash your pillows to make them white again.
- Green clean your windows and wipe your window sills
- Vacuum and clean your curtains, blinds and curtain rods
- Flip the mattress
- Wipe baseboards
- Deodorize your carpet with baking soda
- Vacuum the carpet and mop the floor (here’s how to deep green clean your carpets)
- Vacuum and wipe the ceiling, walls and ceiling fan
- Vacuum and dust your blinds, curtains and curtain rods
- Clean the window sills
- Wash your windows
- Dust and clean your lamp shades
- Dust and polish your furniture
- Wash your throw pillows and blankets
- Vacuum your couch
- Dust your electronics and media stand
- Clean and sanitize the remote controls
- Vacuum your rugs and carpet and mop your floor
- Vacuum and wipe the ceiling and walls
- Clean plastic toys with soap and water
- Wash all stuffed animals and soft toys
- Give away unused toys to children’s hospitals and family services
- Organize the toys you’re keeping
- Vacuum your rugs and carpet and mop your floor
- Reduce, reuse, and recycle anything cluttering your office like unneeded paperwork
- Tidy your desk
- Move items that aren’t work related (e.g., sports gear, vacuum cleaner) into the room or closet it’s supposed to live in
- Vacuum and wipe the ceiling and walls
- Dust and polish your furniture
- Dust the bookshelf where you display the books you haven’t finished
- Dust your electronics, monitor and devices
- Sanitize your keyboard and mouse
- Declutter your tools, sports gear, cleaning gear, and toys
- Vacuum the ceiling and walls, then wipe the walls
- Sweep the floor
- Use a Shop Vac to vacuum up wet or dry debris
- Clean your garage door and door frame
- Vacuum and clean your work shelves
- Clean the windows
- Replace the batteries in your garage door openers
Congratulations! The inside of your home is now clean and ready for spring. There’s just one last thing to make sure you’re ready for sunshine and good times.
Insure your beautiful home
Now that you’ve shown some love to your whole home, protect it with BCAA Home Insurance. Our exceptional home insurance covers homeowners, renters, landlords, vacation properties, and mobile homes. Visit bcaa.com/home to get a quote today. You’ll save 5% when you buy BCAA Home Insurance online and an additional 10% as a BCAA Member.*
Happy cleaning!
Home Insurance is sold through B.C.A.A. Holdings Ltd. dba BCAA Insurance Agency, a licensed insurance agent, and underwritten by BCAA Insurance Corporation
* BCAA Member savings on insurance products are only available with Basic, Plus, or Premier Membership plans. For full details, please visit bcaa.com/plans.