After months of muddy shoes, wet weather and spending more time indoors, spring is a great opportunity to give your home a refresh.
But a spring clean doesn’t have to mean trying to tackle the entire house in one exhausting day. Breaking the job into manageable stages – decluttering first, working from top to bottom and saving the floors until later – can make it much easier.
From forgotten dust traps to carpets, upholstery and hard floors, here’s how to give your home a thorough spring clean.
Start by decluttering
Before you reach for the cleaning products, make yourself a cup of tea, take a deep breath, and give yourself some space to work.
Go from room to room and clear away anything that doesn’t need to be there. Put everyday items back where they belong and sort unwanted belongings into things to keep, donate, recycle or dispose of.
Pay particular attention to the places where clutter tends to accumulate: kitchen worktops, dining tables, hallway surfaces, bedside tables and that chair that somehow becomes a permanent home for clothes.
You don’t need to reorganise every cupboard at once. The aim is simply to clear enough surfaces and floors to make the actual cleaning easier.
Work from top to bottom
There’s little point vacuuming a room and then knocking dust from a shelf onto your freshly cleaned floor.
Instead, start high and gradually work your way down.
Dust the tops of wardrobes and cabinets, shelves, picture frames, lampshades and other higher surfaces before moving on to furniture, skirting boards and floors.
Use a suitable microfibre cloth to trap dust rather than simply moving it around. Where appropriate, slightly dampening the cloth can help capture loose dust.
Once you’ve finished, vacuum anything that’s fallen onto the floor.
Get into the places you normally miss
A spring clean is a good opportunity to tackle the areas that don’t get much attention during your usual cleaning routine.
Look underneath beds and sofas, behind accessible furniture and around the edges of rooms. Dust and hair can also accumulate around radiator areas, underneath cabinets and along skirting boards.
Vacuum attachments can make these jobs easier. A crevice tool is useful for narrow gaps and edges, while a cordless vacuum gives you more freedom when you’re moving between furniture and rooms.
Current models in the VAX cordless vacuum cleaner range include options designed for whole-home cleaning, including harder-to-reach areas.
Give sofas and chairs some attention
Soft furnishings can easily be overlooked when you’re cleaning.
Remove sofa cushions where possible and vacuum underneath them, paying particular attention to seams and gaps where crumbs, dust and pet hair tend to collect.
Vacuum suitable upholstery using the appropriate attachment for your cleaner and fabric. If you have pets, their favourite spot on the sofa may need some extra attention.
Check the furniture manufacturer’s care instructions before using any cleaning product or wet-cleaning appliance on upholstery.
Freshen up your bedroom
Start by stripping the bed and washing your bedding according to its care instructions.
While the bed is clear, vacuum underneath and around it. Move bedside furniture where practical and clean the skirting boards and other areas that aren’t normally accessible.
It’s also a good opportunity to vacuum your mattress if its care instructions permit it. Use an appropriate vacuum attachment and concentrate on the surface and seams.
Don’t forget other dust-catching surfaces in the bedroom, including headboards, blinds, lampshades and the tops of wardrobes.
Deep clean your carpets
Regular vacuuming removes everyday dust, hair and loose debris, but spring is a good opportunity to give carpets a deeper clean if they need it.
Vacuum thoroughly first. Move lightweight furniture where practical and concentrate on high-traffic areas such as hallways and living rooms.
A carpet cleaner washes into the carpet and extracts the dirty water, helping tackle dirt beyond your normal vacuuming routine. The current VAX carpet cleaner range includes whole-floor cleaners as well as models with hoses and tools for tackling suitable stairs and upholstery.
Always check your carpet manufacturer’s care instructions before wet cleaning and allow the carpet to dry properly afterwards.
Tackle stains separately
A whole-carpet clean and a small stain are two different jobs.
If you spot an old spill while moving furniture, don’t automatically scrub at it. Check what caused the stain if you know, then use a cleaning method appropriate for your carpet or upholstery.
For smaller spills and stains, a portable spot cleaner lets you concentrate on the affected area without washing the whole carpet.
The VAX SpotWash range is designed for targeted cleaning on suitable carpets and upholstery, making it particularly useful for the stains you discover during a deeper clean.
Deep clean hard floors
Once you’ve dusted and vacuumed, turn your attention to hard floors.
Start by removing loose debris. Pay particular attention to edges, corners and underneath furniture before washing the main floor area.
Always use a cleaning method suitable for your particular flooring. Different types of wood, laminate, vinyl and tile can have different care requirements, and more water doesn’t necessarily mean a cleaner floor.
For suitable sealed hard floors, the VAX ONEPWR Glide 2 range can vacuum, wash and dry hard floors at the same time, helping you tackle loose debris and everyday dirt in one clean.
Give the kitchen a proper clean
Kitchen surfaces get cleaned regularly, but a spring clean is a chance to go further.
Clear and clean worktops, wipe cupboard fronts and handles, and clean around small appliances. Check underneath appliances that can be safely moved and tackle crumbs and debris around kickboards and room edges.
The fridge deserves some attention too. Dispose of food that’s no longer usable, remove shelves and drawers where the manufacturer’s instructions allow and clean them appropriately before putting everything back.
Finish with the floor so you can pick up any crumbs or debris dislodged while cleaning higher surfaces.
Don’t overlook doors, switches and handles
Some of the most frequently touched areas of the home are also among the easiest to forget during everyday cleaning.
Look around each room for door handles, cupboard handles, light switches and other frequently handled surfaces.
Clean them using a method appropriate for the material and take particular care around electrical switches and sockets. Never spray liquid directly onto electrical fittings.
Doors themselves may also benefit from a wipe down, particularly around handles and lower areas where marks accumulate.
Give pet areas a spring refresh
If you have a dog or cat, include their favourite areas in your spring clean.
Vacuum around pet beds, underneath feeding areas and anywhere your pet regularly sleeps. Wash removable bedding and blankets according to their care labels and clean food and water bowls appropriately.
Pet hair can accumulate underneath furniture and around room edges, so these areas are worth checking even if the main floor looks clean.
Spring is also a good opportunity to sort through pet toys, dispose of damaged ones where appropriate and clean washable toys according to their instructions.
Clean your cleaning equipment
There’s one final job that’s easy to forget: the equipment you’ve just used to clean everything else.
Empty your vacuum’s dirt container or change its bag where applicable. Check the brush bar for wrapped hair and inspect filters according to the instructions for your model.
If you’ve used a carpet, spot or hard floor cleaner, empty the dirty-water tank and follow the manufacturer’s after-use cleaning instructions before storing it.
Wash reusable cloths and cleaning pads too.
Keeping your equipment clean and maintained means it’ll be ready rather than full of last spring clean’s dirt the next time you need it.
Make a spring cleaning checklist
You don’t have to do everything at once. Breaking your spring clean into smaller jobs can make the whole process feel much more manageable.
A simple order to follow is:
- Declutter each room
- Dust from high to low
- Clean surfaces and furniture
- Vacuum upholstery and mattresses where appropriate
- Vacuum floors, edges and underneath furniture
- Treat individual stains
- Deep clean carpets or suitable hard floors
- Clean kitchens, pet areas and other high-use spaces
- Clean and maintain your cleaning equipment
You could tackle one room each day, divide the jobs between everyone in the household or simply work through the list over a couple of weekends.
Give your home a fresh start this spring
A good spring clean isn’t about cleaning everything for the sake of it. It’s an opportunity to tackle the jobs that get overlooked during your everyday routine.
Start with the areas that need the most attention, work from top to bottom and choose cleaning methods that are suitable for each surface.
By the time you’re finished, you’ll have dealt with the dust behind the furniture, the stain you kept ignoring and the dirt that’s accumulated over winter – giving your home a fresh start for the months ahead.
Vax Staff