Spring Cleaning Simplified: Focusing on Quick Wins
When it comes to spring cleaning, I do not have a week or even a whole day to dedicate to scrubbing every nook and cranny of my house. With 5 small children underfoot, there's only so much I can do. There are diapers to be changed, boo-boos to be kissed, and mouths to feed (5,897 times a day.)
As a busy mom, I try to focus my spring cleaning efforts on what I call “quick wins”.
What is a spring cleaning quick win?
I look for things that I can do in about 5 minutes or less that will make the biggest difference in how clean that area is. That's it!
When Babbleboxx asked if they could send me a box of spring cleaning items to try, I readily agreed, knowing that I'd be able to use these tools for my 5 minute “quick win” sessions!
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by BabbleBoxx.com on behalf of Single Edition Media.
Laundry Room Cabinet
You know how the little drips from laundry detergents and stain removers make the shelves where they sit get all gunky and slimy? Cleaning this area can be a quick win for you!
Have you ever used shelf liner anywhere in your house? Well, there's a new kid in town that takes things to a new level when it comes to shelf liners.
My laundry room shelves were experiencing gunk overload, so I knew I needed to do a quick win on them. Babbleboxx had sent me a roll of Duck Smooth Top Easy Liner with Clorox, so I used that to line the shelves of my laundry room cabinet.
Apparently, shelf liner is no longer plain old shelf liner. Duck Easy Liner now has a Clorox antimicrobial coating embedded into it to help prevent mold and mildew growth.
It was so quick and easy to cut the liner down to size and put it on the shelf, but it made a noticeable difference in how clean the shelf looked. (The “quick wins” are my absolute favorite when it comes to spring cleaning!)
I really liked the smooth top. Those sticky-feeling shelf liners have their place for other things, but when you need to slide laundry products in and out all day long, they can get annoying. The smooth top makes it so nice. Plus, the smooth top makes it easy to wipe down if something gets spilled on it. (The underside is still sticky so that it stays on the shelf without sliding around.) It's water-resistant too, which is a good thing, since I'm using it in the laundry room. And finally, if I ever needed too, I could toss it into the wash (yes – it's machine washable!)
All these factors made it the perfect choice for this job.
Do you have a spring cleaning job where Duck Smooth Top Easy Liner would be helpful?
You can purchase it in either white or taupe, and it comes in both 12” x 10’ and 20” x 6’ sizes.
Water Stained Wood
You wouldn't think removing water stains from wood would be a quick win. I wouldn't anyway.
My husband's night stand had gotten some pretty ugly water stains. It was one of those things where I was going to research “how to get water stains out of wood” — someday. I just hadn't gotten around to it yet.
But since Babbleboxx had included a bottle of TriNova Wood Cleaner and Conditioner in the spring cleaning kit they sent me, I thought, “Why not? It can't hurt to try.”
Wow! I honestly did not think it would get the stains out! I thought it would clean any surface residue and shine it up a bit, but I was shocked that it took the water stains right out!
If you have a lot of wood surfaces in your house, you can use TriNova Wood Cleaner and Conditioner for any of them, such as furniture, cabinets, or hardwood floors.
I really loved this product so much more than I expected to. It doesn't leave any kind of residue; it just made the wood feel so smooth. (And of course it took out those stains!) I will DEFINITELY be using this often to keep my wood surfaces shiny and clean.
You can pick up TriNova Wood Cleaner from Amazon right here. Through April 30, 2017, you can use the coupon code Babble20 to get an extra 20% off.
Dirty Fabric
Another area that I wouldn't necessarily have thought would be a quick win certainly ended up that way with the right tools for the job.
I was walking through the kitchen and I noticed how horribly dirty the fabric on our island stools had become. (Note to self: when there are kids in the house, only purchase hard surfaces for anything that goes in the kitchen.)
(Wow – that's embarrassing!)
I was trying to figure out what I could use to clean it, and I thought, “Well, Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner is supposed to be all-purpose. I wouldn't normally think to use it on fabric, but let's just see what happens. At this point, I certainly can't make that stool any worse.”
Look!
It's all-purpose all right.
I've used the bottle of Simple Green for tons of little quick-win jobs since then – mopping the floor, wiping down baseboards, anything that looks dirty really. I LOVE having all-purpose cleaner around! (And I love that Simple Green is non-toxic too.)
Simple Green is a concentrated cleaner, meaning that you should dilute it for most jobs because it's just way too powerful for what you need. Diluting it means that one bottle goes a LONG way, making it very cost-effective.
But when you have a really tough job, you can use it straight, and it will do your cleaning for you without the need for much elbow grease from you.
I also received a bottle of Simple Green Stone Cleaner and Polish, which I didn't try because I don't have surfaces in my house that called for it. I'm sure it does just as good of a job as the all-purpose cleaner, though.
You can find more information about both products on the Simple Green website, along with LOTS of ideas for how to use them. You can also grab a coupon for $1.75 off (that's a good coupon!) right here.
Dirty Dishes
I know what you're thinking. “Why are you including dirty dishes in a list of spring cleaning quick wins?”
So, here's my philosophy. Every day is spring cleaning day – not just a day or a week sometime in the spring. Anything that needs to be cleaned, big or small, well…it needs to be cleaned.
And you know what I really like to neglect? It's when there's a pot in which I overcooked the food and now it is going to be really hard to wash. So then I let it sit there “to soak”, but when I come back it's not any easier to wash.
I have two choices at this point. 1. I can dig in and just get the job done or 2. I can continue to let it sit there soaking.
The job needs to get done! But scrubbing a pot with burned-on food is not an easy task, and it's not going to be a quick win!
Until…I tried out the Scrub Daddy.
Let me be honest. I kind of groaned when I saw the Scrub Daddy in the box because I was thinking about how much I hate doing dishes. It didn't look like a fun or unique “spring cleaning” task, but it just meant I'd be doing boring old dishes.
But when I made myself try it out, I was like, “Ohhh. I like this thing.”
The Scrub Daddy turned getting that crusty pot off my counter into a spring cleaning quick win!
No joke – this guy doesn't scratch my non-stick pots!! I can bust through that crud in a flash without babying my pots!
Here's how it works: When it's cold it's stiff and hard so you can do tough scrubbing jobs. When it's warm, it gets soft so you can just use it for regular old dish washing.
And here's what else I like – the Scrub Daddy doesn't get all slimy and nasty like regular sponges that you leave sitting in your sink too long. It rinses right off and dries out nicely. You can pop it into the dishwasher if it does need a deeper cleaning.
I received Scrub Daddy's counterpart, Scrub Mommy, too, which has the scrubby part on one side and a more spongy part on the other side.
You can check out the Scrub Daddy (and the Scrub Mommy) right here.
More Spring Cleaning Quick Win Ideas:
If you're wanting to try to accomplish a few quick wins throughout the day, here are more things you can do:
- Clean out the silverware drawer
- Wash a window or two
- Organize a book shelf
- Wipe down light switches and door knobs
- Pour baking soda and vinegar down your drains to clean them
- Take outdated papers off the refrigerator
- Clean off one refrigerator or pantry shelf
- Wipe down the backs of kitchen chairs (they get nasty if you have kids!)
- Dust the tops of windowills and door frames
- Clean out your junk drawer
Happy cleaning!