Spring is in the air...and so is dust and the stale smell of homes being closed all winter. This month's challenge is a deep cleaning of your home to give it a fresh spring shine.

In this discussion, we'll keep each other motivated with our progress reports. What could be better than green and cheap cleaning of our homes, share your tips for natural and homemade cleaners.

Let's see who finishes first and who spends the least getting the spring cleaning done!

The Dollar Stretcher has the following great tips for homemade cleaners:

Spring Cleaning

Homemade Cleaning Supplies

Ok, sometimes I get really excited about spring cleaning and start and then stall out. I think that is what happened this last weekend, LOL.

I moved the furniture in my sons' rooms and swept and vacuumed behind the furniture, DH sorted toys to pack up or give away and I organized clothing and put away clothes that are too small/out of season. In our bedroom, I didn't get the bed moved yet but I removed the winter bedding (regretting that with 20 degree nights, ugh, brought back the electric blanket), put away the flannel sheets and brought out the cotton sheets. In addition to another challenge to clean out closets, I took about 20 items to a thrift store for donation. My next goal is to work on shoes. I have too, too many and I have to switch my winter boots, loafers, casual shoes out and box them up and store them in the basement. Then I can get out my sandals, flip flops, light colored shoes, mules and bring them upstairs to my closet. Not there yet b/c we almost had snow this last weekend. Ugh.

DH has already started working outside doing the "spring cleaning" of our yard. I did sweep and sweep our deck and porch so it is ready for our outdoor furniture. A nice rain on Monday helped clean things off as well.

The kitchen needs a good cleaning, too. DH promised to help move the fridge and stove so I can clean behind them. I did declutter two of my cabinets this winter but my pantry area could use a good cleaning.

As for the living/dining area, I keep on top of those areas. The only thing that I would like to do is take down the drapes and either wash them or vacuum them to get the dust/dog hair off. I'm not going to do what they did in prairie times and take all the rugs out and beat them on the clothes line, LOL. I think my vacuum works well enough!

I work in bits and pieces. It may take all spring! My mom used to spend about 3 whole days working from upstairs to downstairs. I just can't do that! Not enough attention span! Too many little boys underfoot!

Beating a rug is a chore and great if you like work as excercise, lol. I am not sure I want to do it again.

I don't spring clean per say..I do it all year round in bits and pieces. mostly spring and fall with the rotation of kids clothes etc. thrift store etc donations are an ongoing thing here. with the kids and pets  whatever gets my attention first!  like the kids dumping the cat's water in the kitchen. definitely get under the fridge and stove for cleaning then. couple of high places in my house definitely haven't seen a dust cloth in a long while! my dh lord of the rings collection for example.

I love the fact my drapes are washable.  if you have an air or fluff cycle you can put the heat on low and put the drapes in there to get the dust etc off. or a nice windy day helps.

My cat bob has been bleeding from his mouth so l have too clean up blood /drool drips everywhere, discovered a bunch of gore to clean up later. definitely getting rid of the hall carpets! rather have old lino for now easier to clean! instead of dirty carpet all the time!

Dear All, Jews do a thorough cleaning in teh weeks before Passover/Pesach to make sure tht there are no crumbs of leavened bread anywhere in the house.  The chief place for my cleaning is the great room chair where my aides sit during the half-hour I give them off (out of a 4-hour session) -- because many times tehy have eaten sandwiches or crackers there.  (I do not allow outside food in teh Kosher kitchen.)  As I mentioned in a previous post, we designate one cabinet for foods that are czertified as Kosher for Passover.  Since rice, beans, rye, oats, & more are prohibited on Passover, I -- and other vegetarians -- have t o rely on potatoes as the centerpiece of meals for all of the 8 days.  They can go on a counter-top -- we cover all the tops with aluminum foil.  (We use potato starch -- in place of cornstarch -- & matzo meal -- in place of flour.)  I use paper plates, etc, & line pans & pots with alum. foil -- this is NOT a good holiday for the environment!  (Most people have dedicated kitchenware, but I have no room for it.)  I open up a new bottle of oil, new package (tub) of margarine, & new jug of soymilk, & keep them on refrigerator shelves covered with aluminum foil.  (First, the fridge is cleaned thoroughly.)  I use produce freely, especially since most of it is in my dedicated freezer.  We eat matzo crackers instead of bread.  Anyhow, I have digressed far from the topic of this thread, for which I apologize.  Yours in Him, Deb

Deb,

Your post makes me wonder if this plays a part in spring cleaning coming to be a tradition.

The new routine I started is a basic cleaning plan for handling areas that have to be cleaned weekly or daily with using Flylady for systematically getting deeper cleaning done. So my spring cleaning consists of organising closets, weeding through outgrown clothes, changing the bedding from heavy to lighter and yard/garden work. I'll likely add curtain washing in next year and I may even do winter and summer curtains again too.

 DH cleaned our bedroom. Nice job too. DS kind of cleaned his. Looks and smells a bit better. I am washing his quilts, packing some away for spring. DH had two bags of clothes to give away. He has lost some weight so they were too big. DS cleaned out some dress shirts to give away. They were given to him but he never wore them. Told him it was time for then to go. Babs

Dear Brandy, It is possible that the Jewish practice became a universal tradition, as the Apostles and a number of the early Christians followed Jewish customs, to the best of my knowledge, since Jesus was a Jew and Jews were prominent among the early converts.  Yours in Him, Deb