When was the last time that you gave your house a good spring clean? Come on, be honest now, is it something that you always intend to do but never get around to because of 1001 more pressing things that need to be done?

Me, I am a spring-cleaning fanatic! Well not really, but I love the way that I feel after reorganising my house, so much so, that a regular spring clean is on the calendar at least once a year and I treat it like a little holiday.

You see, it is not just the house that get cleansed but ideas, dreams and things that are just not working for me, afterwards I have room for fresh concepts, new visions and imagined challenges in the clean, energetic space that I have re-arranged.

Spring cleaning essentials to get you organised…

Sometimes all we need to get started with any task that seems onerous, and makes our mind slide into neutral at the slightest prompt, is the first step. For me, if a challenge seems too difficult that it is in danger of overwhelming, I just start somewhere, anywhere.

So here are some tips to get you started, sooner than you know it a sparkly, clean, organised house will be yours and you will wonder why you delayed so long.

1. Time limit your reminisce
   I love finding things that I have forgotten about and reliving the fond, family memories that are often associated with them. This is a good thing and fun to do but you need to be able to step away as well, because it is a potential trap.Reminisce and move on, otherwise you will never get it all finished and you end up keeping too many things.
2.  Keep, donate, give-away or sell
   These are the four options that I use when I am spring cleaning and everything must fit into one of these groups. Things that are kept are safely tucked away inside the house while the others are organised into their respective areas in the garage.Oh and you must make sure that they get to their final destinations otherwise they may still be gathering dust when you spring clean next time.
3. Baby steps
   Don’t try and do the whole house simultaneously, otherwise you end up with a massive mess, a migraine and an irresistible urge to leave home. Baby steps are great, just one room at a time so that you don’t scare yourself at the enormity of the task.  Even if the rest of the house is a mess, you can always retreat to the room that you have successfully spring-cleaned.
4. Be ruthless
   Yes that’s what I mean, be ruthless! Usually the first thought about something is the right one and when that doesn’t work I ask myself this question. When was the last time that something was used, worn or even thought about? If it was over a year or I can’t remember then it is not something that I need.Don’t forget letting go is liberating, embrace change and open up your life to an array of possibilities.
5. Containers are your friends
   Containers clog up the kitchen and you just need to start using them for good. The old ones I mean that no longer keep food fresh but will keep little Kevin’s Lego in one place or Janet’s doll clothes nice and tidy or millions of other smallish things organised.  I’m a self-confessed tub-oholic and I seriously have tubs for everything small, much to my hubbies dismay!  He found that I had neatly organised Miss 5’s lego into multiple tubs by colour code, which has since been merged into one big tub. He claims that it stifles her creativity by having it ‘too’ organised.  I’ll just need to find another use for these little tubs.

So what are you waiting for? Time to get started. Remember baby steps, ruthless behaviour and clean, clean, clean. The house of your dreams is there just waiting for you to reveal it and one more secret that I want to let you in on, come closer and I will whisper.

Jif, the magical cream cleaner that rocks my world, it cleans through even the toughest mess, don’t spring clean without it.