9 Handy Tips to Spring Clean Your Home

When it comes to Spring Cleaning the best thing you can do is to be ruthless. AND as my Dad would say on a loop, 'you have to have the right tools for the job'. I want to share some thoughts and tips on how I have effectively Spring Cleaned My Home over the years. 

ENTERTAINMENT

So like all kinds of housework, the majority of chores are mundane. Don't see this as a chore rather relish at the opportunity to have a new beginning. Like exfoliating all the crap from your life that you've collected either mistakenly or unwittingly and now meander around the cosmos like a whale with a plastic bag in its mouth. 

Download a decent podcast series on Audible. I recommend The Hunt for the Missing MH370 series or Shootout: The Battle for North Hollywood, and listen to some amazing stories on the go as you carry out the task. Get some wireless headphones that you can stop and start with one click of the ear piece so you don't have to keep yanking out the phone from your pocket each time the missus quizzes you on something utterly irrelevant. 

2 YEARS

Clothes really do stink up the place sometimes. They take up a lot of real estate and can actually wear you down mentally with each unworn season. Keep the staples, but maybe start to be a bit more ruthless with the items that get worn begrudgingly. At one point I had up to ten white shirts on my rail. Which is fine, but only 2-3 were ever seeing the light of day and on rotation. Clothes aren't designed to kept as museum pieces, hand them down or sell them on. 

PET TOYS 

Oh these are the worst. We forget that our pets showed zero interest in the beginning, let alone 3 years on. And now the basket is over flowing with all the gifts from XMAS. Your pets are no exception to a good spring clean. And hey, if they are starting to clutter up the place also, there is always eBay. (Joking, maybe). 

LABELLING 

Oh the classic DYMO machine. Belief me a 20 quid investment you will not regret. One of the biggest banes of my life is riffling through unmarked boxes trying to find stuff. When you label the boxes and index its contents with a DYMO labeller, it will save you years of rummaging like an out of work archaeologist.

MAXIMISING KITCHEN SPACE

Stackable Tupperware is one effective way of streamlining the content of your cupboards. Colour coded lids will also save time trying to pair miscellaneous lids to boxes. Also never lend your Tupperware out to someone wanting to take home cake or BBQ chicken. You'll never get it back. Family members included. 

BOOKS

Books take up an enormous amount of space. Maybe you might be hanging on to them as collectibles, fine. But the pillow case fantasy or airplane thrillers are ten to a penny. Invest in a Kindle if you're just a leisurely book reader and not an avid collector. 

DVDs 

Wow you still buy these? I know your Mum got you that Bond film on DVD for Christmas but it's not even BluRay quality. It will look like crap on your big high res tele. Get rid, get Amazon Prime or Netflix and you're covered. Oh and Sky Glass now has everything in. No need for a sky box or dish. 

NO CONSULTING

I think the biggest mistakes dudes make is consulting their other halves on whether they can sling certain things. Women are a lot more emotional about material possessions. The fact that you have to ask is an admittance that you want to get rid. If it's yours, she has technically no say in the matter. So don't ask her permission. 

SHOE RACKS

Back in the day I used to hang on to all my old boxes. I thought it would be easier to find my shoes and trainers and that they would be worth more as collectors pieces. Both turned out to be misnomers. Get a shoe rack, chuck the boxes, you'll save an infinite amount of space. Also you will be able to see what footwear you have without the fuss of playing shoe box-jenga each time you leave the house.