Spring Cleaning Mistakes Homeowners Make

You might not realize it, but there’s a right way and a wrong way to spring clean your home. Using the wrong techniques and products can actually slow down the effort, leading to wasted time and energy.

When your project takes too long, you’re more likely to gloss over certain aspects of the project. Your stress level will increase, and you’ll lose motivation. More than that, your home won’t be as clean as you want. What are the spring cleaning mistakes homeowners make most often?

Common Mistakes That Can Make Cleaning Less Effective

Spring cleaning isn’t a quick and easy project. In fact, when done right, it can take many long hours to clean even a smaller home or apartment.

A larger space could take a full weekend or several weekends, depending on the current state of the home. Once you learn about the common mistakes made when spring cleaning, you can clean more efficiently and effectively.

Cleaning in the Wrong Order

As long as you get all of the cleaning tasks complete, does it matter what order you do those tasks in? The short answer is, yes. When you clean in the wrong order, you might actually be spreading dirt to areas that you just cleaned.

Dusting After Vacuuming: When dusting your furniture, at least some of that dust is swept off the furniture and onto the floor. If you’ve already vacuumed, that dust will remain on the floor until you vacuum again.

Some of that dust will sink deep into the fibers and won’t be removed until your carpet is deep cleaned. On the other hand, when you dust first, you can then vacuum the dust that falls onto the carpet right away.

Cleaning Floors Before Countertops: Likewise, wiping down your countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms inevitably results in some food crumbs and other debris landing on the floor.

If you’ve already swept and mopped your hard floors, you’ll be frustrated to find that the floors are now dirty again with that debris from the counters. You can skip the extra effort of re-cleaning the floors by saving the sweeping and mopping until after the counters are clean.

Using the Wrong Cleaning Products

The cleaning products selected for spring cleaning affect everything from personal health and air quality to the integrity of your furniture, flooring, and other surfaces. How does this happen?

Mixing Cleaning Chemicals Unsafely: It’s always best to use natural cleaning products rather than chemical-based cleaning products that come with health risks. However, regardless of whether you use chemical-based or natural cleaning products, mixing some of these products can produce toxic gases that have serious consequences.

Never mix bleach with ammonia, vinegar, rubbing alcohol, or toilet bowl cleaning products. Hydrogen peroxide mixed with vinegar creates an acid that causes skin, eye, and respiratory system irritation. You also shouldn’t mix two types of drain cleaning products together.

Using Harsh Products on Delicate Surfaces: Some surfaces in your home may seem strong and impenetrable, but they can easily be damaged by some harsh products.

For example, natural stone like marble, granite, and others are prone to damage from acid-based cleaning products. Natural wood floors, tile grout, electronics, and other areas of the home also require special care when cleaning.

Ignoring High-Touch and Hidden Areas

The overall purpose of spring cleaning is to give your home a more thorough clean than what you accomplish during your regular cleaning sessions. However, even when you clean areas that you don’t look at often, such as the baseboards, curtains, and more, you’re probably still overlooking some key areas.

Overlooking Light Switches and Door Handles: You touch these areas frequently, but how often do you actually clean them? The reality is that many homeowners rarely clean them.

As a result, they are likely covered in a variety of illness-causing germs. Choose a cleaning product that has disinfecting properties yet won’t damage the finish.

Forgetting Ceiling Fans and Air Vents: Dirty ceiling fans and air vents are common reasons why a home gets dirty faster than it should.

When air circulates, some of the built-up dust on these features is propelled into the air. This is the time to remove the built-up dirt and grime on the overhead features in your home.

Neglecting Under / Behind Furniture and Appliances: You don’t move your furniture and appliances routinely for cleaning, but the areas behind and underneath them will get dirty.

Generally, you can’t see this dirt, but it can impact the life and performance of your appliances. It can also increase allergens and decrease indoor air quality. As a rule of thumb, pull out these heavy items for extra cleaning during your next spring cleaning session.

Decluttering Too Late

The best time to declutter your home is before you start cleaning. Decluttering is the process of removing all of those unwanted and unneeded items that take up space in your home without purpose. It typically involves organization as well.

Cleaning Around Clutter Instead of Removing It: When spring cleaning, you typically clean out cabinets, drawers, closets, and other areas. You’ll need to move junk mail and small appliances on the counters, trinkets that you’ve accumulated, and more.

It takes time to clean around the clutter as well as to clean the clutter itself. Rather than wasting this valuable time, you’ll save time now and in future cleaning sessions when you declutter.

Holding Onto Unused or Broken Items: While you don’t want to get rid of items that hold sentimental meaning, many people continue hanging onto items that are broken or unused.

They might think that they’ll fix those items or might have a use for them at some point in the future. As a rule of thumb, if you haven’t used something in 12 months and don’t have plans to use it within the next few months, you should get rid of it.

Skipping Organization After Cleaning: Organization is key to maintaining a clean home. It prevents your home from getting cluttered again so quickly. This makes it easier to clean your home going forward. There are also mental and physical benefits associated with having a cleaner, organized living space.

Taking on More Than You Can Handle

In some cases, homeowners grow accustomed to their clutter. The mess seemingly disappears in the background and goes unnoticed.

This is the same as if you don’t give thought to all of the other items on the laundry room shelf when you’re reaching for the detergent or the hygiene items on your counter when brushing your teeth. However, once you start cleaning, the dirt and clutter can be overwhelming.

Knowing When to Hire Professional Cleaners: Spring cleaning might initially seem like something you can breeze through in an afternoon. However, after you start and realize it just took you 30 minutes to declutter and clean a few drawers, you’ll discover that your initial time estimate was far too short.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the project in front of you or you are simply not mentally or physically up to the task, consider hiring professional cleaners.

You can see that there are right ways and wrong ways to tackle your next spring cleaning session. The fastest and easiest method, however, is to let the pros do the work for you. At Cleanzen, we have a friendly, skilled team of cleaning experts standing by to give your home the full attention it needs. Schedule Boston spring cleaning service with Cleanzen today.