10 Spring Cleaning Tips for Large Families

With spring just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about freshening up our homes and doing a little spring cleaning. Here are some great tips to help your family get the job done…

 

The bad news about having a large family is that they make a big mess. The good news is that many hands make light work.

With spring just around the corner, you might be thinking about how to get your spouse and kids together to start making your home warm weather ready. This is a great time to declutter, deep clean, and handle any projects that have been sidelined through the long winter.

There’s just nothing like that first day when you can open the windows wide and let fresh air sweep through your house. If you can’t wait for it either, here are a few ways to get the process started with everyone involved.

 

10 Spring Cleaning Tips for Large Families

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Get organized

Not your house, but you. Before you jump into your spring cleaning, figure out what you need to do and when you can do it. Some people like marathon cleaning sessions, but if your kids are helping, you may be better off with shorter sprints.

If you love a good checklist, this post offers free printables that will help you get your plan together. Or you can use my free spring cleaning printable for a comprehensive list of to-dos.

 

Motivate your crew

If not everyone is as into a squeaky clean house for spring as you are, motivate them with challenges, favorite things, and rewards.

My kids love a good challenge (here’s how to make a cleaning one!), so give them something to work toward. Also, offer rewards at milestones, like a finished backyard or decluttered closet. Nothing elaborate or expensive, but make it something they’ll want to get.

Music helps keep everyone moving, so queue up your speakers with your favorite music selections. Or if your kids are like mine, audiobooks also work great. We often use Libby to find free options.

Declutter before you organize

There’s no point in organizing first, only to realize you don’t need half of what you’ve put away. So declutter first. Go through clothes, toys, hobby materials, and toiletries. We can accumulate a lot in a year and some of it may not have been touched since the last spring cleaning.

If you haven’t needed something for 6 months, chances are you never will. Let go of the “just in case” items and make room to really enjoy your home.

Check out:

• How to Clean Out Your Junk Drawer Once and For All
• How to Declutter Your Children’s Closets
• Why You Should Have a Clutter Purgatory in Your House

 

Organize what’s left

I like to have my children do a lot of the spring cleaning decluttering and organizing of their toys and clothes. The older ones help the younger ones, and by giving them ownership, they tend to do a better job of maintaining it.

I love Dana K. White’s approach in Organizing for the Rest of Us: Use bins as boundaries. If it doesn’t fit in the bin, then something will have to come out. That way, it’s the bin’s fault, not yours. And be a good example by creating boundaries and limits for your own stuff.

In other areas, reorganize under the sink, your kitchen cabinets, medicine cabinets, and shelves. Get rid of the expired and unused, and stow away the out-of-season (e.g. Christmas cookie cutters).

 

Work from the top down

Gravity being what it is, start from the top so you aren’t making more work when the dust settles. Start with cobwebs and ceiling fans (another great trick is using a pillowcase on each fan blade to wipe off the dust so it doesn’t end up on the floor – or your hair!).

Wipe down blinds, walls, baseboards, molding, and light switches. I like to give these chores to my younger kids since most of the fingerprints are theirs anyway. A vinegar-water solution works fine.

Wash all the linens – from bed sheets to tea towels to shower curtains. Scrub sinks and toilets, dust shelves, and wash windows. Then mop and vacuum everything. Don’t forget the corners, stairs, or grout.

Clean all the appliances and fixtures

As for the down and dirty cleaning…

Open up those windows and wash the panes, clean the grooves, and get the screens, too. Change your air filters. Wipe out the washer and dryer. Clean the hinge of the toilet and use a pumice stone to get hard water stains off, especially by the water jets under the rim.

Take care of all your appliances. Descale your coffee maker, clean inside the oven, dishwasher, and sink. Microwave a cup of water with lemon juice and vinegar to soften crusty stains, then clean them off. If you have a funky smell in your sink, grab a toothbrush to clean the underside of the garbage disposal splash guard. Yucky things that way lie…

Take care of the outside

Now that the weather has improved (or soon will), clean up the backyard. Have the kids discard broken toys that haven’t survived the winter. Sweep off the patio, driveway, and front porch. Use a pressure washer to clean off debris and sludge from your deck.

My husband usually handles the outside, so divide and conquer by letting one of you handle the outdoors. Raking, trimming, car-washing, and storage organization can be done by one adult, while the other works inside.

This is also a great time to declutter your mud room, or wherever you store boots, snow pants, etc. Get rid of anything that is too worn or won’t fit by next season. Then store the rest until next winter.

 

Assign chores that are age-appropriate

When assigning tasks to your children, it’s important to give them age-appropriate chores. Once they reach their pre-teens, they are mostly capable of doing any and all jobs. But for younger kids, stick to what they can do or what you can easily show them. Also, provide them with cleaners that are safe – here are some suggestions for how to clean without harsh chemicals.

Also check out:

• 15 Chores Your 5-Year-Old Can Do On Their Own
• 15 Chores Your 7-Year-Old Can Do On Their Own
• 15 Chores Your 9-Year-Old Can Do On Their Own

 

Make it educational

Homeschooling parents love making everything educational, including spring cleaning. So why not have your elementary schooler alphabetize the spice cabinet, wiping each container down as they go. Have older kids create a spreadsheet of items and quantities stored in the chest freezer for future meal prep.

Teaching dates and the calendar? Have them go through the pantry, taking out expired goods and ordering the rest by expiration date. Have little ones sort like toys into easily stacked clear bins. There are lots of great ways to incorporate household tasks into your kids’ education.

 

Maintain the work you’ve done

Once you’ve done the work, maintain it with nightly pick-ups, weekly cleaning with the whole family, and systems that keep clutter from getting out of control. And find the cleaning routine that works best for you and your large family.

Create a system for paper (with kids, this is always an issue!) where it’s recycled immediately, drawings are digitized, and fridge displays have a time limit. Keep a shower squeegee or cleaner in the shower for easy cleaning before you bathe. Place an oven liner on the bottom rack of the oven to keep it as nice as you just made it. Look around your house for easy ways you can keep things looking as fresh and clean as they are now.

 

Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be harder with a large family. In fact, with everyone pitching in and a little time and elbow grease, you can have your home ready to enjoy during the warm weather months and beyond.

 

 

Happy cleaning!

Looking for more spring cleaning resources? Try these popular posts:

 

How to Clean Your House for Spring (PLUS your free printable checklist)

The War on Clutter: Week Two- How to Put the CLEAN in Spring Cleaning

How Tending Your Home Tends Your Soul

The War on Clutter: Week Four- How to Maintain a Clean & Clutter-free Home