Normally, you have the most spick-and-span property on the block, but you missed spring cleaning this year. Now your home looks disorganized and cluttered, and you feel embarrassed when your friends and relatives come to visit. You need some way to get a handle on the mess so your home looks flawless again.
If this describes your situation, you’ve come to the right place. Below, you’ll find a few tips to help you tackle the disarray both inside and outside your house.
Conquer the Untidy Interior
1. Rent for your unwanted Junk
Before you do anything else, contact your local waste removal company to rent a dumpster. This dumpster will hold any items you don’t want as you go through the clutter. Then, once you’ve finished your cleaning, you can simply call the company to remove the dumpster and all of your wanted junk.
If you want to preserve the environment as you clean, ask your waste removal company if they have a recycling program in your area.
2. Reorganize Your Bookshelves
Start with the easiest clutter culprits first, like bookcases and other open shelving. Don’t forget shelves that store your movies, video games, music, and trinkets. If you see items that you haven’t touched in years, throw them out or donate them. And if some items simply look too old or grimy to reuse, throw them away as well.
3. Comb Through Cupboards and Closets
Tackle closets, cupboards, drawers, and other small, enclosed areas next. When you see worn-out dishes, boxes of used clothes, or other knickknacks that you’ll never use again, put them in the dumpster. After you free space in these areas, you can use them to house essential items that currently clutter your floors and countertops, like paperwork and small appliances.
4. Attack the Garage
The garage doesn’t matter as much as the main part of your house. After all, visitors rarely see your garage. But if you still have energy, go through your garage next and clear out all nonessential items. For example, you may have odds and ends lying around from your last construction project. You don’t need these materials, so put them in your dumpster.
5. Clean Your House from Top to Bottom
Now that you have an uncluttered interior, go through your normal cleaning routine. You’ll likely find a few small and unnecessary items you missed during the steps above.
However, even though you’ve scoured every surface and purged all nonessentials at this point, your home might not look neat yet. Perform the following extra tasks, or have a professional do them for you, to erase the effects the chaos left behind.
- Clean your carpets, especially in areas where dirty clothes, boxes, and other items sat on the floor.
- Touch up paint if the mess stained or chipped it.
- Scour stains and food particles out of any hard flooring.
- Wash windows inside and out.
After you’ve completed all these steps, you’ll regain the perfect interior you’ve missed for so long.
Trim the Wild Exterior
1. Rent a Dumpster for Green Waste
Garbage and recycling companies can take green waste for composting. This waste should not end up in a landfill, so don’t just throw your branches and weeds into the same dumpster as your old junk.
2. Take Care of Tree and Shrub Pruning First
Before you concern yourself with the little details around your yard, trim the largest plants first. Prune sick or dead branches to preserve your trees’ health.
If your trees have grown into power lines, do not attempt to trim them on your own. Avoid the electrocution risk and have a professional perform this task for you.
3. Gather Everything That Looks Dead
Once you’ve trimmed your trees and put the debris in the dumpster, you can move on to smaller details. Find all the dead leaves and plants in your yard and dispose of them. Your flowerbeds will look instantly neater.
4. Thoroughly Weed Your Lawn and Flowerbeds
After you have all the dead plant matter out of the way, you can see weeds more clearly. Stay especially alert for grasses that invade your flowerbeds-they will spread quickly if you let them, and then your yard will look untidy again.
5. Clear Tools and Other Items off Your Porch or Patio
Your deck, patio, or porch should not act as a storage space. If anything other than furniture and a grill sits there, put those extra items in the garage or throw them away.
If you still don’t know how to handle all the extra junk around your property, call your local waste and recycling expert. They will be able to help you get rid of larger items, like old appliances and unwanted furniture. In the meantime, use the tips above to catch up on this year’s spring cleaning.
