Spring cleaning

[Cimorene]

What are the things you do when you're spring cleaning? Do you have tips to make it more enjoyable? We keep the house pretty clean always but with Easter tomorrow & a lot of people coming over we're trying to up our game.

Also am in need of advice on how to get a dried coffee stain out of a thick rug, lol! Coffee got knocked off my nightstand last yr. My cat got freaked out by the garbage truck & jumped from the window sill onto the nightstand. A whole mug got spilled absolutely everywhere.
So we moved the furniture, coated the stain with stain remover, steam cleaned the rug.
Moved the furniture back into place. With the bed on top of the worst of it I hadn't realized it was still such an ugly stain. We just repositioned the rug & now I can see how awful it is.

 

[keith99]

I think spring cleaning is something more common in places where you are cooped up all winter with windows closed and everything getting stuffy. I know it is but I do not recall it ever happening.

I'm no expert of stains, but since you said the rug was repositioned I'm thinking that means the rug can be moved. Sometimes stains remain or reappear because there is no place for things to go to and the last bit stays in the bottom layers. Perhaps taking it outside and putting it on a series of 2x4s or a anything else that lets water through and then washing it including lots of water might work. Lots of water so be sure of your drain. I first thought of hanging it over a clothesline of something like that, but if that works poorly it might spread the stain.

 

[Mary Meg]

What are the things you do when you're spring cleaning? Do you have tips to make it more enjoyable? We keep the house pretty clean always but with Easter tomorrow & a lot of people coming over we're trying to up our game.

Ha, my stepmom gets really into it, but it's not enjoyable. We play music -- at the very least I put on earbuds, I really can't stand the sound of the vacuum cleaner anyway!

Also am in need of advice on how to get a dried coffee stain out of a thick rug, lol! Coffee got knocked off my nightstand last yr. My cat got freaked out by the garbage truck & jumped from the window sill onto the nightstand. A whole mug got spilled absolutely everywhere
So we moved the furniture, coated the stain with stain remover, steam cleaned the rug.
Moved the furniture back into place. With the bed on top of the worst of it I hadn't realized it was still such an ugly stain. We just repositioned the rug & now I can see how awful it is.

Can you turn the rug over? Or put the cat back on it? What color is the rug? Sorry I'm not much more help...

 

[Nithavela]

We dont actually spring clean. We just continually clean through the year, with no extra cleaning at any time.

 

[blackribbon]

I think for me, spring weather sort of brings an increase in mood and makes it desirable and easier to declutter our lives...and the idea of letting more sunshine and air in the house make it more desirable to clean the extras like baseboards and pull out the refrigerator and such.

I think that is it is more desirable when you are in control of the cleaning and it is your home being cleaned. Your step mother takes pride in her home being clean.

There is a website that helps keep some fun in cleaning by keeping the cleaning a continuous year round activity so that "spring cleaning" isn't really necessary or isn't a anything but a few activities like flipping a mattress or such. That website is www.flylady.net. Even if your stepmother doesn't use it, it may help you build good habits that prepare you for your own home one day. If you "fly" into the other zones of your family home, you will also bless your stepmother and family. I find using flylady to actually make a chore into almost being fun.

Personally, my favorite way to clean is to have the house to myself, put a book (long story) on loud enough to hear it where ever I go, and open windows if the weather is nice. I also prefer if I have more than one continuous day available to complete the job...making a running list of the supplies I need to complete the job and shopping once at the end of the day or before starting the next day. The book on tape means I often keep cleaning when I normally would stop because I want to hear one more chapter.

I also like to have a list of what I hope to accomplish and physically cross the items off the list as I go. Watching the list shrink can be very motivating...even if you are adding things as you go (like remembering the coffee stain that needs to be addressed).

Your coffee stain may have already been set by this time but here is a link ... and remember it make take a long time of constantly treating and removing the stain bit by bit as you go. As long as you see some color on your damping cloth, the stain is coming and keep going. How to Get Old Coffee Stains out of Carpet - Practically Spotless

 

[bekkilyn]

On one hand, I'd also recommend Flylady because her program has helped a lot of people get their lives under control and their houses cleaner, but on the other hand, I personally find her to be extremely annoying so I always end up unsubscribing so that my teeth don't get damaged from gritting them too much.

 

[Cimorene]

Ha, my stepmom gets really into it, but it's not enjoyable. We play music -- at the very least I put on earbuds, I really can't stand the sound of the vacuum cleaner anyway!

Can you turn the rug over? Or put the cat back on it? What color is the rug? Sorry I'm not much more help...

Some people legit enjoy cleaning their house, they find it therapeutic or something? I don't really understand those people, lol. Music def. helps to make it more enjoyable at least! I hate the sound of the vacuum cleaner too!

The rug can't be flipped over bc it's got this backing on it. It's this creamy white with a gray pattern on it. The design is only on the top part. It would have been fine leaving it as had been, underneath the bed where the stain wasn't visible. I honestly had no idea it was still so bad. It was only moved bc rotating the rugs is on my sister's spring cleaning list. As you know she has Asperger's. For the most part she's doing super great but she is still really rigid about following her to-do lists. She's extremely specific about this whole spring cleaning thing. Idk why. Our family keeps the whole house neat, always. She goes to med school in Chicago, she was only here for Easter & we don't share a room. We just have a bathroom in between our rooms & I followed that list in making sure the bathroom was impeccable. But moving all the rugs in the house was on the spring cleaning list. So we couldn't go & have fun until the list was checked off. The stain is still there but my dad moved the furniture around again to kinda cover it up, lol. We will try again to get it out but the big priority was just finishing stuff up so we could have a nice weekend together. We did!

 

[Cimorene]

I think spring cleaning is something more common in places where you are cooped up all winter with windows closed and everything getting stuffy. I know it is but I do not recall it ever happening.

I'm no expert of stains, but since you said the rug was repositioned I'm thinking that means the rug can be moved. Sometimes stains remain or reappear because there is no place for things to go to and the last bit stays in the bottom layers. Perhaps taking it outside and putting it on a series of 2x4s or a anything else that lets water through and then washing it including lots of water might work. Lots of water so be sure of your drain. I first thought of hanging it over a clothesline of something like that, but if that works poorly it might spread the stain.

Just rub it in that you live in Cali where you're not cooped up all winter long. Jk. But you're right bc our house was super stuffy & bleak from having the windows shut for so long. Winter was intense this yr & lasted forever. It's nice airing the house out. Finally.
The rug can be moved but it's super hard to move it bc it's really big & really thick. It's heavy. It was easier getting it into the room bc the movers had rolled it up tight. 2 men carried it upstairs. It'd be harder getting it outside. I was able to move it around my room by not lifting it up. I just grabbed a corner & dragged it.

I think your tip would probably work better with other stuff than the rug. I'm not a big klutz or anything but I've spilled coffee & tea on my clothes b4. I think I'll try your tip if that happens again. Thx!

 

[Cimorene]

We dont actually spring clean. We just continually clean through the year, with no extra cleaning at any time.

That's how I'm going to be when I get a place of my own 1 day. We do keep the whole house clean the whole yr but my sister is really particular about this spring cleaning list.

 

[Cimorene]

I think for me, spring weather sort of brings an increase in mood and makes it desirable and easier to declutter our lives...and the idea of letting more sunshine and air in the house make it more desirable to clean the extras like baseboards and pull out the refrigerator and such.

I think that is it is more desirable when you are in control of the cleaning and it is your home being cleaned. Your step mother takes pride in her home being clean.

There is a website that helps keep some fun in cleaning by keeping the cleaning a continuous year round activity so that "spring cleaning" isn't really necessary or isn't a anything but a few activities like flipping a mattress or such. That website is www.flylady.net. Even if your stepmother doesn't use it, it may help you build good habits that prepare you for your own home one day. If you "fly" into the other zones of your family home, you will also bless your stepmother and family. I find using flylady to actually make a chore into almost being fun.

Personally, my favorite way to clean is to have the house to myself, put a book (long story) on loud enough to hear it where ever I go, and open windows if the weather is nice. I also prefer if I have more than one continuous day available to complete the job...making a running list of the supplies I need to complete the job and shopping once at the end of the day or before starting the next day. The book on tape means I often keep cleaning when I normally would stop because I want to hear one more chapter.

I also like to have a list of what I hope to accomplish and physically cross the items off the list as I go. Watching the list shrink can be very motivating...even if you are adding things as you go (like remembering the coffee stain that needs to be addressed).

Your coffee stain may have already been set by this time but here is a link ... and remember it make take a long time of constantly treating and removing the stain bit by bit as you go. As long as you see some color on your damping cloth, the stain is coming and keep going. How to Get Old Coffee Stains out of Carpet - Practically Spotless

This was really helpful to me. I bookmarked your links.

We do keep the house clean, but my sister has Asperger's & can be really pernickety about certain things. It really calms her when we check things off her spring cleaning list. I can see how it would also be satisfying. It's true that you do have this sense of control when you have everything in its place & clean. I normally have a better attitude about it but it was the 1st pretty weekend in forever so I got a little impatient. I did get it all done though.

I should have tried listening to an audio book. I'll do that next time. I have a lot that I listen to on the way to school but I didn't think to listen to a book while cleaning, I just listened to Spotify. With Spotify you have ads interrupt your music all the time, so it kinda interrupts your flow. With the audio book you can just keep listening.

Thx. I hope you had a nice Easter!