Fling open those windows because warmer days are here, and it’s the perfect time to get into those nooks, crannies, and hard-to-reach places that we’ve been avoiding cleaning all year.
Ultimate spring cleaning checklist
Let’s go room-by-room for your full checklist, tips, and ideas for a good spring cleaning. Later, you can download a free checklist that spans over 20 days, organized in what I find to be the most logical order for effectiveness!
But now, let’s do the room-by-room. We’ll go through decluttering, organizing, and then a deep clean for each room.
Your free spring cleaning checklist download!
This list is broken into 20 days, but they can be done in a week (if you’ve got some help), over a few weekends, or whatever pace works for you! The schedule is just a suggestion so you can make steady progress while avoiding overwhelm and burnout.
You can download and print it now, but don’t forget to read the rest of this post for details and tips!
Kitchen Spring Cleaning Checklist
Let’s start with the declutter!
Declutter
Everyone’s kitchen will be unique, so please adjust these instructions according to your situation and preferences.
Cabinets. Step one, let’s rip open those cabinets! You’ll want to by category here–so if you have several cabinets containing the same category, be sure to collect it all.
For example, pull out all of your food storage containers. Ditch any that are broken, stained, missing its lid, or that you simply don’t use.
Then wipe down those cabinets and replace the pieces you’re going to keep.
Here’s the most complete guide you could ever hope to have for decluttering kitchen cabinets.
Drawers. Up next, tackle the kitchen drawers.
Surfaces. With much more room in your drawers and cabinets, you can declutter countertops and other flat surfaces, finding convenient and logical places to store your appliances and other tools where they’re stowed and out of the way.
Pantry. Now we’ll do the pantry. It’s the same process as cabinets and drawers–remove everything, declutter, wipe down the shelves, and replace what you’re keeping.
And you know I’ve got the full kitchen pantry guide for you.
Organize
There are a few basic guidelines you can use to organize your kitchen.
1. One hand rule
Use the one hand rule as you replace the items you’re going to keep. This means that you can retrieve any item with only one hand–no moving other things around, no juggling pots or balancing them on your knees while you dig for the one you want.
Declutter and reduce until you accomplish this, and your life will become much less stressful!
2. Consider use
You should stow your things based on where you use them. For example, seasonings near the stove, or knives near the chopping board. This might take some experimentation and tweaking, but do your best for now.
3. If it’s not used here, don’t keep it here
If your kitchen houses items that aren’t used in the kitchen, how come? If you’ve got no other storage option, that’s one thing, but try to figure out the most convenient and reasonable place to store things–it might not be in the kitchen at all.
Deep Clean
Now let’s get serious and deep clean this puppy.
We’re going to use the top-down method, which is where you begin cleaning at the top of the room (in this case, the ceiling) and work your way down. This way, as you knock grime and dust off, you won’t be knocking it onto your clean floors.
Ceiling and fixtures. So let’s start with the ceiling and light fixtures. You can use a mop and a bucket of warm water with a little bit of mopping solution to give the ceilings a good rub down. Dust and wipe fixtures, change any burned lightbulbs while you’re up there.
Walls and baseboards. Then move to the walls and baseboards. Again, you can use a mop for most of this work. Remove your decor to do a thorough job, and go ahead and wipe those down thoroughly before you replace them. Also keep in mind that you don’t need to put it all back. If you’re not crazy about a piece of decor, now’s a great time to replace or remove it.
Windows. Wash windows, sills, and window treatments.
Appliances. Now we’re going to pull out the appliances and clean the floors and walls under and behind them. Don’t forget to clean your refrigerator coils–this will help the appliance last longer, run better, and use less energy.
Clean all appliances (I love to bring out the toothpicks to get those hard-to-reach nooks and crannies–detailing appliances can be a hobby, right?). You can run some vinegar solution through your kettle, coffee maker, etc., to clean out the inside.
Stove. Deep clean oven, stovetop, range hood (don’t forget the filters), countertops, backsplash, and cabinet fronts.
Fridge and freezer. Before we get going on the dishes, I want you to do a deep clean of the fridge and freezer. Remove everything, wash the shelves and drawers, then only replace what you know you’re going to use.
Food waste tip: When I clean out my fridge or freezer, I have a pot ready, either to fill with scraps to make a broth, or to fill with items that are still good to make a soup. This cleans out the produce and meats that are nearing their expiration date without wasting them.
Dishes and sink. With those newly empty containers, let’s do all the dishes at once. Washed, dried, and put away. Then we’ll deep clean the sink, disposal, drains, and dishwasher.
Floors. Sweep and mop the floors and toss any rugs in the washing machine (or use a carpet cleaner/take them out and hose them down).
And we’re done in the kitchen!
Kitchen checklist:
- Declutter kitchen cabinets
- Declutter kitchen drawers
- Declutter pantry
- Organize with location logic and the one hand rule
- Clean ceiling and light fixtures; change that light bulb
- Clean walls and baseboards
- Clean and replace decor
- Wash windows and treatments
- Clean appliances
- Clean oven, stovetop, range hood, counters, backsplash, and cabinets
- Deep clean fridge and freezer (and maybe start a Fridge Dump soup for dinner)
- Wash all dishes
- Deep clean sink, disposal, drains, and dishwasher
- Sweep and mop
- Clean rugs
Living Area Spring Cleaning
This checklist is for the living room, den, home office, foyer, sitting room.
Declutter
We’ll be a little more vague than the kitchen here, since there are many types of living areas. But let’s do categories.
First, collect dishes, food items, and trash. Deal with those.
Now go through your readables–books, magazines, papers, mail. Here’s a decluttering guide for paper, if you’ve got less of a stack and more of a library. Declutter as much as possible!
Make your own categories, depending on your situation–pet stuff, toys, clothes, sporting equipment, whatever you’ve got in there. Work through each one, reducing and removing as much as you can.
It’s just so much easier to clean a room (and KEEP it clean) when you have fewer belongings in it.
Organize
1. Cable management
The #1 eye sore in living areas to me are rampant cables and cords. Wrangle them up with some cable ties or clips and take the time to run them stealthily throughout the room.
These are my favorite cable clips, but any will do!
2. Decor
When it comes to decor, less is truly more. With fewer things to move, you’ll dust more often. With less visual clutter, you’ll feel calmer. Decor is one of those completely optional items, so if you have it, you should be sure it’s because you love it.
Evaluate if each piece makes you happy to look at! If it doesn’t, get rid of it!
3. Media
If you keep physical media, like books, DVDs, and games, take the time to get it organized. If you’re wondering if we have a full guide on how minimalists store DVDs, we sure do.
Deep Clean
We’re doing top-down in these rooms as well–start with a ceiling and fixture clean. Don’t forget the ceiling fans! Then move on to the walls, doors, light switches, and baseboards.
Dust all furniture.
Vacuum/clean upholstery, including all those crumbs under the cushions. You might move furniture, or just shove the vacuum hose under there, if you’re not up to it.
Wash or dry clean your curtains and drapes. Clean the windows, including the glass, tracks, sill, and window screens.
Vacuum/clean carpets, sweep floors, scrub and mop where appropriate.
Living area spring cleaning checklist:
- Collect trash, dishes, and food items
- Declutter paper
- Declutter by category
- See to cables
- Optimize decor
- Organize physical media
- Clean ceiling, fans, and fixtures
- Clean walls, doors, light switches, and baseboards
- Dust furniture
- Clean upholstery
- Wash curtains and drapes
- Clean windows
- Vacuum carpets, sweep floor, scrub and mop
Bedroom Spring Cleaning
Declutter
Let’s start with electronics. Many studies show the mental and physical benefits of avoiding screens in the bedroom. If you’re in there, it’s to rest or to Rest. 👀
Having TVs, computers, and cellphones in your sleeping (or Sleeping 👀) area disrupts sleep, which negatively affects your entire body.
So my first suggestion is to limit or remove screens and other unhealthy distractions from your bedroom.
Next up, let’s talk linens and pillows. Do you love and use everything you keep on your bed? Could you do with fewer pillows? Do you have several sets of sheets, but you only ever use two? Go ahead and reduce down to what you actually enjoy using.
Look into your decor. Do you love it all? Is any of it too busy, too distracting, too loud that it keeps the room from feeling restful? Chuck it!
The closet might be a huge undertaking. If you’re one of those people who can’t see your bedroom floor because you own piles and piles of clothes and shoes, give yourself a few days on this one! It can be very overwhelming. I don’t recommend you try on EVERYTHING before you get rid of it, because–actually, here’s a guide on decluttering closetsthat can walk you through it step by step.
Organize
With everything cleared out, take a deep breath and get excited to dig into organization.
Even after a big closet declutter, I recommend you do the hanger method, where you hang them all backwards, facing them forwards after you wear and replace each piece. That way, at the end of the season, year, or other designated length of time, you can easily see which items you never wore once.
Depending on your wardrobe size, you might organize your closet by season, category, or both. Personally, I do color and then sleeve length.
This can make your closet look neater, plus make finding what you need much quicker.
One bedroom problem area is often the nightstand(s). These spaces are more effective when mostly cleared. Only keep what you need to keep on it. Even if you have items you use every day (like reading glasses), try to stow them in the drawer instead of leaving them on top. It can make your bedroom feel cozier and calmer to have less visual clutter.
Deep Clean
Dust up top–ceilings, fixtures, fans. Wipe down the walls, switches, and doors.
Wash windows, screens, and sills.
Dust furniture and decor.
Rotate and flip mattresses. Wash blankets, mattress pads, pillows, and duvets.
Tip: Put a pillow in a trash bag with the vacuum hose inside, suck out all the air. This helps remove dust and dust mites. If you find yourself feeling stuffy when you wake up in the morning, this might be a good thing to do regularly.
Clean under beds and furniture.
Bedroom cleaning checklist
- Minimize screens
- Declutter linens and pillows
- Declutter bedroom decor
- Declutter clothes and closet
- Try the hanger method
- Organize clothes
- Minimize things on nightstands
- Dust ceiling, fixtures, and fans
- Wipe walls, switches, and doors
- Wash windows
- Dust furniture and decor
- Rotate and flip mattress
- Wash bedding
- Vacuum pillows
- Clean under beds and furniture
Bathroom Spring Cleaning
Let’s get into those bathrooms!
Declutter
Go through your medication first–that can give you some easy wins. Ditch the expired stuff, pass on the things you don’t use, and combine containers when it makes sense to do so.
Then move on to your haircare products–shampoos, conditioners, leave-ins, mousse, gel, masks, etc. Same deal–expired? Toss. Don’t use it? Donate.
Then skincare and makeup.
If you’ve got kiddos, declutter their toys from the tub. Only leave their favorites.
Then sort your bathroom linens. How many towels do you REALLY need? That’s a hard question to answer. But we did answer it: How many bathroom towels do we need?
Organize
In my bathroom, I have three drawers–which is not a whole bunch of space. I could add a medicine cabinet or other storage, but I haven’t found I need to.
In the top drawer, I keep medical and tooth care supplies.
In the second drawer, I keep makeup and skincare.
And in the third, I keep my hair products and other odds and ends that I use regularly in my bathroom.
The secret to an organized bathroom is to only keep what you regularly use. Consider what you pack when you leave the house for a week.
Anything that doesn’t need to be packed, probably doesn’t need to be in your limited bathroom storage space. You can donate it, or, if it’s something you DO use, just not regularly, store it in a closet.
Deep Clean
Let’s get going legit here–start with scrubbing grout lines. Those can be a real pain, so pace yourself here. After it’s all looking nice, you might try to reseal grout lines so that they don’t grow mold. It may also be time to scrape out the old caulk and reapply it fresh.
If you do need to recaulk, you’ll have to come back for the rest tomorrow or the day after, depending on your caulk’s setting rate.
When everything can safely get wet, let’s get going!
Spray down the tub, sink, and toilet with your cleaner of choice. I use Scrubbing Bubbles in the bathtub, so it takes a few minutes to process. While that’s going, pick up anything on the floor and put it away, then toss your curtain into the washing machine.
How to wash shower curtain and liner.
Toss your curtain, liner, and bath mats into the washer. Use a mild detergent and a gentle cycle. If you don’t have a bath mat, toss in a few towels to help scrub the liner clean. Hang to dry. Conveniently, there are hooks in your bathroom that will fit your curtain perfectly.
Then you can go back and scrub out your tub, sink, and toilet. Don’t forget the base and behind the toilet.
Sanitize any other surfaces.
Thoroughly clean mirrors and glass. If you have windows, give them the same treatment we gave the other windows throughout the house.
Deep clean your exhaust fan cover.
Bathroom spring cleaning list.
- Declutter medication
- Declutter haircare products
- Declutter skincare and makeup
- Declutter bath toys
- Declutter linens
- Organize your bathroom by only keeping what you use regularly
- Scrub and reseal grout
- Scrape and caulk, if necessary
- Spray down tub, sink, and toilet
- Put curtains, liner, and bath mat washing
- Scrub sink, toilet, and tub
- Sanitize surfaces
- Clean mirrors and glass
- Clean windows
- Clean exhaust fan cover
Utility Area Spring Cleaning
Now we’ve got our random bits and bobs of rooms in the house. Let’s look at some quick checklists for your maintenance and utility areas.
Laundry Room
- Clean washer by running hot cycle with machine cleaner
- Clean dryer vent and hose
- Organize laundry supplies
- Clean behind and under appliances
Garage/Storage
- Sweep and organize garage
- Sort through tools and supplies
- Check emergency supplies and first aid kits
- Organize storage containers and boxes
Maintenance
- Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
- Check fire extinguishers
- Replace HVAC filters
- Check/replace water filters
- Clean or replace vacuum filters
- Update home maintenance records
Outdoor Spring Cleaning
If you’ve got a yard, let’s get into it!
Clean
- Clean patio furniture
- Sweep deck/patio
- Clean outdoor light fixtures
- Wash exterior windows
- Clean grill and outdoor cooking areas
Maintain
- Check and clean gutters
- Inspect outdoor faucets and hoses
- Clean or replace welcome mat
- Check exterior paint/siding condition
Spring cleaning checklist PDF.
Hopefully the details and tips above are enough to help you get your house in tip-top shape! Don’t forget to grab your free cleaning checklist to keep you on track. Remember, they’re listed in logical order, but if you’d like to hop around or change up the schedule, please do! Use whatever system works best for your household. These are just tools to help you get there.
