As winter draws to a close and spring approaches, do some spring cleaning and declutter your home. However, as you uncover all the cobwebs under your overcrowded furniture and closets, you might be tempted to avoid cleaning altogether.
Spring cleaning doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be a joy. This can also be a great opportunity for you and your family to get rid of your old items, please others with your abundant possessions, and live a more minimalist life.
Here are five ways to make spring cleaning more enjoyable:
Delegate a room to each member of the family
Instead of being responsible for cleaning every room in the house, which can seem tedious and overwhelming, ask each member of the family to help. For example, children should clean their own rooms. Set small goals and help them clean with those goals in mind. For example, give them two trash bags and a box. Tell them they can’t leave the room until they have filled two trash bags with trash they want to get rid of and a box with toys they want to put away for later.
Likewise, designate a chore for your spouse that you have difficulty accomplishing alone. Set a timer and tell your spouse that you will both clean until it goes off. Set the timer for 60 or 90 minutes. You’d be amazed at how much you can accomplish in such a short time.
Part of the reason spring cleaning seems so overwhelming is that people often want to tackle the entire house in one go. However, doing it in small chunks, tackling each closet and room individually, and then enjoying other activities will help him feel less overwhelming and more capable of completing them.
Play music or TV
If you think it won’t be a distraction, play music throughout the house. Allow your children to listen to your phone through their headphones or play music throughout the house. Help them remember that when we work, it is an act of worship. We must remember that we work for the Lord and not for others.
Make it as fun as possible. Don’t clean the house in silence. Instead, use the resources you have to play music or other fun visuals while you clean.
Celebrate
Make a wish as a family to celebrate your accomplishment. If you were able to clean and fill the bags and boxes in a reasonable amount of time, promise to do something fun as a family activity. Go to the movies, eat at your favorite restaurant, and promise the kids an extra TV show.
This will help them feel hopeful about being finished. It will also be the catalyst for getting work done. Hold on and make sure they can’t do the activity until the cleanup is complete. Not only will this help ensure its accomplishment, but each week, by doing it little by little, you will be able to enjoy more family time. And it’s time you can’t come back.
Decorate the rooms together
Once spring cleaning is complete, start decorating a room in a different color or theme than before. Take the family to the hardware store and get some new paint and wall decor. Allow children to choose specific wall art, rugs, and other accessories to make this space more theirs.
You can start by allowing them to redecorate their own room, or you can choose a smaller room to redecorate. Bathrooms can always use storage. Choose a theme together and work to recreate it in one of your bathrooms.
You can get one as silly or as functional as you want. If money is no object, consider purchasing new knobs for the kitchen cabinets, new drawers and additional storage space, or even new furniture to replace old, chipped pieces. You and your family will have fun making the house a space you can all call home.
Not only will they enjoy the cleaning that comes with it, but they will also enjoy the benefit of making a space their own and learning skills like painting, decorating, and choosing decor that will help make your home not only a livable environment, but also a safe space they can call home.
If you’re appealing to a beach-loving family, consider a beach theme. Shop for dark blue paint, stickers of fish and other sea creatures, and photos of serene ocean views. Give them some leeway in their decorating skills, but make sure you can also enjoy it when guests come over.
Organize a garage sale
Once spring cleaning is finished, organize a garage sale. Sell any scraps you may have saved for later. This will not only help you declutter your rooms, but will also give your family some extra spending money to spend together. How many yard sales it may take time to clean out the items, mark them with the appropriate sale amounts, and make room on a Saturday to have the sale, but the money you make can be worth it when you’re all allowed to go out together as a family and have a special restaurant or go see a movie you’ve all wanted to see.
Adding incentives to a task that already seems tedious will not only make it more enjoyable, but will also allow each family member to contribute as a family.
Tell the children they can keep their share of the items they sell. They can save that money and invest it in a new favorite toy, donate it to missions, or save it for a rainy day. Whatever they choose to do, not only will you have a garage sale to get rid of extra clutter and waste, but it will also help teach your children the valuable responsibility of money.
You can also choose to immediately delay spending the money. Get a glass jar at home and invest extra money in it every week. Add to the amount they made from their garage sale. At the end of the year, count the money and see how much you earned. Decide as a family what you would like to do with this money. Want to go on a chic vacation? Do you want to buy an item that the whole family can enjoy?
Enjoy the benefits of all your hard work throughout the year. Children may prefer not to spend the money immediately, thereby delaying instant gratification and saving it for an important item that they will use repeatedly. You can create a playroom for teenagers, a women’s shed or a man cave; the possibilities are endless!
Spring cleaning is a chore that everyone has to endure. Whether they choose to do it in the spring or during the cold winter months, you’re cleaning, decluttering, and making your space not just a house but a home. Invite your children to participate in the process and they may discover that they have created a home too.
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