Many people avoid spring cleaning simply because they don’t know where to begin. But the process of decluttering and then cleaning a space is actually pretty easy. Each task is quick; the tough part is getting started.
That’s where this 30-day checklist comes in. This spring cleaning plan outlines a set of tasks to help you declutter and clean every nook and cranny in your home. It will keep you moving from room to room, which goes against traditional advice to work on one room until it’s complete before heading to the next. But with a big project like spring cleaning an entire home, the impulse to quit when you get overwhelmed or bored can be strong. So tackling a few projects each day will ensure that you stay motivated.
What You Need
Before you get started, prepare some boxes. Here’s what you need:
Box Category 1: Donate/Consign. Anything you want to donate or consign goes into these boxes. If the items won’t fit into a box (e.g., a couch), then keep a running list of them.
Box Category 2: Repair. While you’re decluttering and cleaning, you will come across items that need to be mended or repaired. Place these items in a box until you’re ready to get them fixed. Don’t let repairs sidetrack you until you’re done cleaning.
Box Category 3: Put-Away Box. Say you’re cleaning out a drawer in your kitchen and you find a misplaced pair of earrings in it. Don’t stop decluttering that drawer to go put your earrings in their proper place. Instead, add them temporarily to a put-away box. Once you’re done with the drawer, take that box and return everything in it to its rightful storage place.
It’s also helpful to keep a pen and paper or a digital list nearby during your spring cleaning process. On it you can keep a running list of projects that pop up while you clean that you want to get to eventually, such as organizing old photos. Once you’re done with your spring cleaning, then you can make a plan to tackle those projects.
Day 1: Dust
Take a broom to the corners of the ceiling to catch any cobwebs in your kitchen, living room, bedrooms, and bathrooms. Then, sweep or vacuum the floors.
Dust the undersides of every chair and table in your home, and then vacuum and mop the floors around them.
Clean every mirror in your home, including ones in the bathrooms, bedrooms, and entryway.
Wash your winter gloves, hats, and scarves, and pack them up for next year. Take your winter coats to the dry cleaner if necessary.
Sort your under-bed storage boxes. Add any applicable items to the donate or mend boxes.
Remove odd socks from your sock drawer, and either toss them or use them as cleaning rags.
Go through your dresser, and pull out items of clothing you haven’t worn in a year and have no plans to wear again. Put them in your donation box.
Day 3: Clean Out Your Medicine Cabinet
Throw away expired medicines. Look up local regulations on how to properly dispose of medicines.
Organize your emergency supplies. Make sure you’re stocked on first aid necessities.
Declutter your linen closet. Pull out the old towels and sheets you no longer use, and put them into your donation box.
Day 4: Sort Your Shoes
Sort through your shoes. Add any that you want to donate or repair to those respective boxes.
Clean the floors of your closets, and get rid of any unused storage solutions.
Wash your slippers.
Day 5: Clean Small Appliances
Clean your appliances, including their plugs, tops, bottoms, sides, and any accessories that came with them.
Deep clean your coffee maker, following manufacturer instructions.
Thoroughly clean utensils, such as can openers, that might not be washed on a regular basis.
Replace old kitchen sponges and rubber gloves.
Day 6: Clean Your Car
Use a vacuum to clean the inside of your car. Declutter while you go. Don’t neglect cleaning the floor mats. Then, wipe down interior surfaces with a cleaning solution and rag.
Wash the outside of your car (or bring it to a car wash).
Day 7: Deep Clean Your Fridge and Cabinets
Thoroughly clean your fridge and freezer by removing all shelves, racks, and storage containers and washing them in your bathtub. Toss any old food. Wash your ice cube trays. Wipe down the sides of the fridge and freezer. Then, put everything back in. If you’re afraid of food spoiling, use a cooler to keep food cold while you work.
Take everything out of your cabinets, and clean all the surfaces before replacing the items.
Check the cabinets for any unexpired food you don’t plan to eat that can be donated. Throw out expired or questionable food.
Day 8: Toss Clutter in the Bathroom
Declutter and clean your bathroom storage. Take everything out, and clean the backs, sides, and bottoms of the cabinets and drawers.
Dispose of any expired bathroom cleaning products.
Replace any old, worn toothbrushes and/or razors.
Wash or replace your shower curtain liner.
Day 9: Wash Household Linens
Wash your couch covers, pillowcases, and other linens used around the house.
Launder the drapes in your living room, dining room, and bedrooms. If you can’t wash them on site, bring them to the dry cleaners.
Wash your ironing board cover
Wash your tea towels and kitchen towels.
Toss small rugs, bathroom mats, and bathrobes in the wash.
Remove your window screens, and vacuum them using the handheld attachment on your vacuum cleaner. Then, soak them in soapy water before rinsing.
Use dish soap diluted in water and a microfiber cloth to wipe down your windows. Then, spray on vinegar diluted in water, and wipe the windows with a clean towel to dry them.
Dust your windowsills and frames, and touch up any chipped paint around the sills.
Day 14: Toss Old Papers, Magazines, and Newspapers
Recycle old magazines, newspapers, and packing materials.
Organize old paper or plastic shopping bags that are lying around in one location, so you can reuse them.
Shred sensitive documents you don’t need anymore. Scan important papers, and shred the originals if they don’t need to be saved.
Day 15: Wash Your Makeup and Hair Brushes
Deep clean your makeup brushes and hair brushes.
Toss any liquid makeup over 3 months old and any powdered makeup over a year old.
Day 16: Clean Out Your Plumbing
Clean every drain in your home using this method: Pour boiling hot water down the drain, add baking soda, and then add vinegar. Then, cover the drain with a plug for a few minutes. Follow with another pour of boiling water.
Schedule a plumber for any leaky or otherwise damaged faucets you can’t fix yourself.
Day 17: Switch Out Seasonal Decor
Remove any winter decorations still hanging around, including throw pillows, candle holders, throw blankets, and vases.
Switch scented candles, hand soaps, etc. from winter scents to fresh spring ones.
If you have a fireplace, thoroughly clean it to remove dirt and debris from winter use.
Day 18: Vacuum Furniture
Move the couch and any heavy chairs, and clean and vacuum underneath them.
Use the handheld attachment to vacuum the couch and chairs themselves.
Day 19: Clean Your Garage
Declutter your garage, and throw out any unneeded items you haven’t touched since last spring.
Wash your gardening gloves, and rinse and wipe off the shoes you wear to do yard work.
Sweep your porch, patio, or front steps.
Day 20: Clean Out Office Items
Go through your desk drawers, and toss broken items, such as dead pens.
Collect and keep office items, such as paper clips, all in one place in your home.
Take your stash of coins to a coin machine or the bank.
Day 21: Sort Your Mugs and Glasses
Declutter your mugs and glasses. Donate the ones you no longer want, and wash and put away the rest.
Wash reusable water bottles and water-filtering pitchers. Then, change the filters.
Day 22: Organize Bags
Organize your bags, including backpacks, briefcases, and suitcases. Declutter the insides, and then clean and store them.
Clean out your everyday bag or wallet.
Wash and store reusable shopping bags all in one place.
Day 23: Repair Broken or Damaged Clothing
Either mend any damaged clothing yourself, or take it to a tailor.
Take any shoes or boots that need repairs to a cobbler.
Day 24: Organize Hobby Supplies and Other Collections
Organize your hobby supplies. This can include crafting supplies, board games, or sporting equipment.
Polish silver jewelry, silverware, and any other items that have become tarnished.
Day 25: Get the Kids Involved in the Cleaning
If you have young children, teach them how to clean something in their room, and make that their chore from now on.
Go through your books (including kids’ books), and donate ones you don’t want anymore.
Day 26: Dust and Vacuum Some More
Dust your blinds, and then vacuum the floor around them.
Dust around your stairs, and then vacuum them.
Wipe down your baseboards and other molding where dust tends to collect. Then, vacuum the floor near them.
Day 27: Wash the Walls
Wash any interior walls that have marks or stains.
Touch up chipped or discolored paint.
Day 28: Wash Your Bed Linens
Wash your bed linens, including any mattress covers, duvet covers, pillow liners, throw blankets, and throw pillows.
If you have a guest room and the bed hasn’t been used in a while, strip the bed down to the mattress and wash all the linens.
Day 29: Sell or Donate Unwanted Items
Did you keep a list of items to sell? Now is the day to take your items to the consignment store or to photograph them to sell online.
Bring donations to a local charity.
Day 30: Throw It Away
Take a trip to the dump to get rid of any large items that are beyond repair.
Check your local regulations for how to get rid of other unwanted items, such as old paint.
Wash your garbage cans and recycling bins. Either do this outside or in your bathroom, scrubbing your tub afterward.
So, you’ve just finished your construction job, but the job isn’t quite over yet. Guess what? There’s a huge mess left behind that must be cleaned up before you can say the job is done. Even working with the best general contractor crew, there is bound to be some leftover mess. This mess is inevitable with all the foot traffic coming in and out bringing in mud and all kinds of dirt, dust from all the tools you were using, plastic that needs to be removed, the list goes on.
If you plan to take on the cleaning job yourself, it could feel a little daunting and overwhelming at first. We’ve prepared a post-construction cleaning checklist made up of seven groups as a reminder of all the areas that need to be cleaned and what exactly needs to be done in those areas. If you were hired to just renovate the bathroom, for example, then you don’t need to worry about cleaning the garage. Use your judgement based on the job that was performed.
1. General Cleanup
The first area you need to focus on is the general cleanup. This could include hallways, offices, and spare rooms. The best way to get started is to bring in all of the cleaning supplies that you’ll be using and lay them out. If you have a crew, you’ll want to make sure you have enough for everyone. Next, divide the supplies up, decide who is going to take which room, and get to work.
Here is the checklist you’ll need for general cleanup:
Remove all of your tools and other renovation materials
Pick up all garbage and throw it away
Dust ceilings
Dust ceiling fans
Clean the walls with soap and warm water
Dust and clean the baseboards
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
Vacuum the carpeting (if there is any)
The above post-construction cleaning checklist contains the common areas that people clean. However, there are also other parts of the construction site that require cleaning:
Dust and clean windows and doors
Clean light fixtures and lightbulbs
Clean inside cabinets and closets
Dust woodwork
Clean inside drawers (dust travels everywhere!)
Wipe down blinds
2. Porch/Driveway
Now that the general areas have been taken care of, it’s time to move onto the porch and driveway. Since the driveway and porch are the first things the homeowners will see when you unveil their renovations, it’s extra important to clean these areas well. It will also serve to set a good first impression and be indicative of what’s inside.
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Vacuum and dust entryway
Clean doors
Clean windows
Sweep and wash porches
Clean exterior lights
Clean threshold
Pressure wash driveway
3. Bedrooms
If you renovated the bedrooms, you’ll have some cleaning work to do in there as well. This checklist is dependent on whether or not you’ll be moving the furniture back into place, so let’s say for the sake of this checklist that you’re also in charge of putting the furniture back in place. Here’s what you’ll need to do to clean the bedrooms:
Clean the walls with soap and warm water
Dust and clean the baseboards
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
Wipe down the tops of dressers
Wipe down the tops of bookshelves, as well as the shelves
Clean mirrors
Clean inside closets
Wipe down blinds
4. Kitchen
Kitchens have lots of surfaces so you can imagine it will be a big job cleaning the kitchen after a renovation. It might be a good idea to get a couple of crew members in there to tackle this one together. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Clean the walls with soap and warm water
Dust and clean the baseboards
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
Vacuum, dust, and clean shelving and drawers (inside and out)
Clean cabinet doors, tops of cabinets and glass
Clean countertops, sinks and backsplashes with soap and warm water
Vacuum, dust, and clean shelving, drawers, and cabinets (inside and out)
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
6. Garage
The garage will be a big cleanup, so it’s recommended to get a few crew members working on it at the same time. Here’s what you’ll need to do:
Vacuum, dust, and clean shelving, drawers, and cabinets (inside and out)
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
Wipe down the utilities (furnace, water heater, and other utilities)
7. Laundry Room
Finally, we have the laundry room. This room shouldn’t take up too much time, but it’s still important to give it a good clean. Here’s what you’ll need to do for the laundry room:
Vacuum, dust, and clean shelving, drawers, and cabinets (inside and out)
Wipe down appliances
Sweep and vacuum the floors
Wash the floors
Seems like a lot doesn’t it? Just as renovating a house is a huge job, the cleanup afterward is intense too. If you find this is too much for you and your crew, consider calling in the professionals.
Why are we talking about this? Cleaning may not be our focus, but it is an important part of the story for returning to the workplace after the COVID 19 pandemic. We’ve collected some of the most useful research to help you navigate the right way to manage some of the common safety concerns as you go from remote work to reopening the workplace.
Once everyone returns to work, we’ll find ourselves thinking differently about the equipment and surfaces around us, reaching for disinfectant wipes where we’d never give a second thought before.
While it’s understandable to experience a little apprehension as we venture back to the office, it’s achievable and valuable to keep our common spaces healthy. Whether engaging in maintenance cleaning, or CDC-advised disinfection for exposed spaces, office cleaning practices come down to the same basic tenets: The right equipment, a solid plan, and a team.
This COVID office checklist will help you collect the right materials for your everyday routine, establish a thoughtful plan, and put it in place in your office with help from your team.
While our reaction to the virus has been (understandably) to default to “disinfect everything,” in everyday situations the CDC guidance recommends cleaning rather than disinfection. What’s the difference? In short:
• Cleaning is for routine health and wellness. Washing down surfaces using a green cleaner or a simple soap-and-water solution can make them safe by removing dust and dirt. This also physically removes germs by picking them up (either in a paper towel or cloth) to safely remove them.
• Disinfection, on the other hand, kills germs by means of a chemical process. The CDC recommends disinfection only when when a risk is present someone has been working in or visiting the office while carrying a contagious illness; it doesn’t have to occur for routine cleaning.
Also, in any cleaning or disinfection routine, it is important to read and carefully follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Never mix cleaning agents. Doing so can be harmful or even fatal.
Gather the right cleaning tools
Depending on the reason for cleaning (simple cleaning, deep cleaning, or disinfection) you’ll have a few items on your checklist:
☐ Nitrile gloves (latex can cause allergic reactions in some individuals)
☐ Paper towels, or microfiber cloths (if you can wash and sanitize them after use)
☐ Green cleaning spray
☐ Disinfecting wipes, spray, or a correctly-diluted bleach solution
☐ Trash bags
☐ For disinfection: A properly-rated respirator mask and protective gown
Create an office safety and health plan
To create a cleaning routine, it helps to think about the typical hotspots that transmit bacteria and viruses.
1. Make a note of the traffic through certain areas of the workplace, and the ways in which space is used-or not. In the course of this mental inventory, you may even uncover ways to improve or maximize your space usage as a side-benefit to your cleaning plan development. For instance, you may find areas you don’t need to attend to for cleaning purposes. They may turn out to be underutilized real estate.
2. Look through your office one area at a time, and note the high-touch areas in each. Some of the typical transmission vectors in spaces include:
• Tables and desks
• Countertops
• Chair-backs
• Doorknobs
• Light switches
• Cabinet pulls and handles
Some of the other high touch areas in your office spaces to consider:
Front desk and reception areas
• Phones, computer mice, and keyboards
• Desk accessories such as staplers, tape dispensers, and pen-cups
• Digital touch screens
• Elevator buttons
• Coat-racks and hangers
Kitchen and break rooms
• Appliance handles and controls (fridge, toaster, oven, dishwasher)
• Fixtures
• Chair-backs at seating areas
• Coffee station and coffee/tea service items
Bathrooms
• Bathroom fixtures (toilet handles, faucets, soap and towel dispensers)
• Waste-bins
• Door and stall handles
• Changing stations and convenience item dispensers
Conference and meeting rooms
• Technology controls such as speakerphone buttons, remotes
• Televisions, touch screens, and projectors
• Whiteboard accessories such as pens and erasers
Mail and resource rooms
• Postage meters, scales, and dedicated shipping computers
• Packaging and mail tools such as tape guns, letter openers, box cutters
• Rolling package bins, trolleys, and carts
Develop an office cleanliness plan
Following a regular cleaning and disinfection schedule for the workplace is the best way to maintain the hygiene of your spaces and the health of your colleagues.
While no cleaning schedule is one-size-fits-all, a daily practice of cleaning high-touch areas, along with an intermittent practice of deep cleaning (including things like upholstery, window treatments, and carpets) and sanitizing surfaces can create a healthy environment year-round.
When to increase office cleaning frequency
Sometimes you may increase or augment your normal cleaning and disinfection practices:
• During local outbreaks of transmissible diseases or illnesses
• During “peak” season for influenza, or at the beginning of the school year (a time when the common cold finds a foothold in households)
• During large-scale events in the office: holiday gatherings, stockholder or board meetings, all-hands events, etc.
• When someone goes home sick from the office with something transmissible
Don’t skip the dusting
It’s tempting to focus solely on areas where hands or respiratory droplets may travel, but dust can be a vector for illnesses like COVID-19, cold, and flu. An “airborne” disease achieves its fast spread by hitching a ride on dust particles and aerosolized moisture. Besides reducing the spread of illness, improving your indoor air quality can make breathing easier for those with dust allergies, asthma, and other respiratory sensitivities.
Promoting good workplace hygiene
In the wake of social distancing, getting every employee on board with office hygiene likely won’t meet with much resistance. Even so, there are several ways you can encourage each employee to keep up these healthy habits once things start to settle into the new normal. Provide a checklist for guidance including:
☐ Encourage good hand-washing and respiratory hygiene practices within your workplace.
☐ Discourage presenteeism in the office – consciously create an office culture where it is “okay” to work from home or take the day off when you’re feeling ill.
☐ Keep supplies stocked and readily available. Make sure supply cabinets are well marked.
☐ Place disinfectant wipes, hand sanitizer, paper towels, waste bins (for easy disposal), and face coverings at strategic spots in high-traffic areas.
☐ Make space-hygiene practices a regular part of corporate communication.
☐ Get your staff into the habit of pitching in – proactively wiping down surfaces they use (even when they’re healthy), making recommendations on cleaning practices, supply levels, or areas in need of attention, etc.
☐ Provide a channel for the above improvements and service requests, either through a formal ticketing system or simply an email with a dedicated gatekeeper.
☐ Consider automatic or “touchless” office upgrades that reduce contact, such as:
• Motion-detecting light switches
• Entry and in-office doors
• Towel dispensers and hand-dryers
• Soap/sanitizer/lotion dispensers
By sharing your COVID 19 checklist with your staff, they’ll understand how important keeping people safe is to their employer, making it more likely they’ll follow protocols.
Implement social distancing practices
How should physical distancing actually work in the office? More space between desks? Fewer people in the office?
We recommend planning now, so you understand the impact of physical distancing on your workplace.
Creating robust social distancing guidelines must also consider what happens over time. Where in the early days of our return to work, it may feel more natural to keep distance. Using solid communication plans, offices can ensure that as things relax over time, staff will ease into the new normal of office life while still keeping mindful of the important health concerns involved.
Robin’s desk management software is a good example of incorporating tech to maintain social distancing requirements in the workplace. Robin’s seat assignments support one-to-one desk and employee ratios and help admins safely space out desks.
A few examples:
Plotting out what seats can be used and identifying average office capacity.
Staggering the number of seat assignments per day to maintain proper social distancing protocol.
Using exports, teams can keep track of which desks have been used more often than others and by who in order to maintain a safe and clean environment.
Using adjustable booking policies, managers can restrict access to book certain desks, clearly displaying what is and isn’t available on a map to their team.
The final touch? For companies looking to give their people the freedom to choose where they want to work, people can book their own desks when they decide to work in the office.
It’s not just on the employer, though. Here’s what your staff can do to help maintain social distancing:
Provide self assessments: Being aware and honest about your physical health is one of the first and best ways to reduce the spread of coronavirus. CDC guidelines list what respiratory symptoms to look out for.
Wear a mask or face covering. Masking should take place any time physical distancing of 6 feet is not possible, or any time you will spend more than 15 minutes in close proximity to others (for instance, when you must gather in a conference room for more than a quick check-in).
Bring your own resources: Another way to minimize the spread is to consider bringing personal computer peripherals to and from the office. A keyboard, mouse, laptop, etc. can be easily transported in a backpack, and make it much easier to wipe down your work-station at the end of the day.
Have a plan in place for contact tracing
Knowing who has been in the office, and with whom they’ve interacted can help mitigate the risks of infection in the event of a COVID 19 outbreak. Having a well-communicated contact tracing program can make the office space experience feel safer by offering transparency about important health information.
Though employers are lawfully allowed to ask employees about symptoms, they must be careful (as with any health condition) to protect the privacy of both COVID-positive employees and those potentially exposed.
In the event of COVID 19 symptoms, employers need to be able to answer a few questions:
When was the ill person last in the office?
Who did they meet with while on-site?
Where were they sitting in the building? Where did they spend time?
From there, individuals who may have had prolonged exposure to the infected individual can be contacted to begin the CDC-recommended quarantine procedure to limit the chance of spreading infection while their own Coronavirus status is determined.
As with employees who are sent home after a health screening, providing options for paid leave or flexible work is important.
Many organizations are using technology to jumpstart their contact tracing process. For example, with Robin’s analytics tools, office admins can easily identify when an individual was in the office, where they sat, and who else booked desks around them to expedite contact tracing.
With Robin’s people export, it’s easy to see when someone was in office and who sat around them to jumpstart the contact tracing process.
Office safety and health: Keep a good thing going
Coming up with a plan and covering all the necessary areas is a great first step in promoting a healthier, cleaner office environment . Once done, the objective is to maintain that level of enthusiasm within the office. Make healthy environments part of your overall wellness culture within the office, and promote the ideas in this guide when the opportunity arises.
The continued spread of the flu and new coronavirus (COVID-19) further demonstrates the need for workspaces to be clean and healthy. Luckily, the act of cleaning and then disinfecting a surface dramatically reduces the chances of infection spreading.
“Businesses need to step up their efforts to make sure their workplaces are disinfected regularly and properly,” says Afshin Cangarlu, CEO of Stratus Building Solutions. “There are specific cleaning tools and methods and a right and wrong way to tackle disinfection that could make or break the health of employees.”
Here are five tips on disinfecting an office, according to Stratus Building Solutions:
1. Use a one-way wipe down
Wipe down a surface in one direction and don’t go back over it in the opposite direction because it will deposit germs that were just cleaned up. Routinely wipe down all frequently touched surfaces such as workstations, countertops and doorknobs.
2. Practice color-coded cleaning
Color code cloths for specific spaces so janitorial and custodial staff doesn’t cross-contaminate — don’t confuse kitchen cloths with the bathroom
3. Know what chemicals can do
On the bottle, common household disinfectants tout their ability to kill 99.9 percent of bacteria and viruses, including human coronavirus, flu strains, E.coli and salmonella, among others. But will they work against COVID-19? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says these disinfectants are “thought” to be effective against the new coronavirus strain, but until tests confirm it, this has not been scientifically proven.
4. Tech disinfect
Don’t forget to wipe down high tough surfaces on an employee’s desk, such as their keyboard and phone.
5. Heavily promote handwashing
Post handwashing and drying signs throughout the office – from the kitchen to the bathroom – to remind employees to clean their with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60 to 95 percent alcohol or with warm water and soap for at least 20 seconds. Dry hands thoroughly because germs spread with moisture.
Cleaning was playing a large part in the pandemic because everyone wanted to be as safe as they could. People were now getting assistance when it came to cleaning their homes, offices, and every other place with a large gathering of people. At the start of the pandemic, people were not open to meeting one another with a higher chance that they would catch the Coronavirus but as time passed, with the improvements to healthcare and people getting vaccinated, the Government started making some changes so people could start meeting one another.
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