Make Spring Cleaning a Family Affair

Spring cleaning your home can be overwhelming without help. If you’re a parent, enlist your children with these creative (and fun!) ways to clean, courtesy of Debra Johnson, home cleaning expert for Merry Maids.

(Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net)

• Host a Fashion Show
Go through closets and play dress up with the kids. Put away the show-stopping outfits and make piles of items that no longer fit to donate or discard.

• Skate Over Dust
Remove furniture and rugs from hardwood surfaces in your home and have your kids slide over the floor with microfiber cloths wrapped around their feet (supervision required). Have a trash bag on hand to collect dust afterwards.

• Celebrate Christmas in Spring
Help children sort through toys and games that are no longer being used for donations. Bonus - kids may re-discover items they love!

• Establish a Finders Keepers Rule
Entice little ones to help with cleaning under couch cushions or beds with a finders keepers rule, letting them know that any money found while cleaning is theirs for the taking. Hide coins in places that need the most attention, and provide each child with a jar to collect their spring cleaning savings.

Source: ServiceMaster

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2015. All rights reserved.

Four Hidden Clutter Caches in Your Home

Did you know that clutter can accumulate even in the neatest of homes? Families with minimal clutter can benefit from de-cluttering in unexpected spaces. In fact, storage solutions often amass the most unnecessary items, becoming a seemingly organized catch-all.

Consider removing clutter from these storage areas around the home.

Filing Cabinets – While an effective filing system is necessary for saving important documents, take time periodically to remove papers that you are no longer required to keep.

(Image via Freedigitalphotos.net)

Pantries – Once a month, clear your pantry of expired food products, specialty items you no longer have use for, or non-expired items you want to donate.

Bookshelves – Avid readers have difficulty letting go of books. Scan your bookcase for a few books each year that you might lend to friends or donate. Pack away or donate collections you are not actively adding to.

Computers – Digital storage is one of the biggest culprits of clutter. Condense or delete unnecessary folders and files to free up cyberspace.

Source: Unclutterer.com

Reprinted with permission from RISMedia. ©2014. All rights reserved.