SPRING CLEAN

She Huffed And She Puffed

Just like The Three Little Pigs, I blow through my home a few times a year–and good.

I do this to clean. To organize. Symbolically, I suppose, to start over. It makes me feel good and makes my apartment feel and look better too.

It happens in a relatively close time frame. The first time I do this (if I’m not traveling) is the week between Christmas and New Year’s. There’s something about shedding the old year and transitioning into the new, along with post-holiday clean-up, that makes me want to organize myself and my surroundings—and then there’s spring.

Ten to twelve weeks later, the clocks spring forward, signaling a new season. Branches start budding, the birds begin to chirp again, and part two of me blowing through the apartment begins. I want to air it out, let the sun shine in, make space, and continue organizing and cleaning everything I didn’t get to in January.

IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

Why Spring

Spring cleaning is as common a ritual and phrase as they come. But have you ever stopped to think about why we call it this?

Inherited tradition, of course. But before that, the history of this age-old exercise was born from a practical reality: winter used to make houses filthy.

Before modern heating, homes were warmed with coal, wood, oil lamps, and fireplaces. Windows stayed shut for months because of the cold, and soot, ash, dust, and smoke accumulated everywhere—on walls, fabrics, carpets, and furniture.

When spring arrived, temperatures finally allowed people to open the windows, air out the house, wash textiles, and scrub surfaces that had collected months of grime. It became the natural moment for a deep, whole-house clean.

The timing mattered. You needed sunlight, fresh air, and warmth to dry fabrics and ventilate the house without freezing to death.

BIG STUFF

The All Inclusive, Gotta-Do-It LIST.

Wherever you fall on the clean spectrum—whether you roll up your sleeves and do it yourself or hire someone to do it for you—to be a good steward or homeowner, you need to keep yourself, your space, and your things clean. And that requires some basic know-how and the right approach.

Here’s how I do it:

About twice a year, I tackle the big stuff. I cover the list, but not all in one go. Do what’s applicable to you and your home’s schedule.

Refrigerator/freezer. Old food, including old ice, goes. Everything gets reorganized and both are wiped down thoroughly with hydrogen peroxide. HP kills bacteria, yeast, and mold, plus disinfects and neutralizes odors.

General appliances. Check your manufacturer’s instructions. While torturing yourself with spring cleaning, this is a good time for maintenance too. Appliances that are well maintained perform better and last longer. Clean your oven and stovetop, clear out your dryer vent, top up the rinse aid in the dishwasher, check or change filters.

Windows/window treatments. I live in Manhattan so our building takes care of our windows, but if you live elsewhere this is one that should be on your list. Wash inside and out, plus remove and replace storm windows with screens (timing depends on temperatures where you live). Don’t forget blinds—wood, metal, louvered or slatted—they get dusty.

Upholstery/soft furnishings. Not a spring-only task. I do this regularly. Textiles accumulate dust and debris among their fibers, even skin cells—yuk.

Light fixtures/ceiling fans. Lamps, shades, pendants, chandeliers. When these are dusty, light itself dulls.

Baseboards/ trims/corners. Wipe door frames, moldings, and cobwebs from surfaces and surrounds. I use mild soap and water or hydrogen peroxide. Another task I do more often than just spring in my apartment.

Drawers. Kitchen, bath (don’t forget makeup), bedroom—if there’s a drawer anywhere, I go through it. Remove unnecessary items, wipe down objects inside, and clean the drawers themselves of dirt and debris. Hydrogen peroxide is your friend here again.

Clutter. Like drawers, if there’s a pile in a corner or at the back of a closet, a stack of anything, even a surface that’s acquired one too many things—including kitchen counters—I clear it.

I go through everything. I throw things out or put items in their rightful place. Clutter is sneaky—almost the toughest to spot because it accumulates right before our eyes. We become so used to seeing it that it stops registering as detritus.

Closets: pantry/linen/hall/clothing/coat. Big ones to tackle and often the worst because out-of-sight is out-of-mind. What we don’t see doesn’t bother us—even when we knowingly shove things into them.

Outdated pantry food, clothing carried one season too long, sheets that have grown threadbare, or just unneeded stuff—it goes. I like to think I live a pretty curated life, but there’s always waste, something to rotate in or out, and just had-its-day junk I find. Closets get vacuumed and wiped down with—you know what.

Silver polishing. This won’t be on everyone’s list but whether you own a few inherited pieces or have a lot because you love it as much as I do, silver requires upkeep. My favorite silver polish is Twinkle. I think it makes objects the brightest.

Clean the cleaning tools. One many forget—but my mother-in-law cemented this in me forever: a house is only as clean as the tools, receptacles (trash cans, laundry baskets), and appliances that hold it or clean it.

If your dishwasher stinks, your dishes stink. If you don’t empty the vacuum, its suction is reduced—and it stinks too. If you don’t wash and wring the mop after mopping, bacteria, dirt, and mildew accumulate (yes, it will stink). This includes your trash cans, indoors or out. They become filthy.

If the things you use to clean and organize are dirty, it’s all dirty.

THE EVERYDAY

Messy or Mindful?

I know the prospect of a big spring clean is a lot. It can certainly take a few days. That’s why I break it into a few concentrated periods over the year. The list is a guide. It provides you an accurate scope of what a comprehensive spring cleaning consists of.

The degree to which you need to do all of this depends on you, your home, and how much you already incorporate into regular cleaning. If you’re keeping up with things daily or weekly, your list isn’t likely to be so ambitious.

I won’t try to convince you that cleaning is anything other than a chore. But what I will say is that the more I incorporate it into my everyday routine, even personal protocols, the less it feels like one.

For starters, let’s frame the difference between everyday cleaning and seasonal cleaning.

Everyday cleaning is the “upkeep.” It’s the daily keeping-up of the never-ending cycle of predictable, often mind-numbing activities required to keep yourself and your space organized and tidy.

This includes things like bed making, sink and tub/shower rinsing, clothes management—laundry, keeping clothes from getting wrinkled if you don’t fold or hang them after wear, or simply keeping your closet from becoming a wreck—cleaning dishes, loading the dishwasher, sweeping and vacuuming floors.

The more you integrate these small things into everyday life, the more manageable it becomes when it’s time for a big clean.

N B CLEAN

How My Protocols Fuel My Cleaning

To make cleaning less tedious, I incorporate everyday cleaning and tidying into my personal protocols. It looks something like this:

The moment I’m up, I open the blinds to let the morning light in and make my bed. I do this every single morning whether it’s a weekday or weekend. This does as much for my mind as it does for my apartment. It mentally starts my day with a disciplined mindset, and it doubles as a practical cleaning task. I don’t even think about it anymore.

The second thing I do is brush my teeth. I then wash my face and carry out a fast morning skincare routine—this involves serum and a lot of moisturizer. Afterward, I wash down the sink (including toothpaste—no globs), wipe down the vanity counter, grab any towels along with clothes that might be ready for laundry, and head upstairs.

I place dirty clothes in the laundry closet. If there are enough to start a load, I do. I then proceed to the kitchen and prepare my hydrogenated water because I’m a camel and need as much water as I can drink, so I’ve become a slave to optimizing every drip I can. I drink my hydrogenated water with fresh lemon, take my supplements and make coffee.

While the coffee is brewing, if there are dishes in the sink from the previous night, I rinse them and place them in the dishwasher—or wash and put them away. The kitchen sink is often one of the most bacteria-prone places in a home and should be cleaned and disinfected daily.

During this time, I also do a general tidy-up throughout the apartment. If I’ve left a throw blanket on the sofa, I fold it and put it in the closet. If a plant needs watering, or flowers topping up, this is when I do it. If the floor feels like crumbs are underfoot, I sweep or vacuum quickly. If the counter needs wiping down, this is when I do it.

Because I survey the apartment daily, and do these things regularly, it’s not a lot on any given morning, so it moves fast.

Once my coffee is ready, I take it and head back downstairs for 10–15 minutes of red light therapy. This is the perfect amount of time before getting showered for the day for the laundry to finish. I’m also reading and responding to emails and texts.

Once I complete red light therapy, I grab the laundry, throw it in the dryer, get showered, dressed, and I’m off to the gym or office.

My mornings are hardly worth noting, but I wanted to demonstrate that the smallest tasks add up, and once folded into personal routines, make the larger cleaning lift easier.

In addition to the respect you’re showing yourself and your things—here’s a slightly morbid thought that may make you think twice about keeping your house tidy: Have you ever wondered, if you died or there was an emergency and someone (or worse, people) had to go into your home, what they would think? Or is it just me who thinks this way?

Was your bed made? Were there dishes caked with food in the sink? Were your clothes left in heaps on the floor? Were you messy—or worse, dirty? What kind of person would they think you were?

I’m no dirty girl.

Even if you don’t care what people think, you hopefully care how you’re remembered. And I don’t want to be remembered as a slob. See, there’s upside to upkeep.

And here comes the broken record: your home speaks volumes about you. And it speaks truth when you least expect it—including to those who see it.

What does your home look like on any given day?

Which leads me to a very different approach to cleaning that I’ll cover Thursday—Swedish Death Cleaning. I know it sounds dark, but it’s so light and meaningful. I can’t wait to tell you my experience doing it.

CLEAN LIVING

Dirty Work

Cleaning is not my favorite thing to do—not even close—but it’s simply part of life, and part of having a home.

Just as we need care, so do our surroundings and the things within them. When we give our homes, wardrobes, bedding, and favorite things regular attention, they tend to reward us by working better, lasting longer, and simply feeling and looking good.

That’s really the point. A clean home changes how a place feels. It clears the air, literally and figuratively, and makes everyday life run a little more smoothly.

So whether you tackle a drawer, a closet, or your whole apartment or house in the coming weeks, think of it less as a chore and more as a fresh start—or simply the first quarter down.

I promise it will leave things feeling a little lighter, brighter, and easier to enjoy. So get busy!