Five spring cleaning tips for your home and office

Spring is around the corner. We all know what that means, time for our annual spring cleaning! What exactly is spring cleaning, and why should we participate? It’s a thorough cleaning of a room or home in March (at the beginning of Spring). Did you know spring cleaning came about to “clean away Winter’s mess?” Us either. But, we are big fans and advocates of organization and decluttering–so count us in! 

Benefits of spring cleaning 

Cleaning out your home or office will not only simplify your life but could also benefit your mental health. 

Start your spring cleaning at the source: clutter. Studies have shown that clutter inhibits your ability to focus. Why does clutter affect us? Clutter overstimulates our minds and distracts us. This makes it challenging to focus, accomplish tasks, and relax. Here are a few benefits of getting rid of clutter:

• Reduces stress and anxiety

• Improves sleep 

• Boosts productivity 

• Saves money

• Increases organization

So, now’s the time to get rid of clutter and begin your deep cleaning. Where should you start?

Spring cleaning tips

Cleaning out your home and office can seem like a daunting task, but you don’t have to do it all at once. It’s a process. First, take small steps to reduce clutter and improve your space’s organization.

1. Practice purging 

Remove any items stacked in closets or gathering dust on shelves that you don’t regularly use. Anything placed in the rarely used pile can go into one of two boxes: one to donate and one with items you can organize and store out of sight.

Once you fill your “donate” box, think of a cause that matters to you and see if the nonprofit has a thrift store you can donate to. A lot of charities run thrift stores to fundraise for their mission. 

2. Take steps in your life to go paperless 

If you want to remove paper clutter, start at the source. Begin the new year by eliminating paper usage and eliminating junk mail. This will also help the environment by removing yourself from mailing lists, enrolling in e-statements, and switching to digital subscriptions. This will allow you to control what unwanted paper clutter enters your home. 

With a virtual mailbox provider like Earth Class Mail, trained staff securely handles your incoming mail and important documents. You choose what mail gets immediately shredded. So, you don’t have to deal with junk mail.  

3. Clean room by room 

Tackling your deep cleaning in sections will help it seem less overwhelming. No need to stress about how much needs to get done; just set a plan for how you’ll clean effectively.

Have your “toolbox” setup with items such as non-toxic cleaning supplies, rags, feather duster, toilet bowl cleaner, gloves, and more. With this, you can easily transport room to room, bathroom to bathroom. 

3. Buy something, donate something 

Each time you buy something new, consider getting rid of the old item. This will avoid you accumulating too many personal items again. For example, if you buy a new pair of jeans, donate an older pair you no longer wear–or if you buy a new broom, donate the old one. This will end the cycle of items piling up in your home. 

4. Organize your mail and receipts 

Are you someone who lets incoming mail and receipts pile up? Chances are good you’ll never have a second thought about that letter or paid invoice you kept “just in case.” So, toss it in the recycling bin.

What’s a great solution? Digitizing your mail, important documents, and receipts. A virtual mailbox makes organizing your mail convenient and simple. 

Virtual mailboxes receive and scan your incoming mail, converting all important mail into a text-searchable PDF. You can keep all your important documents in the cloud, without having a stack of papers to sort through each time you need to reference an old invoice or receipt. Cluttered papers become a thing of the past. 

Companies, such as Shoeboxed, exist to simplify and organize your receipts. All you have to do is gather your receipts and send them then, and they do the rest! If you want a solution to remove paper clutter, signing up for a virtual mailbox is a great first step. Earth Class Mail offers a range of options to best fit your needs. Learn more here.

5. Buy storage items 

For the items you kept during your purge, make sure everything has a designated place in your home. Organize each room with storage containers and title them for easy future accessibility. If you have any outliers that you can’t bundle, maybe reconsider adding it to the donate box. 

Wrap up

Don’t make deep cleaning or decluttering only a spring thing. Now that your room, home, and office are nice and tidy–establish new cleaning habits. So that it’s not a weekend-long activity and instead, it’s a habit of tidying up 15 minutes a few times a week. Happy Spring!