Outsource Your Spring Cleaning

Have you done your spring cleaning?

If you feel like you’ve fallen behind with household and gardening chores, it might be worth considering outsourcing some of the jobs so that your house is ship-shape and ready for summer entertaining.

Here are some tips for outsourcing spring-cleaning duties.

Cleaning a surface

After another long, wet winter, nothing makes you want to get outside more than a glorious spring day.

With the outdoors tempting you to take sunny walks, bike rides and leisurely picnics in the park, the last thing you probably feel like doing is staying home to clean winter clutter and mess out of your house with an annual deep clean.

But what should spring cleaning involve? Do you really need to spring clean your home?

Historically, spring cleaning was required to clean away the ash and soot built up from a long winter of burning wood or coal to keep warm.

Houses were also poorly insulated, meaning dirt, mud, and mould had plenty of opportunities to creep inside.

Luckily, we don’t face these problems anymore with modern heating and superior insulation, causing many Australians to wonder whether a spring clean is really needed these days.

The answer is still yes.

Even without the build-up of fire-related grime, winter still brings out the worst in homes.

Mildew thrives in damp conditions and tends to grow in hard-to-reach places throughout the winter months.

You’ll likely also be dealing with carpet staining from dragging in moisture and mud on your shoes.

But besides all this, your home probably hasn’t had a chance to air out since the last warm day of Autumn, meaning natural ventilation hasn’t had an opportunity to freshen up your house.

A big spring clean is just what your home needs to clear away the cold and damp of winter.

This year, treat yourself by outsourcing most of your spring-cleaning chores so that you can get out of the house and soak up the sunshine!

Get your carpets professionally steam cleaned

During winter, you’ll likely find mud and moisture tracked through the house.

Even if mud isn’t brought in on the bottom of shoes, you’re still probably bringing in prams, wet dogs, grocery bags and lovely but inconsiderate children or guests.

Freshen up your carpets with a carpet cleaning service to tackle those high-traffic carpet areas.

And did you know, those carpet cleaners can also clean the grout between all your household tiles, saving you from doing all that scrubbing!

Woman cleaning a window

Clean your blinds and curtain

If you can’t remember the last time you had your blinds and curtains cleaned, it’s probably overdue for a cleaning.

No matter how much dusting and vacuuming you do over winter, blinds and curtains are sponges for dust and will likely need a deep clean come springtime.

If you have allergy sufferers in your household, a professional clean can make a world of difference to their breathing and overall health.

If you’re overdue for blind or curtain cleaning, book in a professional clean as soon as possible, with a reputable local company such as Jim’s Cleaning.

Not only will you enjoy the health benefits, but many other households are thinking along the same lines now that spring has come, so get in early!

Dust every nook and cranny

You might dust every week, but when was the last time you really dusted?

Places like behind books, under buffets and behind paintings are often neglected when you’re busy, so a spring clean is the perfect time to tackle these spaces.

Take it room-by-room, making the time to remove everything from its place.

Don’t rush – a spring clean is not meant to be completed in a day.

Wintering your bathroom

The combination of cold outdoor weather, steam from hot showers and the lack of opportunity to ventilate the room can wreak havoc on your bathroom over winter.

Let’s break it down.

Condensation is caused when humidity in the air meets a cold surface like your bathroom tiles, mirrors and windows. It condenses from a gas back to a liquid again.

You see, warm air can “hold” more moisture than cold air. As the air cools, it will “shed’ the excess moisture by forming tiny droplets that you will see as steam. The problem is worse in winter because the outside temperature is so cold.

The immediate symptoms are usually steamed up mirrors and dripping walls, which, while unsightly, are not necessarily a problem unless they never get a chance to dry out properly.

If that happens, your bathroom can suffer permanent water damage and even mould growth.

Some issues you might face are:

Water left to condense and sit on the bottom edges of mirrors will eventually attack the edge of the mirror’s silver backing, causing it to discolour and peel.
Permanent damp patches on walls and ceiling will grow mould spores which can be difficult to remove if they take hold.

This spring, some minor changes to your bathroom may be in order to prevent those unwanted problems from reoccurring next year.

Get a handyman in to replace any mirrors you notice have been attacked by condensation.

If mould has grown on constantly damp spots on your walls, your problem could also be with the paint.

Hire a professional painter to efficiently repaint your bathroom with mould-resistant paint to get your spring off to a healthy start.

Outdoors

Even though most of your spring cleaning goes on indoors, your outdoor spaces need refreshing after winter.

While you’re focused on the dust bunnies inside your house, hire an all-around gardener to come out and rake away leaves, remove dead limbs from trees, prune shrubbery and mow your lawn.

A good gardening service can also:

Clean your gutters;
Trim your hedges;
Remove green waste;
Weed garden beds;
Spray garden beds to prevent weeds from growing back;
Mulch your garden beds before summer strikes;
Do any necessary pressure cleaning; and
Perform outdoor odd jobs like new laying turf or building raised veggie patches.

As a bonus, they’ll also be able to remove any hard rubbish you’ve come across while you’ve been spring cleaning, getting rid of all your waste in one go!

By putting in a heroic effort now, you’ll set yourself and your household up for a healthy, fresh spring. And if you treat yourself by enlisting some outside help, it won’t take you all summer to recover from all your spring cleaning. If you would like a quote on any of the services listed above, contact Jim’s Group today on 13 15 46.