Let the SPRING CLEANING begin...

I don't know about you....but I am ready for some warmer weather.  I'm trying my best to embrace this white stuff outside my window, but in my heart of hearts I am longing for the windows to be open and to hear the sound of birds chirping. 

On a side note, birds chirping in the morning is one of my favorite sounds EVER.  How can you not wake up with a smile on your face when you are being serenaded by such sweet music?!!

Anyway, back to spring...

Since it looks like there will be NO spring in our foreseeable forecast (we were just hit with a blizzard last week) I decided to make lemonade out of lemons and get my spring cleaning underway!

Call me nuts, but I honestly enjoy spring cleaning.

There is something refreshing about digging into each room and giving it a total wash down.  So far I have finished our master closet, master bathroom, and master bedroom.  Next up on the agenda is the laundry room.  Basically I just work my way from one end of the house - room by room - to the other end of the house. 

In each room I do the normal dusting, vacuuming, and such that I do when I normally clean but spring cleaning also adds other things to the mix...

I clean out each and every drawer and cabinet (washing them down and organizing them)
I clean all the baseboards
I clean all ceiling fans
I clean all trimwork around doors and windows

I've also found it's a great time to get an idea of what needs to be replaced or repaired in your house.  While scrubbing toilets yesterday I decided our toilets seats were on their last leg (nasty)!!!  I grabbed my phone, pulled up Amazon, and ordered 2 new toilet seats (for a GREAT price) in about 2 minutes total and I was back to cleaning.  Have I mentioned I also love online shopping?  That's another post...

Sometimes I am absolutely FLOORED by how dirty parts of our house get that I don't even realize.  Today I cleaned behind our TV cabinet in our bedroom.  I text my husband afterwards and said I was surprised the dust bunnies didn't unite and eat us in our sleep!!!!

Ugh.

I thrive on cleanliness and organization but, in all honesty, with 3 kids (4 if you include my husband) my house is messy on a daily basis.  Some days it is literally impossible to keep up with it.  Spring cleaning allows me to get my house deeply cleaned in a way that I can't daily (because honestly, some days I'm lucky to get the dishes washed and counters wiped off).

Instead of a quote at the end of this post I am going to share a little trick I am using to get my older two kiddos to help out with the spring cleaning (and they don't even realize it)!!!  Lately those two sweethearts have been leaving things out EVERYWHERE.  I have reminded them that I am not their personal maid....but I'm starting to think they don't believe me.

Nice.

So one day I grabbed a Rubbermaid tub and put a note on the top of it (and yes...for those of you that are giggling right now...the note was all cute with a border and pretty handwriting...that's just how I roll!).  Anyway, the note said...

You left it out, 

Mom picked it up.

She's got your stuff, 

You're out of luck!

To get it back, 

must do a chore.

Again, it's yours

just like BEFORE!

I then started walking through the house and filling my tub up with everything they had left out.  To get it back they must do a chore.  

The chore?

Cleaning out cabinets and organizing them.

Ahhhh.....see how I did that?!   I'm sneaky that way.