This year, I have been challenged to take on the 24 hour Spring Clean Challenge. The gauntlet has been laid to see if I can clean my house from top to bottom in just one day. I love a good challenge, so this is exactly the motivation I need to get on my rubber gloves and blitz every room from my bedroom to the bathroom. They sent me the cleaning products I'd need, plus some wine to celebrate once the job was done.
Spring cleaning has a great hidden benefit too. It burns calories! So not only does my house get a good deep clean - I get a good work-out! Plus, if you get a good mood boosting playlist together, you can have some fun and get some moves a-busting while you do the dusting! I blasted out a bit of Meatloaf's Bat Out of Hell to get me in the mood for some hardcore cleaning action.
The Spring Cleaning Schedule
9.00 - Get prepared with a good breakfast to give you all the energy you need for the challenge ahead.
ROOM 1 - The Kitchen
9.30 - For many people, the oven is the most dreaded and the messiest household chore, but you can make light work of it by using a specialist oven cleaning product such as Oven Pride. You simply place the shelves and trays into the bags provided with the product and then spread the remaining product around the inside of the oven. (Making sure you wear protective gloves!) This is then left until the next morning.
When it comes to oven cleaning, I actually feel a little bit smug! As vegetarians, we don't get any dripping animal fat or meat spatter and so my oven stays pretty clean, glass door and all...so this job isn't the worst task for me at all.
10.00 - Start the surface deep clean. Using an antibacterial spray wipe over all the surfaces and under all the appliances. Making all the work surfaces germ-free clean helps keep the family safe from a whole range of nasty bacteria.
10.15 - Spray the sink, taps and draining board with antibacterial spray and Limelite, being sure to clean all the crevices. Finish by pouring some bleach down the drain for a hygienically clean sink. Don't forget to clean the draining rack, they get really mucky!
10.30 - Using Erase Away magic erasers, erase all those dirty finger marks and smudges from the cupboard doors and appliances. They work remarkably well and I even managed to shift some stubborn marks from the hob!
11.00 - It's time for a coffee and a healthy snack to restore energy levels.
11.15 - Now it's time to tackle the cupboards. Chuck out long forgotten items that have been lurking in the depths of the cupboards. Make sure the items with the shortest dates are most accessible. Move the smallest things to the front. Donate any unwanted tins and packets to the local food bank. Clean the shelves as you go, using anti-bacterial spray. It's so nice to have well organised, easily managed cupboards in the kitchen. Using plastic containers to store all the fiddly, little bits and bobs makes it easier to manage the contents!
ROOM 2 - The Bathroom
11.45 - Get ready to don those rubber gloves! Spray the shower, bath, sink and plug with Limelite spray to remove limescale and prevent future build up. Use antibacterial spray on all the other surfaces and finish with a good squirt of bleach around the toilet bowl. Throw out and recycle all those empty bottles of shower gel and cans of hairspray and check your make-up bag for any cosmetics that you've not used for months. Make-up harbours germs and shouldn't be kept for too long.
The Limelite Active Gel and the spray clean incredibly well. I was very impressed that the gel shifted the build up from around the taps and the plug. I used the spray on my glass shower door and also on the shower head and both came up really clean.
12.15 - Time for a well deserved lunch break!
ROOM 3 - The Living Room
1.15 - You're half way there - but now it's time to tackle what's under the sofa. I once found half a slightly fossilised crumpet under mine, along with various pieces of LEGO, toy cars and some rogue Smarties! I use a long handled broom to reach right under the couch.
I have a leather sofa and have found that baby wipes do an excellent job of cleaning it. If you have a fabric sofa, you can hoover it and plump up the cushions. Give the TV stand and the DVD player, Sky+ Box, games consoles etc a good dusting. They attract so much dust!
The Hallway
1.45 - Get the kids involved by challenging them to remove marks from the walls using an Erase Away eraser. They love to help, and if pointed in the right direction can be pretty useful for the task in hand.
ROOM 4 - The Bedroom
2.00 - The biggest challenge in my bedroom is my wardrobe. It's stuffed with clothing in sizes 12 through to 18, with some items that haven't seen the light of day since before the millennium! Spring cleaning is a great opportunity for a brutal clear out. If you haven't worn in it 12 months, you are unlikely to ever wear it! So chuck it out...and donate it to the local charity shop. They benefit from your generous donation and your wardrobe no longer resembles the entrance to Narnia!
3.00 - Take a break...it's almost over!
3.15 - Vacuum all carpets and floorspace. Shift the furniture to get underneath and eliminate all those dust bunnies that have been gathering. Use the vacuum cleaner hose in the corners of the ceiling to get rid of any lurking cobwebs. You can't keep making the excuse that you are nurturing them for next Halloween!
3.45 - Dust the remaining furniture and freshen up any non-wood surfaces with anti-bacterial spray. Give the light switches and door handles a quick clean too, they can get so mucky!
4.15 - With your house looking clean and tidy, you can pat yourself on the back for a job well done. You will have burned an estimated 800 calories so why not treat yourself to a glass of wine and a takeaway (after all your oven is out of action until you finish cleaning it by wiping away the Oven Pride and rinsing the shelves at 9.00 in the morning, completing the 24 hour spring clean challenge!)
