Kick-Starting My Spring Cleaning & A Simple Fridge Deodorizer Hack

Life is busy. Life is unpredictable. I cannot control what curveballs will be thrown at me each day, but one thing’s for sure, if my home is in chaos that energy trickles into my work, my parenting and how I care for myself. Keeping a (fairly) clean and organized home is so important.

cleaning out my fridge

I’ve recently been on a mission to get a head start on my spring cleaning. Every year I have these grand plans of actually completing everything on my spring cleaning list. This year I thought, why I am a waiting for spring to get started? I am now a woman on a mission to give my house a really good deep clean and spruce it up!

I began my pre-spring cleaning craze by touching up all of the paint on my walls in the main areas of my home. If you were wondering, the paint is Grey Whale by Para paints. It’s the perfect neutral grey that has a hint of colour, but is timeless, fresh and so very bright.

Next, I pulled my fridge out and cleaned behind it, plus wiped down the entire outside of my fridge. I hate to admit it, but it had been a very long time since I had done this. Yuck! It was so satisfying cleaning up all of that dust and grime.

This past week I decided that it was time to deep clean the inside of my fridge and my freezer. But most of all, I needed to address the awful smell in there. But first I had to go through it’s contents, tossing out anything that was expired and combining items I have multiples of.

Do you ever wonder how you can accumulate so many condiments when you are cleaning out your fridge? I do. So many duplicates too. This is a bad habit I am going to really try to change this year as I perfect my meal-planning and grocery shopping technique.

Once I finished deep cleaning my fridge it was time to tackle the smell. I had found this super simple Pinterest hack that was worth a try.

Just take some baking soda, pour some into an open dish, add a few drops of lemon essential oil and place it in your fridge.

Guys, it totally works! Within hours the smell was gone (this was also after I deep cleaned) and my fridge smelled like lemons. A follower suggested I take this hack one step further and put this mixture into a small mason jar, taking the lid off and replacing it with a cut out piece of coffee filter, then securing the coffee filter with the rim of the lid. This will keep the deodorizer from spilling. I am definitely trying this hack!

You can watch my fridge deep clean and deodorizing hack hack here…

You can catch up on Part One of my spring cleaning journey on my YouTube channel.

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Spring Cleaning My Home In 2019

It’s that time of year again… time to start spring cleaning my home. Actually, I did a poll on Instagram recently and am realizing that I am one of the minority of people who actually leave these “extra” cleaning chores until the spring. But, it works for our family.

Recently I started to tackle my spring cleaning and have documented the process on YouTube along the way. Watching someone else spring clean is soothing, motivational and helps remind you of areas in your home that need a little TLC. It’s still a work in progress and most likely will turn into “summer cleaning,” but I am feeling good about what I have tackled so far.

I washed all of our Ikea Ektorp sofa slipcovers in our new washing machine.

nesting story spring cleaning my home wash couch covers
nesting story garage clean up

I’ve replaced broken glasses, a broken utensil tray and chipped mugs in my kitchen.

nesting story declutter and organize kitchen

I also wiped down shelves as I went.

nesting story spring cleaning the kitchen cupboards

We replaced our impractical and gross garbage can with a much more functional one.

nesting story replacing broken items

I decluttered and organized our craft and puzzle cupboards.

nesting story organization tips
nesting story declutter kids stuff

Then we did a BIG garage cleanup.

nesting story spring cleaning the whole home

While spring cleaning my home I’m trying to concentrate on areas that might be otherwise missed.

Watch it all unfold…

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How to make your Spring Cleaning routine more manageable

Finally, the warmer weather and sunny days have arrived. That means it’s time for everybody’s favorite time of the year-spring cleaning!

Can you sense the sarcasm here?
Don’t get me wrong, I love it when my house is clean, and I’m not adverse to getting my hands dirty, but spring cleaning usually means there’s a lot of hard work to do.

All winter long I’ve been in maintenance mode, keeping things clean on the surface while anticipating the annual spring clean sprint. It’s the time of year we can really do a deep clean of those forgotten and neglected areas of our homes-which can be time consuming and exhausting. So why not break it down into a more relaxed and less daunting schedule?

I’m going to tackle different areas of my home that need a good scrubbing, over the course of 7 days.

DAY ONE: The Bathrooms

Ok I admit it, this is my least favourite room to clean (and it’s probably yours too). So why not get this one out of the way first and be done with it?

Now I do a standard cleaning of the bathrooms about once a week, so let’s forget about the obvious gross area (the toilet) and look for what hasn’t been done in awhile.

Take apart and clean the exhaust fan.

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Scrub the bathtub-while standing up.

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DAY TWO: The Kitchen

We spend much of our time in the kitchen preparing and enjoying meals together. While the surfaces are wiped down daily, it still could use a little TLC to really make the room sparkle.

Scrub dirt and grime off your cabinet doors.

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Purge and Deep Clean your fridge.

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Clean the drain (do this in the bathrooms too).

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DAY THREE: Windows

Make your rooms brighter and let the sunlight in by cleaning all the dirt off the windows.

Get the gunk out of the tracks.

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Get a streak free shine.

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DAY FOUR: Floors and Baseboards

Now that the light is spilling into your home through clean windows, you might notice a little (or a lot) of dust, dirt and pet hair on your floors.

Clean the baseboards and keep them clean (with dryer sheets!).

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Get rid of dust and dirt build up in the vents.

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DAY FIVE: Bedrooms

Freshen your mattress.

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Dust every surface with these neat hacks.

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DAY SIX: The Laundry Room

Clean your washer for cleaner clothes.

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Prevent fires by cleaning the dryer vent.

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DAY SEVEN: Outside

Get outside and enjoy the spring weather-and make your house look good while you’re out there.

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Give your car some love.

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And that should just about do it!

Tell me, what areas of your home need the most attention come spring?

For more spring cleaning inspiration, head to my YouTube channel and check out my recent video on Spring Cleaning!

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