In just a few short weeks, spring will officially arrive to all the homes in Locust Grove!  Even after a relatively mild winter, I am looking forward to warmer days and more daylight.  This is also the time of year that my wife recruits me to help her give our entire house a good scrub down.  Here are some hacks we’ve used for getting the walls and windows done.

Walls

Skip the rag and ladder by using a Swiffer to pull the dust off of the walls.  Then switch to a microfiber mop, like this one, to give the walls a cleaning.  Dampen the microfiber with your choice of cleaning solution (different wall finishes can be more sensitive to harsh chemicals) and wash the walls one at a time. We use some dish soap diluted in a bucket of hot water.  Then, switch to a dry microfiber cloth on the mop and dry the wall to prevent streaking. Team work is awesome here because one person can wash and the other can follow behind to dry the wall.

Baseboards

Break out the vacuum cleaner attachments to tackle the baseboards.  You can use the brush attachment to pick up all the dirt around the perimeter of the room.  We have also found that an old sock on your hand works well since it can conform to the shape of your baseboards.  If you have an O’cedar mop the triangular head also works well for cleaning the baseboards. For tougher marks, you can use a melamine sponge (think Magic Erasers) to gently remove the mark.  Be careful using these in your homes in Locust Grove!  They work by taking off a small layer of the paint off of the surface of the wall.  Sometimes you can see the differences in paint finishes between where the sponge was used and where it was not used.

To keep dust off of your baseboards, try wiping it down with a dryer sheet.

Windows

Is this everyone’s least favorite task?  It’s mine, but I have learned a couple of things to make it easier.  First, leave the glass for last.  Wipe down the window frame first because if you don’t, then all the dust just floats onto your clean window.  

Cloudy days are perfect for window cleaning at your homes in Locust Grove; use a microfiber towel or try a coffee filter.  It will help keep the windows streak free and, unlike newspapers, leave your hands clean too.  Use your favorite window cleaner or try to make your own with two cups of warm water and a quarter cup of white vinegar mixed in a spray bottle.

While we can take the screens out of the windows on the first floor of our home to wash and clean them, our second floor ones aren’t as easily accessible. (I’m not really willing to hang out of the window to try to get that screen back in place.) Instead, my wife uses a spray bottle to give them a wipe down after pollen season. We also heard that using a lint roller can help remove all the dust, but we’ve never tried this one ourselves. Let me know if that one works!

Blinds

To get the blinds in all the homes in Locust Grove looking like new, grab a pair of tongs from your kitchen.  Wrap each side of the tong in an old sock or rag and secure with a rubber band, dampen with hot water and then slide the tongs through each strip of the blinds.

Using these hacks will get your homes in Locust Grove looking beautiful! Have any other hacks to share? Leave it in the comments.