Although it has snowed about 3″ today, last weekend felt like we had finally hit the spring season. Each year, we participate in the first garage sale of the year hosted at our local Recreation Centre, typically mid-month. This gives us a deadline to start sorting & being ruthless on organizing and cleaning our humble adobe. We try to sell what we can at that community garage sale, then we donate or list the rest of it on the local buy & sell. Here’s our process on how we get it in done in time.

Make a Schedule

Designate one area, floor or room you’re going to accomplish each week. For instance, we did our garage one weekend, then our first floor the second weekend, and plan to the do the basement next week. Figure out what an attainable goal is for you to accomplish & stick to it! 

If You Haven’t Used It, It Goes

Turn on that ruthless organizers – I always think of Peter Walsh – and get sorting. Use one place for your piles. You can have Donate/Sell, Keep and Fix. If it’s trash, put it right in the trash can. We don’t make a pile for keep, we just put it back where it should belong. The rule of thumb is, if you haven’t used it in a year, it’s donate/sell. If you haven’t used it in 6 months, decide if you’re going to, if not, move it along.

Find a Way to Make It Fun

Crank up your favourite upbeat tunes – or grab a playlist from Songza to get you moving while you sort. Give yourself a reward when you’ve accomplished a goal – it can be anything from a latte for a job well done to a dinner out.

Not to mention getting involved in a Community Garage Sale is really fun too – interacting with the other vendors, and potential buyer negotiation can be a great way to get to know people in your community. 

Other Projects To Get Inspired

–Organize Your Cleaning Supplies
–Organize Your Pantry
–Organize Your Challenge Zones
–Organize Your Bath Toys
–Organize Your Play Room

Complete Checklist for a Top to Bottom Clean

I’ll admit cleaning is never on the top of my list. There are a few tasks that need to be taken care of quarterly above and beyond the regular spit & shine. If you get to the end of the sorting part and dread this – consider hiring a service to help you with the heavy lifting on this one. If it saves your sanity it is well worth it, and who doesn’t love coming home to a clean house?

Here’s what is the list to tackle cleaning wise:

1. Dust lighting fixtures
2. Move bed and large furniture. Vaccum underneath
3. Wash windows & window sills
4. Reseal any grout in kitchen or bathrooms as necessary
5. Remove and wash all window coverings
6. Clean microwave & oven
7. Vacuum refrigerator coils on fridge & freezer
8. Launder throw pillows & blankets from your couch
9. Vacuum lampshades
10. Wash window screens & reinstall
11. Clean television screen
12. Send the bath tub toys & other small plastic toys through the dishwasher
13. Clean carpet stains

One of the tools you can try for those stubborn stains is OxiClean™ Versatile Stain Remover. Simply mix a little bit of the stain remover with warm water as per the instructions on the label and blot with a clean towel until the stain disappears. Always rinse thoroughly with clean water.

It lifts tough carpet stains, cleans outdoor/indoor mats, and tackles stains leftover from past parties from patio furniture. I have had great success with it on my mats and carpets with everything from muddy footsteps to food stains.

What spring organizing or cleaning task are you tackling?