My child's room tends to look like a bomb went off in it. Between clothes, toys, blankets, chairs, and miscellaneous child possessions there is barely a walk way through the room! It's time to empty it out and give the room a good scrubbing. If you have more than one child than only do one room per day or you may get overwhelmed and discouraged and quit before you ever get finished. This guide also works well for spare bedrooms. Follow the step by step instructions below for a well cleaned child's room.
Child's Bedroom:
To Begin: Strip the bed and wash everything including sheets, comforter, dust ruffle, and pillow cases. Also take down the curtains and wash according to instructions on tag. Remove all decorations from the walls and place out of the room (we will clean them later).
Mini Blinds: Take them down and put them in the tub. Run warm water and add 3 tbsp. of dish soap and 1 cup of vinegar. Fill just until the water level comes up over the mini blinds. Swish the blind around the sudsy tub and then let soak for one hour then rinse with clean water to remove soap residue. Give the blinds a gentle shake to remove some water, hang them back up and let them dry.
Rugs: Pick up all rugs, take them out side and shake the Hell out of them or beat them with a broom or stick. Smaller rugs can be washed in the washing machine. Bigger rugs should be hung outside on banister, clothes line, ect. to air out.
Clear spiders webs: run a broom along the ceilings and baseboards. Don't worry about touching it we'll get to that later.
Wash down ceilings and walls: In a bucket mix together 1 cup ammonia, 1 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup baking soda with 1 gallon water. Use rubber gloves and have the Windows open for ventilation. With a sponge mop start with the ceiling and work down the walls to the baseboard. Be sure to move the furniture out before starting.
Toy Box: Empty the toy box/bin/tote onto the floor. Make 3 piles keep, pitch, and donate. Only keep toys that work, are age appropriate, and that your child actually plays with. Throw away any broken or damaged toys. Donate toys your child has outgrown or no longer plays with. Return the toys you are keeping to the toy box. Take the pitch pile to the trash before your child sees it. Also move the donation box to the trunk of the car or the garage/shed.
Dust: Use an old wash cloth to dust all decorations, picture frames, nick-nacs, light fixtures, trim, baseboard, window sills, vent covers, t.v., stereo, computer ect.
Polish: An old wash cloth works great for polishing wood too! In a spray bottle mix together 1 tsp. Olive Oil, 1 tsp. Liquid Castile Soap, 1/4 cup Vinegar, fill the bottle the rest of the way up with water and shake. Polish all wood surfaces this includes headboard and foot board, nightstands, dressers, doors, door knobs, light switch plates and any other wooden items.
Windows: In an empty spray bottle mix together 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/2 cup white vinegar, and 1/2 cup water, shake to mix. Using crumpled newspaper spray and clean all Windows. If you have any mirrors in the room this works well for them too.
Vacuum: Start with bed. Sprinkle mattress lightly with baking soda and let sit. While waiting for the baking soda to do its thing use the hose attachment to sweep along all baseboard, make sure to get all those icky spider webs you knocked down earlier. Now sweep the baking soda up off the bed. When you are finished with that put the brush attachment on and vacuum lampshades from top to bottom. (Trust me you'll be amazed) Then put the hose away and vacuum the floor, be sure to sweep where the furniture normally sits while you still have it moved out to wash the walls. After you do that move the furniture back and finish sweeping the floor.
Dressers: Empty the contents of each drawer and wipe the drawer out with a damp cloth. As you are putting the clothes back into the drawers sort through them and pick out what you need to store until fall and what you want to donate to your local goodwill. Do this to each dresser in the room.
Nightstands: If you have the type of nightstand that has storage be sure to sort through it and throw away or move anything that isn't necessary such as old magazines, newspapers, books ect.
Closet: Depending on the size and disarray of your child's closet this could be the hardest part. Begin by pulling out all the clothes, shoes, and stored items. Empty that baby out! Now you can knock down the spider webs, wash down the walls, and vacuum the floors and baseboard. This brings us to the sorting. If you're child is like mine they'll have entirely way too much junk in their closet, clothes from years ago, ancient shoes, stuff you stored and don't ever remember using, and other random objects from over the years. It's time to organize! Make 3 piles keep, pitch, and store. The keep pile should be made up of spring and summer clothes that fit and that your child will actually wear. The pitch pile can be divided in two if you have items you would like to donate. The store pile should only be clothes for fall and winter that fit and that your child will actually wear. Once you have sorted through everything begin moving the clothes, shoes, and other items back in. The items you are pitching and storing need to be dealt with immediately. Bag up the pitch items and get them either to the trash or get them in the trunk of the car to be dropped off for donation next time you go out. The items you are storing need put into boxes or totes and moved to the attic, shed, basement ect.
To finish: Hang the curtains back up, hang all pictures and decorations back up. If you haven't already put the mini blinds back up. Put the rugs back down. Make the bed. Spray the room with your favorite air freshner or make your own by mixing 1/2 cup liquid fabric softer with 4 cups water in a spray bottle and shaking. (Also works good to spray on fabrics to reduce static electricity and freshen) Take a step back and look at what you accomplished! Day three of spring cleaning is complete!
