Spring is in the air! Which means it’s time to put away those heavy knits, brighten those whites and get that garden growing. The GLW Team goes through their Spring cleaning rituals.
Gio’s Spring Cleaning
Spring has sprung and the first thing I do when the temp rises is organize the shit out of my closet. Listen, I have A LOT of clothes, shoes and accessories (so many rings it’s almost embarrassing) and recently moved into my chic little condo in the Old Port. Boy needs to declutter.
The first step is taking everything out of the closet and hauling through it. If I have not worn something in 6+ months, it needs to go. I struggle with this because I always think “what if I want this one day..” but chances are, I won’t. I go through all my clothes by category (t-shirts, long sleeves, pants, jeans, etc…). I then make piles by colour to wash – or dry clean, so that I can freshly hang/fold everything back to start the season off right. Once washed, I organize my closet by colour. Most pants get folded. T-shirts, sweaters etc, get hung up. Winter clothes get put into bins and stored in my condo locker for when it’s time to take them out. The key is to be organized when cleaning out your closet to make sure you are saving as much space as possible.
Next step is shoes. I do the same “haul” process and separate my shoes by style — high top, sneakers, boots, sandals. I then give them all a good clean and organize them in my closet in order of style so that they are not only easy to find but it’s also aesthetically pleasing – facts.
I then go through all my accessories and clean them all so they are shiny and fresh for the new season. I usually mix gold and silver, but I always separate my jewelry by material when organizing it. Again, it makes it easier to find when you’re looking to add a new layer to your jewelry game. I organize all my jewelry in clear acrylic boxes and label them (silver, gold, mix) then store them on my closet shelf. I hang my chains on a stand to avoid tangling. Both are a clean and effective way to store jewelry to avoid having it hanging around.
I think doing a deep dive clean of your wardrobe and closet is an essential way to start the season off right. So, get into it.
Katherine’s Spring Cleaning
my spring and season change rituals center a lot around allergy season and clearing anything that holds onto dust out! I find I become more reactive around this time of year so anything I can do alleviate that I try and do!
I spend a lot of time at home, in my bed, and in my bedroom so a lot of my spring cleaning centres around refreshing my bedding, pillows and doing a big cleanup of my carpet’s and couches. These are not things that we clean often but they do hold onto a lot of dust and a lot of bacteria and once you see what comes out you feel very satisfied and happy to know its gone and fresh!
Bed/ Bedding:
My pillows and duvets are all goose down, sometimes I will take them to the dry cleaner and have them professionally cleaned. Usually I would do this what I would go on a vacation because obviously I’m not home. Unfortunately, vacations aren’t exactly happening so I use another, simpler method.
First, I remove all sheets, mattress cover etc… and sprinkle baking soda all over my mattress. I leave it there for a few hours and allow it “lift” dust and bacteria’s out of my mattress. I then take a vacuum and suck off all the baking soda with hopes that it’s lifted up some of the dust!
At the same time, I will take my duvet (without its cover) and place into my dryer on tumble for about 20 mins. This also helps remove dust and fluffs up the duvet. I do the same thing for my pillows. The process takes about a few hours but it makes a big difference and your pillows and duvet feel so nice and fluffy. I try to do this every 3 months.
Bedding:
Around spring time when I wash my sheets, I will add a little bit of baking soda into the wash with them and I will also add a little bit of eucalyptus and tea tree oil into my detergent for an extra deep clean. I will do this until all my sets are done so it takes a few weeks to get though everything! This makes a big difference for me and I love doing it!
Carpet and Couch Cleaning:
In the past I would hire someone to come do this professionally where they would do a big soap and wash of both my carpets and my couches. This year I chose to do it myself, I borrowed a friends Vacuum that is a carpet washer/ cleaner and went to town on my carpets. When I was done it was so satisfying to see the amount of black dirt that came out into the water! It really makes you feel good that you chose to clean everything!
I followed up by using the couch attachment and cleaned all my couches and upholstered furniture. You would be surprised to see what comes out! Now that I have a dog I am going to invest and get one for myself because I really enjoyed doing it myself!
Emma Spring Cleaning
I like to take this time (beginning to middle of April) to decide what plants and flowers I’d like to have for the summer. Some people even start this process earlier. Different plants and flowers bloom at different times and some require to be started indoors before you bring them outside.
Last Fall I was quite lazy and didn’t clean out my planters before the snow came, so I had to spend a few hours cleaning them out and disposing of the old dead plant and earth. I also like to clean my garden tools to make sure there’s nothing on them from last season. You can even disinfect them by soaking in a solution of 10% bleach and 90% water for about 20 to 30 minutes. That will kill off anything that may still be left on from last year. Wash them off thoroughly and give them a coat of oil. Oiling them will keep the tools from building up rust.
If you’re using a ground garden, get to cleaning. Clearing out any of the dead leaves and weeds that are in there. Have some landscaping fabric handy. You can start mapping out where you’d like your plants or flowers to be. I also like to use the small solar lights to make rows. This is helpful when you want to grab a cherry tomato at night.
Next up is the plant and flower selection. I get my tomato, cucumber and pepper plants from my dad. (Now that’s a garden.) His garden is quite professional. He’s already started all of his planting indoors, he’s repotted many of them and is preparing them to be transplanted outside.
Once I have my selection ready, that will tell me the time frame for when I need to plant everything. When I should start them inside and the timeframe to then transplant them outside.
This year I’m focusing my flowers based on garden to table. Which means I’m going to plant flowers that are great to cut and then put inside on a vase. Some I’ll do planting are; hydrangeas, peonies, annuals, tulips, dahlias and lilies.
As for the plants, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers are always a must (and bonus, my dad starts them for me so it’s little work on my end!). I think I’ll also plant some basil, thyme and mint.
What are you doing to clean up for Spring? Leave a comment below!
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