Simple Spring Cleaning Checklist (Room-By-Room)

Do the words SPRING CLEANING, bring up feelings of exhaustion? You’re not alone, but with a little planning (and our handy spring cleaning checklist), you can get this done!

Time to Make Spring Cleaning Stress-Free!

The sun is shining here and it’s teasing me with springtime feelings. I love the season with all its new life, sunshine, and a fresh start! And as much as we sometimes hate to hear it, March also gets me in the mood for a good Spring Cleaning!

To get YOU in the mood too, I’ve got some helpful things to share:

1. A simple spring cleaning checklist with general tasks for each room
2. A more in-depth deep cleaning checklist that walks you through specific tasks room-by-room
3. Some helpful spring cleaning tips to make things more fun and easy; and
4. My favorite homemade cleaning recipes to help you save money!

Stick around because you’ll definitely want to read this entire article, especially if spring cleaning is something you dread every year.

Simple Spring Cleaning Checklist

Starting off simple, the checklist below is full of general cleaning tasks you can do in every room of your house:

• Take down all curtains and wash them/dry clean them
• Vacuum
• Move all the furniture to vacuum and mop underneath
• Wash all the windows (don’t forget to get out the window panes if you have them!)
• Dust tops of windows and door rims
• Wash all glassware
• Clean light fixtures
• Clean and polish the door handles
• Dust all the decorations/picture frames
• Clean light switches and the cover plates
• Shampoo carpets/wax hard floors
• Wash all the baseboard, doors, and walls
• Wash all the rugs
• Dust or vacuum out the air vents
• Dust ceiling fan blades
• Wash all the pillowcases/slip covers/throws
• Polish all surfaces

Feel free to use this list when starting out, or even better, combine it with the room-by-room checklists below for the most efficient and thorough deep clean. 

Room-By-Room Spring Cleaning Checklist

I love these words of advice from one of our readers about doing one room at a time. You don’t need to completely overwhelm yourself. Just do one room a day! That way at the end of the day you feel accomplished and motivated to start again the next day.

Going off this advice, I decided to make a handy-dandy room-by-room spring cleaning checklist. I call it the Fabulessly Fru-gal’s (or Fru-guy’s!) deep cleaning checklist – and it’s designed to help you deep clean one room at a time so that you don’t get overwhelmed.

Of course, this checklist is very general and you’ll have to add a few things that are specific to your home and family, but this will help you see where to start and what to do!

Kitchen

• Clean the oven, stove, microwave, and dishwasher
• Clean coffee maker, blender, toaster, and other appliances
• Empty out the fridge and wipe it all down
• Clean out your freezer! Chip off all that built up ice! I can cause a bad odor
• Wash pantry and cabinet shelves down (organize all the foods)
• Scrub the floor
• Wash down your trash can
• Sharpen your knives
• Deep clean the faucets
• Wipe out all drawers

Laundry Room

• Clean laundry area
• Wipe down the outside of the washer and dryer
• Clean out all the lint
• Clean up all soap spills
• Freshen your front load washer if needed (check out our tutorial here!) 
• Pull out washer and dryer to clean behind them
• Organize/Wipe down where you store your laundry supplies

Bathrooms

• Deep clean the toilet (don’t forget around and behind it)
• Scrub the floor
• Clean out the cabinets (throw away all expired products)
• Replace all the toothbrushes!!
• Wash all your brushes (hair, makeup, toilet, cleaning)
• Deep clean the bathtub
• Deep clean the shower walls/shower door
• Clean the drains
• Wash all the holders/accessories (toothbrush holder, kleenex holder, etc)

PS: Have a lingering urine smell in your bathroom? Check out our post on how to eliminate urine smell for good. Oh, and while you’re at it, check out these bathroom cleaning hacks!

Bedrooms

• Wash all bedding
• Clean out under the beds
• Put away your winter clothes (this is a great time to declutter!)
• Bring out all your spring and summer clothes (wash what is needed)
• Go through your closet. Get rid of clothes, jewelry, shoes, etc. that you haven’t worn in the past year
• Clean out your drawers! Wipe each one out and reorganize the clothes
• Clean out your nightstand
• Dust all the pictures/tv/electronics/etc
• Clean windows
• Rotate the mattress

Living Room

• Dust off coffee tables and end tables
• Dust off your entertainment center
• Organize movies/dvds
• Wash pillowcases, throws etc.
• vacuum the couch and pillows

Home Office

• Dust computer & printer
• Organize file cabinet
• Organize your desk and drawers
• Stock up on printer ink, paper, etc
• Organize bookshelves
• Shred all your unneeded documents
• Clean out your email!
• Organize all your photos from the past year

Outside

• Clean out gutters
• Clean and organize your garage
• Power wash the side of your house
• Organize tool shed
• Spray for pests (or hire someone to do so)
• Clean out your car!

There you have it!

Seeing everything broken down in this room-by-room spring cleaning checklist may look overwhelming, but don’t worry! Just start in one room and work from there.

Once you get started, you’ll find yourself checking off tasks quicker than you might think. And by tackling one space at a time, you will have everything done before you know it.

Below, I’m going to share some additional spring cleaning tips to help make this behemoth of a task even less stressful (and dare I say it, fun). I’ll also share some of our favorite DIY cleaners for those of you who want to save some money at the grocery store and try some more natural solutions!

Spring Cleaning Tips

Unfortunately, there are no magical spring cleaning tips that take all the work out of doing a deep clean, but there are some ways to make the time go by faster.

In the end, it’s all about finding what works for you, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• Put on some music, an audiobook, or a podcast – Spring cleaning in utter silence may work for some, but others may do better with a bit of entertainment! Some pump-up music can help you speed through the process, or you may want to simply listen to an audiobook or podcast to keep your mind occupied.
• Tackle one room at a time – We made the room-by-room deep cleaning checklist above for a reason. Follow it! You can even do one room a day if you want.
• Get organized – While you go through the spring cleaning checklist above, be sure to organize and de-clutter at the same time! Without getting organized and finding places for your stuff, your house may quickly fall back into chaos. Check out these posts for tips:
  • 6 Home Organization Tips: Organize Your Home Once and For All
  • How to Outsmart Clutter and Disorganization
  • 15 Useful Kids Room Organization Ideas That Work

It’s not a lot, but those three spring cleaning tips should make a big difference if you follow them! Have any of your own spring cleaning tips to share? Post them in the comments below!

5 DIY Homemade Cleaning Recipes

All of these cleaners will do the same (if not better) job as the store-bought AND they will save you money! Also, you probably have most, if not all, the ingredients for them in your home RIGHT NOW. If not, you can easily pick them up at the store or order them on Amazon for cheap!

Nothing to lose and only money to save! Try them out and comment below and let me know what your favorite one is!

Homemade Fabric Softener

This DIY fabric softener is super easy and cheap to make and it works great! If you go through fabric softener slowly as I do, it’s definitely worth it to just make your own when you need it.

Here what you’ll need:

• 2 cups hair conditioner, pick a scent you like
• 3 cups white vinegar
• 6 cups hot water
• Essential Oils (if desired, my favorites are OnGuard or Purify – please use quality oils so nothing gets damaged or stained)

DIY Shower Cleaner

This is one of my favorites. All you need are two ingredients and an empty spray bottle and you’ve got a really effective shower/tub cleaner.

Here what you’ll need:

• Vinegar
• Dawn Dish Soap
• Spray bottle

Homemade Stain Remover

This is another homemade cleaner that is so easy to make (only 3 common ingredients needed) and it works SO well. I’ve used this recipe to remove stains that multiple store-bought stain removers couldn’t handle!

Here what you’ll need:

• Dawn Dish Soap
• Hydrogen peroxide
• Baking soda

DIY All-Purpose Cleaner

Having a good all-purpose cleaner is a huge necessity when doing a deep spring cleaning. If you want to go all-natural, this recipe is perfect and works like a charm!

Here what you’ll need:

• Washing soda
• Borax
• White vinegar
• Dish soap
• Hot water

Homemade Glass Cleaner

Another thing you’ll be cleaning a lot of while following the spring cleaning checklist above are windows, mirrors, and other shiny surfaces. This homemade glass cleaner will leave those areas crystal clear with no streaks!

Here what you’ll need:

• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 cups warm water
• Empty Spray bottle

Happy Cleaning!

With the spring cleaning checklist and tips above, along with the homemade cleaners, you should be feeling pretty confident about getting this year’s deep clean done! All that’s left to do now is get started, which is sometimes the hardest part.

For some, picking the easiest room first works best, but I actually prefer starting with the room I’m dreading the most. That way I get the hardest task out of the way first, and it’s smooth sailing from there!

I hope all of this helps! Let us know if you have any other items you’d add to the lists above, or share your spring cleaning tips below 🙂

You might also enjoy these posts:

• How to Make Spring Cleaning a Family Event
• How to Clean Your House Fast (10 Speed Cleaning Tips)
• 6 Home Organization Tips: Organize Your Home Once and For All