Spring Cleaning Tips from the Experts

Spring cleaning can happen anywhere. Maybe you're a person who is motivated to throw open the garage door at the first moment you can venture outside without a parka. Or perhaps you prefer to take the warmer weather to open the front door and sweep all the dust away. No matter where you are cleaning, Patch has gathered tips for all the rooms in your house.

1. In the bedrooms: You may be the best housekeeper in the world, but everyone forgets something. In this room, the dust might gather in the corners or on the blades of a ceiling fan. Clean from the top down so you don't ruin your clean floor by cleaning the ceiling. The dust bunnies also gather under your bed, which is a good place to give a good cleaning.
2. In the kitchen: We use them, probably everyday, but perhaps the last place you want to clean in the kitchen is the oven and the refrigerator. You can find tips on how to clean an oven by clicking here. Click here for how to clean a fridge. As you do in the bedroom, clean the floors last.
3. In the living/front room: You can organize the bookshelves as you clean and dust. Housebeautiful.com suggests sorting books by size and subject. "Remove and discard any ripped dust jackets (unless you think they might have value)," the site states. "Line books, some vertically, some horizontally, in a rhythmic pattern. This will relieve the monotony of rows."
4. In the garage: Peter Walsh, whose tips we found on Oprah.com, says the first step (in any area, but especially the garage), is to purge. Then you need to rethink the space and decide what the priority uses of the space are. If parking is the first priority, what else does the garage need to hold? Then you need to create vertical storage with the least-often used items stored the highest. You can read the full story by clicking here.
5. Outside: As you turn the hoses back on now that the weather has turned, don't forget to get up on the top of your house and get the debris out of the gutters. But, if you don't have the right equipment for the job, call a professional to do the work. Click on the Patch directory to find a local contractor in your area. Don't forget to review them when the work is done.

Need more motivation? Martha Stewart's Web site has a printable cleaning list.

Got Spring Cleaning tips we did not mention? Tell us about them in the comments.