Let me say right now, I do not approve of this blog.

Spring cleaning tips to get your home ready for the new year?! Do you know why New Year’s resolutions fail? Because there’s nothing new about the new year. It’s still winter. The Christmas decorations are still up. This is why Spring is the time to put your New Year resolutions into practice. It’s the actual start of a new year.

And yet, you’re geared up to want to start something new on or around 1st January. So here you go then. Here are some spring cleaning tips to get your home ready for the new year, the new you and your new life.

Spring cleaning tip number one: make a plan

This isn’t just a spring cleaning tip, it’s a necessity. If you don’t make a plan, you’ll be overwhelmed from the get-go. Let day one be you walking into all the rooms and acknowledging you have a big job. So, how do you tackle big jobs? Here’s another spring cleaning tip: chunk it down. That huge job is going to become lots of little jobs you can easily cross off your list. How satisfying.

Don’t forget the equipment you’ll need – dusters, detergents, housecoat, old clothes, bags for rubbish, bags for the charity shops and a box for Oxfam (they’ll take anything, so that’s a valuable spring cleaning tip right there to help you save the planet and not send anything to landfill).

Spring cleaning tip number two:  decluttering

What kind of spring cleaning guide would this be without me telling you to declutter?

Open that wardrobe. How many of your clothes have you actually worn this year? Like the rest of us, you wear the same few items time and again. Accept the fact that you’re going to spend several hours trying on clothes, and be delighted at how many items you get rid of.

And are you going to re-read those books? Or watch those DVDs again? I know, your books are literally your identity. They’re also dust collectors. As are your knick-knacks. How often do you stop to look and enjoy your stuff? If you no longer notice it, you can live without it.

As for sheds and garages, when’s the last time you went looking for something in there anyway? Make quick work of these huge jobs. Hire a skip and be done with it.

Spring cleaning tip number three:  leave no task behind

You’ve already gone further than you thought possible. Now go further. Hoover under the furniture and not just around it. Clear out those kitchen cupboards. You never did eat those lentils, and it’s too late now.

Scrub that oven clean. Wash the washing machine. Soak the mugs in bicarb to shift those tea stains. And dust the insides of your lampshades. Yep, these spring cleaning tips take things to a whole new level.

You will wash those curtains! I know! Do it once, and then keep on top of those opulent dust collectors with regular vacuuming. Roller blinds require a flick of a duster, and a feather duster deals nicely with Venetian blinds.

Spring cleaning tip number four: spring clean your mind

Never again will you have to do such an extensive, all-encompassing spring clean because once you’ve done it, you will keep on top of things. You will declutter every quarter. You will check in with yourself every 6 months to ensure you declutter every quarter. When something breaks you will make an immediate decision to get it fixed or dispose of it, and whichever one you choose will be acted on within a week. Finally, each Christmas and on your birthday, you will immediately decide who to re-gift to any present you don’t actually want or need. If necessary, it will be re-gifted to the one who gave it to you. Harsh, I know, but otherwise they’ll never learn. That may be the harshest spring cleaning tip ever. But then, spring cleaning in the dead of winter is serious stuff.