Small Spaces Boost: Clean 5 Forgotten Spots for a Fresher Feeling Home Today
It’s sad but true: Small spaces tend to feel dirtier sooner than larger spaces. Perhaps when you’ve got smaller surface areas, stains seem bigger? Whatever the case, small spaces sometimes need extra when it comes to maintaining a home that looks and feels clean. In this post: Five surprising and often-forgotten spots to scrub, polish and dust (and tips on how to do it) that can contribute to a cleaner feeling home today.
The bad news is that these are in addition to doing your normal cleaning duties (perhaps aided by this post: 10 Tips & Tricks for Keeping a Small Space Clean); just cleaning these five spots won’t make for a clean home. But they’re the types of spots that don’t regularly get cleaned and because of that fact, can sometimes lead to a dingier-than-intended home even after all the week’s regular chores are complete. No, guests won’t probably walk in and compliment you on one of these clean items, but together, they’ll be an awesome boost to a newly cleaned small home (and they’re pretty easy-to-do). And as you might have guessed, these actually work for homes of any size.
1. Interior and cabinet doors
Interior door dirt is a strange thing. You hardly notice it when your doors have grime around the handles and edges from hands opening and closing them, but it’s noticeable to guests. Grab a duster, a bucket of warm water mixed with a tiny bit of dish soap and a soft rag. After testing to make sure what you’re using doesn’t damage the door’s surface (especially if it’s painted) gently wipe away the residue left behind by hands after removing any dust first. And don’t forget about your kitchen and bathroom cabinet doors! I don’t know about anyone else, but I always forget to tackle these, but when I do, I feel like I have a near-brand new kitchen and bathroom!
2. Light fixtures
We’ve written about this before. It doesn’t take long, but cleaning out the poor dearly departed bug bodies in your overhead light fixtures will not only eliminate unsightly bug silhouettes but it will also allow a little bit more light to shine in (important for making smaller spaces seem more spacious).
3. Ceiling fans
Now’s the time to clean your ceiling fans so they don’t fling dust bunnies across the room when you turn them on when warmer weather comes. The best trick to cleaning these without getting yucky fan blade dust everywhere? Grab an old pillowcase, slip over a fan blade and dust into the pillow case, containing the offending dirt particles and keeping them falling to the ground (or your face).
4. Windows & blinds
I honestly never think to clean my windows. But man does it make a world of difference when I do. Remember, small spaces benefit from as much light as they possibly can get, and cleaning your windows will let more light in — more than you’d imagine! And dusty, dirty blinds are just unseemly and no match for a home you try to keep clean regularly. Luckily, folks with small spaces usually don’t have as many windows to clean!
5. Baseboards
Yep, this was posted about last weekend. Did you tackle them then? If you did, you can totally skip this one because they’re probably still pretty clean. If you still haven’t tackled this often forgotten home chore, find your favorite tip in this post and then consider this chore! Again, smaller spaces means smaller square footage so you might not have too many baseboards to clean!
Do you live in a small space that seems harder to keep clean (and feeling fresh)? What extra cleaning tasks do you tackle sometimes to add a boost to your regular cleaning routine? Share your tips and ideas!