Not your mother’s spring cleaning: A holistic home reset | America's Preferred Home Warranty
April 5, 2024 | By

Not your mother’s spring cleaning: A holistic home reset

Homeowner Tips
A light-skinned woman wearing a hot pink sweater with three buttons at the cuff of the sleeve wipes a white garage door with a folded light yellow cloth in her right hand

What is spring cleaning to you? This time of year doesn’t have to be limited to the same old window washing and sweeping behind the fridge. Get more out of this annual tradition by tackling the often-overlooked aspects of what makes your home, home. 

Reset your physical space

First and foremost, spring cleaning is a physical reset. By addressing the following spaces, you can avoid the dread of having that one zone in your house that’s effectively No Man’s Land. 

Make your garage gorgeous

For some, the garage is just a place to park cars, store random boxes, and spend as little time as possible. Make this space more gorgeous and inviting with my Garage ABCs. 

  • Add organization tools like pegboards, shelving, and clear totes to find your belongings more easily while freeing up crucial space. 
  • Beautify your garage by dusting and painting the interior to make it feel more inviting. 
  • Clean it quarterly to make finding stored items a lot less daunting. Sweeping, wiping, and organizing it more frequently can give you less to do during next year’s spring cleaning. 

After the cleanout, there may even be space to convert the garage into an additional living space – for less than the cost of an addition!

 

A man in a black short-sleeved shirt and black pants with a red accent lifts a garage door with his hands; there's a key in his right hand

 

Pro Tip: Now is also a great time to make sure your garage door opener is in order. You'll want to be able to lift your garage door when it’s time to head out for a nice summer vacation!   

Reset your digital space

With your physical arena handled, now you can turn your attention to digital storage.

Make peace with your inbox

Whether your goal is inbox zero (no unread emails, everything sorted), inbox infinity (read what you need and leave the rest), or something in between, take a moment to determine the balance you’re looking for, and take the steps below to strike it.

  • Unsubscribe from any email campaigns that you don’t read or may cause you to spend more than you’d like. 
  • Go through your folders and remove any duplicate folders (or create them together). 
  • Review your color coding and email follow-up systems, ensuring that everything will work for you to see important emails
  • Set priorities so you know your goals when you log into your email, helping you avoid panic when it’s time to check your inbox. 

Pro Tip: Explore ways to clear your desktop and increase storage in your photo gallery here. 

 

A little Black girl and a little Black boy frolic through the sprinkler on their front lawn; their lawn sits in front of a big, light blue house with a white veranda, trim, and accents; the veranda carries beautiful green and pink plants, with pink and green foliage in front; the neighbors' house is of similar size and shape, and it is painted a pale yellow; there is a big tree that casts a lovely shadow between the two houses

 

Reboot your green space

No matter the size of your yard, upgrading your green space can help you enjoy it for longer and more fully. If your lawn has seen better days, start early to prep your lawn for another season of barbecue and bonfires.

If you’ve already got a healthy lawn, you can begin your landscaping journey with the following features:

  • Perennial plants that can be nurtured into blooming over and over again
  • Plants that make easy ground cover, like stonecrop or clover
  • Laying down stone or brick pavers, or
  • Adding more prominent features, like a fire pit, gazebo, or privacy hedge

Don’t worry about your water bill soaring – keep it low with these tips on how to quench your plants’ thirst  without leaving your wallet dry. 

If you have a pool, make sure you’re stocked up on pool cleaning equipment before the temperatures start to climb. If you’re a sprinkler aficionado, get them set for a frolic that will help you beat the heat. 

With all the main backyard components ready to go, you can design your green space to your heart’s content!

 

A relaxation corner features mint green and pale salmon pink pillows, a crocheted mint green blanket wrapped around a white cup that sits next to a book with a pale pink cover; the book is next to a medium-sized pink vase with a rope adorning the neck (the rope has two smaller cords attached to it that have white beads on the ends); there are leaves of different sizes on the plant protruding from the vase; all of these items sit atop a white bench affixed to a clear window with white trim

 

Reboot your mind

Now that everything else has been tackled, it’s time to elevate the things that help you reset. 

If you have a relaxation corner, make all the items in it are at least two of the following:

  • Clean
  • Organized
  • Easy to use, and most importantly,
  • Fun!

If you’ve got an available space that’s been dying to be used for something, turn it into your long-awaited escape through a dedicated design update. Combined with making sure it has the right lighting and airflow, you’ve now finished your new spring cleaning and restored your house to a happy home.

 

A Black woman with natural hair relaxes joyfully in a bright yellow half-sleeved sweater with horizontal ribbing on the sleeves and torso; she rests on a multicolored, vertically pastel-striped pillow on an all-white couch

 

Have you already included any of the steps above in your spring cleaning? Let us know on Instagram or Facebook!