How to Get Your Family to do Spring Cleaning!

Today we are going to talk about a problem and we are going to fix it! We are going to learn How to Get Your Family to do Spring Cleaning! 

Gone is the stereotypical idea that women should clean the home and keep up all the upkeep. Gone are the days where women have tried to do everything by themselves. There are a ton of us who work outside the home and then there are some that work inside the home (me!).  You may not even work at all but nobody, and I mean nobody deserves to have to spring clean by themselves!

Want to hear the #1 tip that got my family moving?? I will get to that here in just a minute! 

When you think of spring cleaning do you picture a month-long project that will wear you out?? A project that is never ending because everything you do seems to just dirty back up again in a week or two. I know you all like myself, love the feeling of a fresh clean house in the Spring!

Window’s open and curtains blowing in the breeze is the best feeling in the world! The air is fresh and the cobwebs are gone! What a great feeling that is!

We all want that fresh clean home to come home too. What we don’t need is to drive ourselves into the ground getting it done! Who wants to sit on a couch half dead looking around at a clean home we just can’t enjoy due to pure exhaustion.

Let’s get back to the topic of focus here. How to get your family to spring clean with you! Then I will tell you the #1 tip that got my family moving! 

How to Get Your Family to do Spring Cleaning 

Step 1 – Make a Plan

• Pick a Date (we do 2 consecutive Saturday’s)
• Plan Your Food (carbs will keep them moving)
• Make a List of What Needs to be Done
• Stick to the Plan!

Step 2 – Tell Your Family

• Remind them this is NOT a Choice
• Make sure They Write the Dates on Their Calendar
• You May Want to Involve them in the List in Step #1
• Pick Times and Stick with Them (8:00 breakfast – Cleaning Begins at 9:00)
• Advise Them if They are Not Dead Then They are Cleaning!

Step 3 – Plan the Meals

• Plan Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner
• Stick with Carbs (we can get healthy later, carbs will keep them moving)
• Purchase Meals and Prepare them in Advance (or you will spend all day in the kitchen)

Step 4 – Check Cleaning Supplies (List of the Most Important Ones)

• A Good Vacuum
• Bucket and Mop (O-Cedar Microfiber Spin Mop and Bucket)
• Rubber Cleaning Gloves 
• Carpet Cleaner
• Skoy Cleaning Cloth (washable) or other washable cleaning cloths
• Old Newspapers (for washing windows)
• Multiple Cleaners (Windex, Wood Cleaner and so on)

Step 5 – Stick With the Plan

• Be Prepared for Every Excuse in the Book
• Hold Your Ground
• If They are Not Dead, They are Cleaning!

Here are some tips to help get your family to spring clean! 

Chore Tips for Smaller Children – You need to find some Age Appropriate Chores for Kids for your child to complete. Make their list as interactive as possible, try writing their spring cleaning jobs on a Clothespin. Once they complete the chore they can move the clothespin to the done side of a chart. Charlee Ann enjoys a Free Reward Chart App that I have on my phone. It’s really easy to use and she always marks her chores done herself. Use anything that you can get your hands on to get them excited about completing a chore.

If nothing else works bribe them with the t.v.!

Chore Tips for Pre-teens – These guys are your allies! Let them know that you two are the only ones that can do it right. The younger children are too little to really do a good job (this is what you’re telling your pre-teen) and their older sibling is just plain lazy!! Bring the pre-teeners in on the planning and they will really pitch in and give you a hand. Besides, these guys don’t have a problem bending down and getting low…….. think baseboards here! Make friends with these guys, they are your best workers.

Chore Tips for Teens – These guys are impossible! Tread lightly with this age group and spring cleaning, these guys’ rooms smell from three blocks away and don’t even dare to open the door! So just how do you get your teen to spring clean? If you have a cleaner, you are lucky. For those of us who have birthed complete slobs….. use money as bribery. You heard me right, just pop the checkbook out and write a check and show your teen. If they complete their list they get the check. Easy as pie!

I’m joking about the teens… sorta! I really do it but, my child doesn’t get allowance and spring cleaning is a special time for her (right before her birthday) so we make it a special day for her. She is really good at helping Charlee out too.

Almost time to tell you my #1 for getting my family up and moving!

All kidding aside, talk with your family. Really talk to them about responsibility and trying to brush it off on you. Tell them how you feel always having to do something yourself and tell them you want a little help. Talking goes a long way in getting families to work as a team. When you are done reward yourself and your family with a fun treat or day out!

Ok, ok! Here it is! My #1 way for getting my family up and moving. Sort of a funny story.

One day I was picking up a sock of the floor…. actually, there were 5 socks and none of them matched, all spread out on my living room floor. I looked around and I looked at the clock and realized….

This is all I do! I pick up people’s stuff (aka crap) that they need to be picking up themselves. A lightbulb went off in my head!

I was done! I don’t mind cleaning they house, I work from home and it’s easy to stop and get some things done though out the day. But what I was doing had gotten ridiculous. Picking up someone else’s dishes and dirty clothes over and over again was crossing the line.

So I made a note and stuck it on the mirror in the bathroom that read….

I signed it mom. Nobody ever said one word about that sign, and I eventually took it down. Later that night the statements started flooding in…..

• There are no clean forks…….  I replied… wash one.

• I don’t have P.E. clothes for tomorrow……replied with…. wash them on cold.

• There is something yucky in the bathtub… and I replied…. cleaners under the sink.

I said everything in a nice even tone. No anger involved but they got the point. It took three days for them to finally realize I was done. They were out of everything and I didn’t really care. Then I brought out the chore chart. I didn’t hear one word of argument out of my family. They just started helping out.

That, my friends, is what worked for me. I’m not sure if it was the order that everything happened in or if they just thought maybe I had lost my mind! The most amazing thing is that our family has never been happier. We spend more time in the evening talking and doing chores and I laugh a whole lot more!

I hope these tips to get your family to do spring cleaning helps your venture this year go just a little bit better.