The Eco-Friendly Spring-Cleaning Apartment Guide

No one, I repeat, no one wants to spend a day, let alone an entire weekend, cleaning. Depending on your level of cleanliness, spring-cleaning times may vary. But we’ve come up with a quick guide to a thorough cleaning that you can get done in 2 hours, give or take. 2 hours is doable, right?

If you’re a person without much time to clean, this guide will give you step by step directions on how to clean your kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom in a hurry. Plus we’ll suggest eco-friendly cleaning alternatives to keep your home toxin free as well.

If you’re entirely new to spring-cleaning on a regular basis, you’ll want to check out our post, Do You Make These Mistakes With Spring Cleaning? This will help you get organized first. Yup, it’s hard to clean if there are items blocking the way.

We’re going to focus on the cleaning portion in this guide. Wiping away dirt and grime to start spring off right is super therapeutic. You’ll feel great afterwards.

So what are we waiting for? Let’s get started.

Talia Apartments in Marlborough, MA

The Kitchen

The kitchen usually takes the most time so it’s best to get it out of the way first.

1. Tackle the fridge before anything else. It’s time to get rid of any food left over from the past week or longer. Then remove all leftover food from the fridge so you can clean the inside (just put on your counter for the time being). Get your favorite eco clean all purpose cleaner (we love 7th Generation) and spray the inside of your fridge to your hearts delight. Best to clean any dried food and stains with a sponge first and then do a final wipe down with a clean paper towel. You’ll need to pull out the crisper drawers to give them a thorough cleaning, as well as the floor of the fridge. Afterwards place all the food you’re keeping back in an organized manner. Check out our blog post, 7 Tips to Organizing Your Fridge.
2. Wipe down the stove. Start by removing the burners (make sure they’re not hot!). Spray the top and front of the stove. You may need to pull the stove from the wall to clean the sides, depending on where it is located in the kitchen. Get that handy sponge again to clean the hard to remove stains from under the burners. Then do a final wipe down with a paper towel.
3. Next up is cleaning the sink. Fun! It’s best to have all dirty dishes cleaned and put away before tackling the sink so it’s completely empty. Skip using toxic scrubbing cleaners and try this super easy and eco-friendly scrub recipe from Earth Mama. Wet the sink and then sprinkle the cleanser over the bottom and sides of the sink. Give it a good scrub and then let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. Do a final scrub and then rinse with water.
4. Let’s do the counters next. Remove everything from the counters and then once again, spray the counters to your hearts galore with an eco-friendly all purpose cleaner. If there are hard to remove stains, use a sponge first to break them up, then do a final wipe down with a paper towel.
5. We’re almost there. The kitchen is almost done! Next up is to sweep. We figure this is pretty self explanatory!
6. Lastly, we have to mop the kitchen floor. This is by no means very fun, but someone has to do it! Using a mop and bucket can feel clumsy though, and mops rarely really clean dried stains. So we have another method. Grab that sponge you’ve been using to clean the fridge, sink and counters. It’s time to get down and dirty with it on your hands and knees. Either use a bowl of soapy water or that all purpose cleaner. If you’re using the cleaner, spray a small section of the floor and then scrub a dub dub with the sponge. This is much more effective at getting rid of dried stains on the floor. Just do a small section at a time. When you’re done, you’re done. No more going back to cleaning stains that you missed after you mopped. For more info on this method of cleaning, check out this article from The Kitchn.

Talia Apartments in Marlborough, MA

The Bathroom

We all know that the bathroom is the last room in any home that people want to clean. But it must be done. So let’s get it done as quick as possible!

1. Start with the shower and tub. Wet the tub and shower walls. Then take that handy dandy scrub cleanser recipe and sprinkle a good amount all over the tub. Then instead of using a sponge to clean the tub, get a heavy duty hand held scrub brush. This will make cleaning the tub so much easier. Scrub the entire tub with the brush, and then while it’s still soapy from the cleanser, scrub the shower walls with it as well. Let the cleanser sit on the walls and tub for about five minutes, then rinse with the shower head.
2. Moving on to the bathroom sink and mirror. First spray the bathroom mirror with an eco friendly glass cleaner like 7^th Generation, and wipe down. Then spray the counter and sink with the all purpose cleaner and wipe down.
3. We’re tackling the toilet next. First flush the toilet before applying an eco friendly toilet bowl cleaner like 7^th  Generation, scrub and then let it sit while you wipe down the rest of the toilet with the all purpose cleaner. Flush the toilet bowl cleaner and you’re good to go.
4. Lastly, we’ll do a final sweep, then clean the floor with the same system we did for the kitchen; using a sponge in small sections instead of a mop.

Talia Apartments in Marlborough, MA

Living Room

The living room is just 3 easy steps.

1. Wipe down furniture. The easiest way to clean the living room is to take a soft towel in one hand along with your all purpose cleaner in the other. Just spray the towel with the cleaner, and wipe down the surfaces of your coffee table, side tables, TV and TV stand.
2. Vacuum the couch. Next step is to pull out the vacuum cleaner to clean the couch. Time to remove the cushions and vacuum all the stuff that has slipped through the cracks over time. Replace the cushions once you’re done.
3. Vacuum the floor. Now that we have the vacuum cleaner out, we’ll finish the living room by vacuuming the floor. If you have someone to help you move the couch to vacuum underneath, bonus points. And viola, you’re done.

Talia Apartments in Marlborough, MA

Bedroom

As far as cleaning, the bedroom is really an extension of the living room. All you need is that towel with the all purpose cleaner and a vacuum.

Repeat steps 1 & 3 from how to clean the living room, and you’ll be good to go.

Tip: If you can throw the bed sheets in the wash before you start cleaning the kitchen, they’ll be done by the time you’re cleaning the bedroom. Just remember to throw them in the dryer after cleaning the kitchen. The last step is to make the bed with the clean linens.

Easy peasy. Now time to enjoy the weekend!