Like you, I do a BIG total house clean right before I start putting up Christmas decorations. But, I do Spring clean , mainly because I have horrid allergies to juniper pollen. And, I live in a mountain community surrounded by thousands of acres of juniper and piñon pine trees! Right now, the junipers around our house are orange they’re so covered with pollen! Everything needs to be vacuumed or wiped down, almost daily . . . including our dogs.

Will the oil traffic be permanent? You might need to look into new windows and good filters on the HVAC.

no spring, summer, fall or winter cleaning. im having trouble just managing vacuuming, litter box cleaning, cooking and clean up. I really do miss a clean house.

If you count clearing out closets and drawers and purging more, and also cleaning the floors and baseboards while in the closets (ick) then yes. My housekeepers aren’t the best at cleaning the main room baseboards so I periodically go around with damp microfiber cloths soaked with a vinegar and water solution and wipe those down.

It will be pine pollen season real soon here too. We won’t bother anything outside much til it’s over except the back porch. No point. I just put away all the cushions, then hose down everything after it stops.

My replies disappear while writing them if I scroll up to read each reply again! Lynn, you've got to be miserable, do you ever get the chance to open windows?

Bpath, oil is booming in our area and there are no rigs on the mile of road we live on, the guys driving semi's and other big trucks take our road for a shortcut even though there are two blacktops not far. Our filters and windows are good, it's living in the country on a dirt road with "traffic." And not your normal traffic. When I was washing windows, the frame between the screen and glass was caked in red dirt on the opposite side of where the dust blows. I also open windows like I did today and of course that doesn't help.

Outside, I'm going to do my trim and beadboard tomorrow with microfiber clothes, water and vinegar.

Chispa, I've been using M.E. for years and so far so good. If a microfiber cloth doesn't do the trick then I use magic eraser.

Oakley (and everyone) do you do your spring cleaning in stages? For example to you do all the bedrooms top to bottom on the same day or do you pick a category like windows and do all the windows in the house on one day or??? Just curious how you choose to break things up.

Oakley, open windows yet? Sadly, not until at least the middle of May, and it was a lovely, sunny 65-degree day here! That’s how long I’ll be taking my daily allergy pills, allergy nose spray, and allergy eye drops and occasional Afrin and my inhaler. I literally can not live/ breathe without them. Thank goodness DH is now retired and can walk the dogs and take care of the gardens!

Nope

Does it count if spring cleaning is performed on our house w/o our assistance? I hate cleaning but like a very clean house, therefore we have a lot of help. Crew of three or four for the heavy stuff, and a housekeeper for laundry, bathroom. touch ups, closet tidying, quick vacuums, etc.

Adding: I used a magic eraser once and it took the paint off a wall. It is as abrasive as heck.

Poor Lynn. Yesterday was just gorgeous, today will be mid-70s before a cold front with rain. I bet rain tames your allergies for a day or so.

Kswl, with that much help, no. lol My almost 10 year old GD is going to start helping me dust.

I wonder why magic eraser took the paint off, it's one of their leading tips in advertising. I use it around light switches. It needs to be wet with hot/warm water to use.

DLM, I wish I was that organized! I do break things up unintentionally because of being ADD. "Oh look, there's a pretty birdie outside!" lol I think doing windows should be first because it makes the room brighter and gives me incentive to keep going. Then I do smaller things like dusting/washing pictures on the walls, dusting knick knacks, bookshelves and such,

I don't consider dusting and vacuuming as spring cleaning but I squeeze it in there so I can still see progress. Closets are good, which helps.

Yesterday I did the master bedroom in one day since it's used a lot. Taking down the curtains, shaking them outside, washing, hanging them back up, washing and changing bedding, bathroom, vacuuming and dusting, it did a number on me. After picking the kids up, I could hardly move trying to get out of the car.

And thank goodness our Walmart ten miles away now has pick-up service. I ordered last night to pick up this morning, and I am SO happy I won't come home exhausted.

I do both spring and all and then a not as thorough clean at Christmas. But spring and fall is when I take the curtains down, etc. and if for some reason I get busy and don't -- at least it's done once a year!

I am kind of a clean freak, so always clean. Seasonally I do go through linens to mend or retire, empty cupboards to clean the insides. I am looking forward to cleaning the outsides of my windows soon as it is getting warm enough where the glass cleaner won’t freeze on contact.

The house gets extra cleaning and sorting before Thanksgiving and Easter.

No, I don't spring clean. I clean as needed. The Mr. does the window cleaning, inside and out. Closets/organizing is done during the winter, when I can't get outside as much. Spring cleaning for us is more about the yard/outside than inside. Use a hydrostatic filter on your ac/heat unit. Magic erasers are abrasive, that's why they are not to be used on paint. Great for many other surfaces!

Tina, you don't want to use magic eraser on glossy finishes, but it's fine on regular paint. I have eggshell finish in all the rooms and it's never harmed the paint. If you're not sure, test it first.

DH and DS are doing the acre, green house (even windows) garden, etc. I do my flower areas.

Do you mean electrostatic air filter? They might help I'll look into it, but we always clean the filters once a month, and hvac filters only work when the heat and air's on. Windows are open today and little traffic. Yay!

Local, I finally decided to use microfiber cloths with windex to clean and I can't believe the difference, so I ordered a lot more, inexpensive ones. No need to pay a lot of money because the outside of the cloth is still going to get yucky.

According to youtube videos and one from a car guy, use all microfiber in the following steps,

Dust window

Wash with glass cleaner

Buff with microfiber

If a window is extra dirty, use a wet with warm water Magic Eraser right after your first dusting, dry with cloth, then glass cleaner, dry. Magic Eraser helps get rid of the slime buildup on interior windshields, which is from the interior fabrics.

I do like to do windows in the early spring and we often take care of any outdoor home projects such as painting touch ups, power washing, etc. before it gets too hot.

Inside, there's no deep cleaning that needs to be done.

I read somewhere once that fall cleaning makes more sense because you clean and close up the house due to colder weather. With spring cleaning, you clean then open the windows on nice days only to let the dust and dirt back in.

That makes sense Joanie. Where I live we get a lot of humidity beginning now through late Fall, and odors stick out like a sore thumb. My LR was spotless yesterday morning, except I need to wash the beadboard, and when I walked into the house it smelled musty or something, along with dog smell and it was bad. I think it came from the two area rugs which are pretty clean so I need to do the baking soda/vacuum thing to them.

Want two horses? :)

Oakley, I would plant two rows (offset) of evergreen trees near the road! Or get the county to change the designation and forbid large trucks on your street.

Cyn, we have a thick row of evergreens between the road and the house. The road is on the north side of the house and I'd say the majority of wind we get is from the south, which is good for us, but dust is still in the air that gets here. When it's from the north there is a bit of dust that gets through the trees and it lingers between the house and trees.

The county can't do anything, we don't live on a "street" it's a rocked/dirt road. When we moved here I kept calling our road a street and the locals kept correcting me. Hey, I'm a city girl! lol

Some days there's no traffic except for the local farmers. Days like today and tomorrow I doubt anyone drives down the road because it's raining. Which means no dust!

Here's some info that gives you an idea.

" Dust is a price many of us pay to live in the country. Some 70% of U.S. roads are unpaved, and the EPA says about 40% of dust particles come from these unpaved roads right in front of our homes.
All gravel roads give off dust. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that one vehicle traveling one mile each day down an unpaved country road will generate nearly a ton of dust over the course of a year. Multiply that by the number of vehicles that pass over the dirt road each day and you'll get an idea of the tremendous amount of dust that enters the atmosphere. This dust will travel up to 500 feet before it finally settles down. "