The home organising and cleaning guru shares her top advice for banishing the winter blues.
Chantel Mila's Expert Spring Cleaning Tips to Freshen Up Your Home
The home organising and cleaning guru shares her top advice for banishing the winter blues.
The start of spring brings a lot of excitement with warmer weather and longer days. This season is also the perfect time to clean your home as dust and allergens that have built up over winter need to be removed, especially with the onset of the allergy season.
It can, however, be challenging to get yourself motivated for the task. Cleaning can be time-consuming and labour-intensive, but there is no better feeling than completing the job and having a nice clean home to settle into.
And who better to turn to for advice than home organisation and cleaning extraordinaire, Chantel Mila who has garnered over 1.5 million followers on Instagram and nearly 1 million followers on TikTok. Her smart and simple advice will help you transform your home into an organised and spotless oasis.
Below, Chantel shares her top tips for spring cleaning your home and her favourite products to use.
What are your top tips for spring cleaning a home?
1. Start with a plan
Spring cleaning can get overwhelming. To reduce that overwhelming feeling, start with a clear outline of which rooms you'd like to tackle, then work through them room by room. At the end of each room, take a step back to see the final result, and this will help keep you motivated.
2. Declutter as you clean
As you clean each room, keep adding items to a box to donate. You'll feel so much lighter. A quick rule of thumb when decluttering is to think 'if I saw this at an op-shop, would I buy it?'. If not, it's time for it to go.
3. Get the family involved
Share the workload between the family and assign age-appropriate tasks. My kids are 6 and 4 years old, but love doing toy clean outs before Christmas, and seeing what they still use and what they'd like to give away.
Which areas of the home do people commonly forget to clean?
Usually, the top missed areas are the ones we can't see! Areas like air conditioning filters, dishwasher filters, and washing machine filters should be cleaned quarterly to ensure the appliances are running efficiently.
Air conditioning filters can also harbour a lot of dust and allergens, so cleaning them regularly prevents these from spreading around the home. The great news is that cleaning filters only takes around 5 minutes to do – but makes such a big difference to the health of your home.
Carpets and rugs should be deep cleaned yearly. Many professional carpet cleaners can be hired for around $40 a day and do a great job deep cleaning carpets (tip – make sure to do it on a sunny day so the carpets dry quicker!).
What are the benefits of spring cleaning your home?
Spring cleaning your home can have so many benefits, both physically and mentally. By removing hidden dust and allergens, this can help prevent dust allergies. Deep cleaning your home also helps remove bacteria and viruses that can cause seasonal coughs and colds. It also makes you feel amazing! Is there any better feeling than going to sleep in fresh, soft linen in a clean and calm room? Reducing clutter can help us feel more refreshed and productive within our homes as well.
What are your favourite cleaning products to use?
A few years ago when my son was born, I made the switch to using more DIY cleaning products around our home. In practising with different recipes and ratios over the years, the main items in my cleaning caddy are white vinegar, baking soda, lemons, dishwashing liquid and tea tree oil. The right mix of those 5 products can have your whole home sparkling!
What are the biggest cleaning mistakes you see?
I often hear so many people speak about cleaning getting overwhelming – and it can be! By prioritising the top areas you want to tackle, and having a realistic and achievable plan, you can feel a lot more in control of your cleaning schedule. Also, don't forget to share the workload between household members - deep cleaning a family home should be a shared job. And make it fun! Pop on your favourite playlist, or listen to a great podcast and make cleaning fun
For more from Chantel follow her on Instagram: @mama_mila_au Tiktok: @mama_mila_