8 Things You Should Deep Clean This Spring

Winter is slowly trickling away and the tentative rays of spring are beginning to swaddle us. The transition of seasons brings a certain sense of freshness with it, making it the best time of year to give your home a good-and-hearty spring clean.

While the big areas are obvious, there are plenty of nooks, crannies and crevices that are often overlooked throughout the year, culminating in a dusty tangle of cobwebs, bobby pins and biscuit crumbs.

So don your rubber gloves and get to decluttering, degreasing and decontaminating your abode with these top eight tips for tackling those forgotten fissures.

Let’s face it, there’s not much point in a dirty dishwasher. Thankfully, cleaning your dishwasher is easy: simply remove any bits of food at the bottom (yes, this means scraping off that caked-on spaghetti and wiping away those sauce stains), then running a cycle with a specialty cleanser made for your dishwasher model.

While on the topic of cleaning your culinary tools, let’s take a look at that precious cutlery that is simply too good for the dishwasher. When it comes to giving your silverware a good and proper polish, you are best off using a toothbrush as it’s not overly abrasive. Invest in a high-quality cleanser such as Hagerty Silver Foam, or if you are tackling with some more serious tarnish, give Simichrome Polish a go to get rid of those nasty blackened stains.

The gravity of which blinds can be cleaned varies greatly, and your plan of attack should really depend on the type of blind you’re working with. Read up on best ways to clean blinds here.

From the bathroom to the kitchen and laundry, your tiles need a generous dollop of attention from time to time in order to battle grout build-up. Create your own DIY solution with ingredients you have at home: pour half a cup of baking soda into a bucket of water and get scrubbing with a nylon bristled scrub brush.

Like your dishwasher, your washing machine needs to be tended to in order to avoid a smelly machine and lint-lined clothes. All you have to do is run the machine with hot water, add distilled white vinegar and baking soda, and let sit for no longer than an hour. Following that, simply restart the machine, let the water drain and use a clean cloth to wipe the inside dry.

You’d be forgiven for abandoning your mattress, but it’s important to give it a clean every now and then if you want a healthy, bed-bug free sleep. How do you do this, you ask? Just grab your vacuum cleaner and use the crevice tool to go over the surface and sides, then spot-clean any stains using upholstery cleaners. Afterwards, give it a spritz of disinfectant for that fresh, germ-free feeling.

While your bed is stripped and the washing machine is clean, why not give your pillows and doona a good wash, too? Just take off your pillowslips and quilt cover off and throw into the washing machine.

Yes, even your cleaning devices need a bit of dusting from time to time! To get rid of those pesky fluff and hair cling-ons that attach themselves to your broom’s bristles, simply fill the bathtub with warm, soapy water, dunk the head in and give it a good swish around.