A Mom’s Guide to Spring Cleaning, Organizing & De-Cluttering

With Spring quickly approaching, it is very easy as a mom to get wrapped up in to-do lists, rooms to clean, and clutter to get rid of. This tends to stress us out and, unfortunately causes us to miss the beauty of the season.

At City Moms Blog Network, we want to make this Spring season just a bit easier with our Mom’s Guide To Spring Cleaning, so you can focus on what’s truly important. Along with our Sister Sites, we have compiled a guide full of all things spring-cleaning related, from cleaning tips, to organizing ideas, as well as tips and tricks for de-cluttering your home. We sure hope it helps!!

Spring Cleaning Your Garage

First things first, take EVERYTHING out of your garage and put it either in the driveway or the yard…

Simply Green Household Products

These days, there are thousands of options available for cleaning your home. Some are staples that have been around since our grandmothers were raising our parents; others have recently appeared on the market. It can be terribly intimidating to decide what cleaning products to use in general, but factoring in what products are gentle on the environment, and on your loved ones, adds an additional level of complication.

Spring Cleaning With Toddlers

Before I had kids, I kept a shiny, clean house, complete with an in-depth spring scrubbing that would have made Martha Stewart proud. These days, I’m doing well to keep the dishes picked up on a daily basis and the bathrooms wiped down every week.

Keep It or Toss It: Spring Cleaning your Makeup

Do you and your skin a big favor this spring and toss those old products and make some room for some fun new goodies!

Fresh & Clean Ideas for Spring

Whether you’re more inclined to clean, decorate, or bring life back to your home with live plants, here are a couple fresh ideas.

This is my checklist for tasks I have been busy with that go beyond the usual routine and will have your house feeling much lighter.

Spring Cleaning with a Toddler

Before we get down to the nitty gritty, let’s have a moment to mourn the cleaning methods of yesteryear. You know, those glorious days pre-children where you could crank up the music and have the entire place spotless within a matter of one morning? Or, better yet, you had two incomes and could afford the cleaning crew. Long gone my friend..long gone. Sigh. Oh well, this little stinker is totally worth it. 

Spring Cleaning Tips from the Pros

As we turn to the spring, the inevitable duty of deep cleaning will likely appear on your to-do list sooner or later. Over the years, I’ve picked up some best practices when it comes to cleaning our own home that I thought I’d share as you start to tackle spring cleaning projects around your own house.

Practical Tips to Spring Cleaning

The weather is getting warmer, the days are getting longer and the only logical thing to do is….. CLEAN!!

3 Homemade Cleaners Worth Your Time

This comes from a lover of all the name brand cleaners. They always seemed to work better, faster, and longer than their bargain equivalent. Or maybe, their marketing had worked on me. Plus, I am picky! I have however discovered 3 natural cleaners that will now use consistently in our home.

Spring Clean Your Freezer and Save!

Spring cleaning in our house goes beyond deep cleaning our carpets and dusting all the fans. Deep cleaning means out with the old and in with the new. So for us, this means a month of cleaning out the deep freezer! If the hubby takes the kids to the park, I can get this done rather quickly. Takes about an hour and saves WAY more time than that in the end! So for me its a huge win.

Spring Cleaning Made Easy: 5 Tips for Success

Ah, clutter. The constant battle we moms face. And let’s face it, no one with kids (or a husband) is going to have a clutter-free home. Really, do we even want that? A home should look lived in. That said, making a few habits to keep your clutter to a minimum can help de-clutter your mind as well! It really does feel nice to walk into a clean kitchen, even if it is just once a day for a few minutes.

Spring Cleaning for Your Well Being

Maybe it’s because I get bored, or feel like my skin/body/hair routine needs a little oomph. Maybe it’s just because it’s spring time and the weather is getting nice and I become very aware that I’m spending lots of time in the sun and will soon be by the pool in a bathing suit. OR maybe it’s because I read more and more about ingredients and their effect on our bodies and the environment and so I’m always open to “cleaner/greener” ways of doing things.  Below are some simple changes that I’ve made in the past that have great results and some new ones I’m trying this year.

DIY Toy Storage

As a mother to a lovely, young three-year-old princess, I now have the chance to relive my childhood, just a little, once more. I get to play princess, ponies, and barbies with my very own tiny best friend. I also have two other tiny boys, and, between the three of them, we have amassed quite a collection of awesome toys. With this amazing collection of toys, comes a lot of responsibility… keeping them all organized and away from tiny hands and mouths. 

Inside the Closet of a Professional Organizer

It’s not as picture perfect as Martha Stewart’s would be.  I have a limited budget and need to be realistic about what I can spend it on.  I think it’s a good reminder that we don’t have to have lots of money to spend on organizing gear to have an organized home.  You just need to use the space you have and don’t over crowd it.

Printable Weekly Meal Planner: Get Organized

We have tried this system out for about a month now and it has transformed the way we approach grocery shopping AND meal planning for the week. Not to mention our grocery bill for the month has dropped by over 50%.

Springing Into Organization

Over the next few weeks, I am hoping to keep springing into organization throughout the rest of my house!

Does Spring weather give you an organization and cleaning bug? What are your favorite ways to organize your house?

Organizing Your Toddler’s Closet

Clutter and mess makes me pretty stressed out, but with a crazy busy schedule, I needed to find a way that was simple and easy to manage. With the weather so cold and dreary in January, it’s always a good month to work on some indoor projects! I took to Pinterest and began my de-cluttering and organization mission. These are the few tricks that helped me to get (and stay) organized!

Organization Tips: Taming the Toy Beast

With help from IKEA’s Trofast storage systems, I have successfully tackled and obliterated the toy organization monster. Barbies, babies, ponies, LEGOs… you name the problem, Trofast has the solution.

The Best Planners to Keep You & Your Family Organized

What’s YOUR favorite planner?

What Do I Do With All This Artwork?!

Are you overwhelmed with too many papers, paintings, collages, and more? It is a lot to deal with when you want a clean and organized house.  As an art teacher, I hope students keep every last piece we worked so hard on.  However, as a mother and an aspiring neat freak myself, I understand that creating a balance to manage both can be a dilemma.

Toy Organization Ideas: Busy Boxes

After the whirlwind rush of the holidays, it seems like we’ve got toys covering most of our house. As if we didn’t already have enough, now we’ve got even more trains and legos and balls. And while they have been fun and entertaining for my toddler so far, I know that the new will wear off eventually.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands and set up some Busy Boxes using his toys.

Planning for Success: Organization for the Busy Mom

Don’t be afraid to customize and make it what you need it to be, but get started and find your perfect planner!

Keeping Organized Digital Style

That all changed when cloud technology came around, and I found ways to organize, sync, and back up my life so that I was never more than a click away from sanity, no matter the device.

Here’s how I use technology to keep up and on track…

3 Steps to An Organized Fridge

After having family in town for Christmas my fridge and pantry were looking a little sad. They needed to be cleaned out and re organized. I took an afternoon and cleaned out all the junk and made them functional again. Today I want to share with you three easy and very simple steps you can do to have a more organized and functional fridge. 

Ending Paper Clutter: It’s Mind Over Paper

Nothing could have prepared me for the unprecedented amount of paper coming into my home. Between mail, catalogs, forms, documents, and school papers, we were drowning in paper clutter. Changes were in order, and fast. I needed will power and a plan to stay on top of the daily piles of paper clutter. It was mind over matter. “Mind Over Paper,” actually. I was determined to end paper clutter. 

How to Organize Your Home & Feel Good About It

Take a spending break and really enjoy what you have. You’ll be surprised what little you actually need to feel happy.  Now, go get yourself organized!  Any tips for organization that you love?  Comment below!

Getting Organized: My Sanity Saver

What are YOUR favorite tips for staying organized??

How to Help Your Child Win At Life and Be More Organized

 But I have found that there are a few things that have helped me not completely lose track of my life. I want to help my kids keep better track of their life too by giving them some practical tips and being a good example. So, I have thought of a few ways to help my kids win at life. 

Keeping Chaos at Bay:  Four Tips To Staying Organized As a Mom

I have come to the conclusion that for this lunch-making, carpooling, homework-supervising phase of life that I am in, a few systems have kept chaos at bay on many days.

Messy to Minimalism: Or Somewhere In Between

The word minimalism and the concept behind it has popped up around me a few times over the last few years, beginning with an article my husband shared with me at least three years ago.  I read it.  I agreed with it.  But I knew getting there wouldn’t be easy for me.  I would have to do a lot of breaking up… with things… and I wasn’t ready for that.  

Feeling Stufficated?

You know what I’m talking about. Piles on the kitchen counter make it hard to wipe down. Legos strewn about the living room floor make vacuuming impossible. Dusting kids’ dressers when they are covered with books and loose change and jewelry is a nightmare.

The Life-Changing Magic of Letting Go

I am a minimalist. My husband, on the other hand, is a maximumist (no, it’s not a word, but you get the point.) So that’s why I totally did not tell him I borrowed the audiobook, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” from the library and binge-listened — and then started it again.

5 Tips from a Minimalist Mom

My journey to minimalism came as much of a shock to me as my family and friends. I like shiny new things just like anyone. I enjoy shopping and never thought much of it. But then, life shifted, and I revisited my view. A couple years later, and the journey continues.

Does It Bring Me Joy? A Personal Quest to Live with Less

The most recent documentary I watched, Minimalism, takes a look into people whose lifestyle is solely based off of living each day with the things that bring joy to your life, and nothing more. They have a great way of figuring out what is really important in life and then waking up each day committed to that lifestyle.

Minimize is The Word for 2017

 I needed to focus on what was important and I realized an organized less “stuff” home was what I needed.  Over the past few weeks, I have been “cleaning house” and I feel I can breathe again.  Here are 5 easy tips to start to minimize your house.

Sparking Joy & Living Simply

 But the joy question turns out not to be so simple. Yes, my childhood Strawberry Shortcake doll that my mom had somehow saved from the 1980s sparked incredible joy at one time in my life. And, seeing my daughter play with the doll (her hair still smelled, three decades later!) brought me delight. But, seeing it this spring, knowing that my daughter has well outgrown playing with it, doesn’t spark joy anymore — it sparks joyful memories, but does that warrant us keeping it?

Why I Got Rid of the Toys

 So I knew what I didn’t want: toy chaos. What I did want was a tranquil space for my son to play independently. After all, we know kids learn through play. So I pictured his playroom to be like his office. The place were the real work (a.k.a playing) gets done.

Why I Got Rid of My Clothes

 I don’t want to spend a lot of time dealing with clothes everyday, but I also don’t want to live in yoga gear. I can say that changing my wardrobe has changed my outlook on life. It has helped my confidence and attitude about how less really is more.

Clutter and Chaos: Quick Tips to Maintain a Tidy Home

 Happy kids AND happy moms are more likely to thrive in a somewhat organized home.  I’m certainly not subscribing to the idea that my house needs to be spotless, but I always feel so much better, more energized, and more calm when the house is in a condition that is manageable and orderly.  I have been working on keeping a more clean and clutter free home lately.

How to Become a Minimalist & Love Your Life

There is no right or wrong way to being a minimalist.  Just take one step at a time and truly experience the joy of simplistic living!

How to Become a Minimalist & Love Your Life

There is no right or wrong way to being a minimalist.  Just take one step at a time and truly experience the joy of simplistic living!

Closet Purge: Declutter & Create a Capsule Wardrobe

Get motivated, and be ready for change. I’m happier with less, but feel better than ever about what I have in my closet.

Less is More: I Purged & Now I Love My Home

Here’s to learning minimalism and purging unnecessary wants to fulfill necessary needs.  Have you ever purged large quantities? How did it make you feel?

Minimalist Mom in the Making

First of all, HAVING LESS STUFF ON PURPOSE is hard. After a life time of thinking more, more, more; the thought of “less is more” is SO much easier said than done.