Common Mistakes Made When Spring Cleaning

As we head toward the end of the official winter months, the ideas concerning spring begin to flourish. One thing on many people’s minds as the freezing chill melts away is the spring cleaning tasks they have ahead of them. Spring cleaning can be cathartic after a winter of holing ourselves up inside, but it’s certainly not the most fun task to imagine doing. To ease the transition, we’ve come up with this list of common mistakes made when spring cleaning. Avoid these, and the whole process will go much smoother.

Trying To Do Too Much

Spring cleaning can seem like an insurmountable task, depending on how much you have to clean or how big your house is. If you try to clean every single part of your home over the course of a weekend or two, you’re probably going to burn yourself out. Make sure you set realistic goals for your spring cleaning. Consider focusing on specific areas in your home or decluttering rather than cleaning if you have too much stuff.

Not Making a Plan

One of the most common mistakes made when spring cleaning is wasting time because you don’t know how to be efficient. A good plan can make all the difference. Planning out your cleaning route can make the task much easier in the long run. You won’t have to wonder where you’ve already cleaned or what you still need to do in what room because it will all be in your plan.

Throwing Everything Away

Decluttering is a substantial part of spring cleaning. All that junk you’ve accumulated over the winter needs to go somewhere. Before you give up and simply throw it all in the trash, consider the more reasonable alternatives. If you can recycle something rather than throwing it away, do your best to do so. If some things are donatable, consider giving them to an organization like the Purple Heart Pickup that will put those items to better use.

Reorganizing Rather Than Cleaning

Don’t fall into this trap unless your home is already devoid of clutter. There’s a distinctive difference between cleaning and decluttering effectively and just moving things into different places. Moving clutter from one area to another doesn’t make it clean, even if it does kind of feel like it. Be sure to get rid of things you no longer need, and you’ll have a much cleaner house by the end of the day.

Leaving Hard-To-Reach Places for the End

There’s nothing worse than going through all the work of cleaning an area and then forgetting you didn’t dust the ceiling fan beforehand. Areas such as crawl spaces, corners, and crevices are rife with dust and allergens. These should be where you start your cleaning, not where you end it. Leaving these until the end will only elongate the process.

What You Can Do Yourself and What You'll Need Help With if You Purchase a Fixer-Upper

Fixer-uppers are becoming a popular project for many. Whether you're looking to craft a home that you're going to live in or you're looking to flip it, you're going to need some help. We're going to break down the particular aspects of the renovation project and reveal what you should DIY and what you should hire out for.

Drywall

While there are countless videos online about drywall installation and various tools claiming that they'll provide you with professional results, don't fall for this scam. Drywall is something that takes hands-on experience to master. A good drywall job is so imperative to the overall finished look of a home. Therefore, it's always a good idea to hire out for drywall installation so that you can ensure it will have a professional look.

Roof Replacement

When it comes to roofing, there are two main categories that we'll address. First, there are the simple roof repairs of replacing a shingle or two that went missing. This is fairly easy to do for any DIYer with a ladder. However, major repairs should be left up to a residential roofing contractor. These include jobs like fixing leaks, replacing boards, and replacing the entire roof.

Electrical Upgrades

The electrical components of a home are something that you'll almost always address with a home renovation project. If you're just upgrading old receptacles, switches, and cover plates, then you can handle that job on your own. Just be sure to cut the power before you get started. If you need more outlets installed, the whole system rewired, or any complex lighting fixtures installed, you'll want to hire a professional. Electricity is not something that you want to mess with. Electricians know how to be safe and the code standards for your area.

Flooring

When it comes to flooring, you have many options. If you plan on laying down carpeting, it's probably best just to let the professionals handle it. They will be able to secure it correctly so that it doesn't ripple or peel up. On the other hand, vinyl flooring is one of the easiest products to install. You should opt for saving yourself some money on labor and install the vinyl plank on your own. You'll just need to buy the basic installation tools that are fairly cheap.

When it comes to dealing with a fixer-upper, you may just want to dive in and do everything yourself. However, this isn't the best idea. Follow the instructions above to ensure that your project turns out how you envisioned it today.

How To Revitalize a Boring Bedroom

Although you might want to design the perfect bedroom when moving into a new house, that ambition doesn’t always yield successful results. Given how many factors you must consider when moving, it’s understandable if you put your lavish bedroom design ideas to the side for the time being. Once you’re finally ready to transform the bedroom from boring to brilliant, some critical decor choices can help you do it. These three tips will show homeowners how to revitalize a boring bedroom with style.

Install a Stylish Headboard

A bed without a headboard is incomplete. Sure, you can still sleep on the bed without issue, but the headboard can become a stunning focal point of the bedroom. Don’t just grab any random headboard; find one that mixes with your color palette and other interior design choices successfully. Whether it’s echoing your paint color in a gorgeous way or adding the perfect touch of contrast to the area, installing a headboard is a simple and successful method for breathing new life into the bedroom.

Roll Out a Rug

When you’re trying to figure out how to revitalize a boring bedroom, inspect your floor. A good rug ties the room together in the same way a lovely headboard does. Rugs can be great tools for adding contrast or bringing together specific patterns and colors from the room in a vivid, lively way.

One attribute that sets rugs apart from headboards is the warmth the former brings to the environment, especially if you have wood flooring. A stylish silk rug can simultaneously boost the visual appeal of a bedroom, make the floor more comfortable, and provide an all-around cozy atmosphere whenever you walk through the door.

Grab Some Throws

Another method of imbuing a bedroom with a warm atmosphere and rich visual depth is setting up throw pillows. The great thing about throw pillows is that they come in many patterns, fabrics, colors, and sizes, which means finding the right set for your bedroom shouldn’t be difficult. One thing you should take the time to learn about is how to pair different pillow sizes.

Learning the basics of throw pillow sizing will help you achieve the right level of visual depth in any living space. A delightful set of throw pillows can immediately catch the eye of anyone who walks in, as long as you properly set them up. Although they’re mainly used for decoration, throws can provide an extra level of comfort while you read, watch TV, or relax in bed.

How to Save Water at Home

Before the pandemic, the average American family was already using more than 300 gallons of water a week. Now, as many of us are spending more time at home, we’re using even more water resources to keep our households running. 

While cooking at home is a great way to save money, it also means more dishes to clean. Household water use is up by 21% since the onset of the pandemic however there are small, water-conscious habits you can form at home to make a positive impact on the environment and on your wallet. Below are a few ways to save water in each room of your home. 

In the Kitchen 

It may seem counterintuitive, but washing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than running full loads in a dishwasher — even more so if you have a water-conserving model. Another hack for saving water in the kitchen is to designate one glass for your drinking water each day. This will cut down on the number of glasses to wash.

In the Bathroom

Turning off the water while brushing your teeth can save 25 gallons a month. Also be mindful of turning off the water when washing your face or shaving. You use about 2.5 gallons of water per minute by taking a shower, so try shaving just three minutes off your shower to help reduce your water footprint.

In the Laundry Room

Concentrated detergents save water, as manufacturers avoid the expense of adding water to the bottle. Non-concentrated liquid laundry detergents contain 60% to 90% water, so choosing a concentrated detergent can save you hundreds of gallons of water a year.

In the Backyard

Cleaning outside walkways with a broom saves around 30 gallons of water for every five minutes you don’t use the hose. The average homeowner can save more than 3,000 gallons a year by sweeping and not by washing.

For more ideas on how to save water at home, the folks at Zolo created this visual room-by-room guide. Finding ways to conserve water is easy and a great way to do your part for the environment while spending more time at home.