A guide to summer cleaning

Let’s call it now: this will be the summer of social distancing. While we dream of beach days and far-flung vacations, the reality is that this season will mostly be spent indoors. It’s a great time to focus on mental and physical health, to rekindle old or pick up new hobbies, and to strengthen connections with loved ones near and far.

It’s also a great time to reevaluate the space you’re living in. Getting rid of clutter and reorganizing will make the home feel fresh. For your first steps, try some of these hot tips.

Cleaning is a chore—I’d be hardpressed to find someone who enjoys cleaning the toilet or vacuuming the darkest corners of a room. It can be tempting to put it all off and have one marathon cleaning day. You may end up with great before and after photos, but you risk feeling burnt out and un- motivated to do future cleaning.

Instead of a marathon, try cleaning in smaller, more regular sprints. One recommendation is the “timeboxing” method: set a timer for 20 minutes and tidy up. When the timer goes off, you’re done for the day. This works best when done daily, but you can change the frequency or timer to suit your needs.

Additionally, I’ve found it helpful to identify my “trouble spots” and tar- get them every day: no dirty dishes overnight, and dry laundry must be put away immediately. Doing cleaning sprints maintains the tidiness of your home and ensures that larger cleaning days are less of a burdenthan irregular marathons. Simply put, every item you own needs its own home. Some fairly universal examples: shoes live in the genkan, cut- lery lives in that one kitchen drawer, dress shirts live on hangers in the closet. This way, cleaning is much easier because you should immediately know where everything is supposed to go. Without this system, cleaning can take much longer because you won’t know where to put things.

A few bonus tips for assigning homes for your stuff: 1) Keep alike items in the same place. For example, keep all of your reading materials on one bookshelf instead of spread out on your bed, desk, and floor. 2) Store items closest to where you’ll use them. For example, keeping trash bags near the trash can. Of course you’ll have to work within your space and storage con- straints, but these are good rules of thumb!

Clearing out seasonal or seldom-used items creates more room for frequently-used things and rids your home of unnecessary clutter. Now that it’s summer, it’s a good idea to store away winter clothes and decor in boxes, vacuum bags, or whatever best fits your space. I like to hide them under my bed or in my closet—out of sight, out of mind. If you want to take a more minimalist approach, try packing things away as you clean. You might be surprised at how infrequently you use some things! Many cupboards and cabinets come with very large drawers and shelves, which are hard to use efficiently when storing small items like plates or dry foods. To stay organized, use smaller boxes to keep things tidy and easy to find. They’re very helpful for holding small items like teabags together, but can also be used to hold together larger items like bug repellants. For tall, open cupboards, I use a folding metal rack to maximize the vertical space. This way I can store many items on the same shelf but still have them all easily accessible.

Vertical space should also be considered as a storage solution. An indoor tension bar is great for drying towels or laundry, and temporary wall hooks can be used for towels, bug swatters, etc. The possibilities are as endless as your local Daiso’s selection.

The cheapest and possibly easiest way to freshen your home is to rearrange your furniture. Reimagining the layout of your spaces forces you to be creative and imagine your home in a new light. It can even feel like a whole new place once the furniture is moved! Some more cosmetic changes include: 1) Swapping out your pillowcase for a different color or design. 2) Hanging up different pictures and posters with washi tape (decorative masking tape). Not only is it renter-friendly, but you can also add extra personality by using colorful or patterned tape. 3) Last but certainly not least, get a plant. These will (literally) bring life to your space. If you’re looking for a “starter plant,” try pothos or a snake plant.