Spring cleaning tips: how to get the entire family involved

It’s that time of year again when we realise we need some spring cleaning tips in our lives after the muddy months of Winter when our homes need a jolly good clean!

Personally I love a good old spring cleaning session. There is nothing more gratifying than getting in those nooks and crannies and sending all that dust and dirt into oblivion. Not only is it good for our homes, but it’s also a total mood lifter too which is backed up by psychologist Scott Bea, PsyD, who affirms that spring cleaning isn’t just good for our homes, it can actually lift our moods.

But as much as I love spring cleaning, it is nice to have a bit of a helping hand isn’t it? But when people would rather skulk on the sofa then spring clean, how can we get our families to help with the spring cleaning? I

f the thought of getting your family to help clean a curved barn door track brings chills down your spine, fear not. We’ve got some simple spring cleaning tips to consider when it comes to helping you get the whole family involved with your spring cleaning to-do list this year.

Spring cleaning tips to get the whole family involved

1) Set Expectations Early

The last thing you should do is to suddenly tell your family that they should forget what they thought they were doing for the weekend because you have something else in mind. Ideally, you should let them know at least one week beforehand, that everyone is going to help you to clean and organize the house. That way, everyone will be prepared and children can’t claim ignorance on the day of cleaning.

2) Be Honest and Offer Incentives

Teenagers can’t be tempted with candy or chocolates like small children are. While you may be able to get away with doing this to entice smaller children to help you, older children would balk at the idea of working in exchange for candy. Therefore, you should be honest and tell older children that you need help and will provide them with a fun ending once all the tasks are completed. Some ways you can entice older children include:

• Allowance
• Rent a movie
• Takeout
• Gift card
• Let them pick their cleaning tasks

3) Take On Big Cleaning Tasks Together

Many parents would agree that children are more willing to participate in big cleaning tasks if everyone is doing it along with them. This is because children are all about fairness and it’s common for a family to have arguments surrounding ‘fairness’ when it comes to large cleaning projects such as to tell one child to clean the oven, while the other child mops the bedroom floor.

4) Get Family Involved In Planning Process

Nothing will make your family members more disgruntled than being unaware on the specifies of what they’ll have to do. Ideally, you should sit with your family and discuss the specifics on the who, what, where and why. It can be beneficial for you to write down a list of things that each person agreed to take care of, to minimize the chance of having an argument on the day of cleaning.

Additionally, the whole family should be clear on the specific time cleaning will take place. By giving children the opportunity to be a part of the planning phase, they will feel more ownership over the tasks they’re assigned and will feel like they have a voice in the planning process. This is incredibly helpful, because children especially hate being told what to do, so it’s best to let them feel a sense of ownership over their assigned tasks.

5) Teach Proper Cleaning Techniques

Some family members may dislike the idea of helping if they don’t know how to clean a specific area or item correctly. It’s common for children to require guidance on the best way to tackle specific tasks such as instructions on how to properly clean the mudroom floor. Therefore, ensure that you teach your children the correct way of handling a given task, beforehand.

6) Up the Fun Factor

Spring cleaning a house is a chore, no matter how you look at it. And, like most chores, children hate it. But, there’s no reason why you can’t up the fun factor of the entire spring cleaning process. For instance, one of the things you can do is to play your children’s favorite music in the background. Science says that people who listen to music at work, experience a higher level of productivity than those who don’t. Additionally, it will help to boost their moods, as they happily scrub the sink while screaming, “into the unknown” for the 18th time.

7) Celebrate

When it’s all said and done, spring cleaning takes a great deal of time and effort to conduct. Chances are then once it’s completed, children will pray that they never have to do it again. But, one way you can reinforce this concept so that they’ll look forward to doing it again next year, is to celebrate after the fact. This entails bringing the entire family to a movie or going for ice cream. By rewarding your family for participating in the spring cleaning process, they’ll look forward to doing it again the following year.

***Giveaway***

To kick start your Spring cleaning game we’ve got a £50 voucher to spend on one-off cleaning services at Fantastic Services to help you get the job done (subject to availability and area coverage) PLUS a Bio one™ odour eliminator and surface cleaner Starter Pack bundle + deep clean and surface cleanser starter pack bundle to help you clean and degrease around the home using naturally activating bio enzymes and natural oils.

Enter on our giveaways page here

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