The best thing that you can do is to sit down and make a list of everything in your room that you’d like to have cleaner and more organized. Your list would clearly include your carpet but is it also going to include the walls, the fans and the lighting in the room? Sit down and look at each part of your room – the closet, the desk, the bed (under the bed!) and decide what you want cleaned.

Once you have a list, you should organize this list to prioritize what needs to be done and what can wait if you can’t get around to it. List what is most important to you to have cleaned this spring down to the last thing that really doesn’t matter if it gets done. This will be your checklist for doing your cleaning.

After you’ve done that, you can focus on one area at a time. Break each task down into smaller tasks. For your carpet, the smaller tasks would be something like “choosing a carpet cleaner, clearing all furniture out of the room, cleaning the carpet, allowing the carpet to dry, replacing the furniture”. For choosing a carpet cleaner, and any other cleaning products, I would focus on getting “green” or organic products that are affordable. Do some comparison shopping to find the best brands. This will help you make sure your room is safe and healthy as you clean.

Once you’re done with that, you can move down the list. Each task will be broken down by what you need to get to do it (cleaning supplies, organizing shelves, etc.) and what needs to be done to complete the task. If you’re unsure about any task, Google it or check cleaning forums to figure out how it should be done. Before you know it, you’ll have a clean room!

Consider if the walls in your room needs to be washed and even air vents, doorknobs, and switch plates. Dust and clean all wall art. Be careful when cleaning framed art and photographs. Grab your rags, paper towels, baking soda, vinegar and water spray, vacuum cleaner and steam cleaner if you choose to do the carpets. We can vacuum and we can sweep all we want. I have tried a few different products to get stains from our carpet – Woolite Oxy Deep Power Shot is one good brand again.

You can find more spring cleaning tips here:

I use the FlyLady method….

Get three boxes and label them with the following, “Put Away” “Throw Away” “Give away”. Enter your room with the boxes and work your way clockwise around your room.

As you go through your clothes and items, put the stuff that you don’t need/love/use either in the “give away” box, if it’s in good enough shape to donate, or the “throw away”. Everything you want to keep can either be put neatly back into the area your currently working on, or if it belongs somewhere else in your room or house then place it in the “put away” box to deal with when later.

Using this method will keep you from getting distracted by constantly leaving your work to put something away or throw it away. Having the boxes at arms length will help you work quickly and efficiently to get the job done! Set a timer to help keep you moving. Remember, you can’t organize clutter, so if you Absolutely don’t love it, use it, or need it….get rid of it!!!!!