Forced Spring Clean

I never really understood the idea of spring cleaning. My mum didn't ever really seem to do it - or if she did I certainly was not involved.

I was speaking with an Eastern European friend of mine recently and she told me about the huge spring clean her family would do every year which included removing all furniture from every room of the house and cleaning all the furniture and all the rooms thoroughly - including washing the walls and repainting them with lime, and washing ever square inch of fabric by hand. It sounded like a lot of hard work but I suppose the social structure which had the entire extended family living together helped ensure there were enough hands to get it all done.

Last weekend my darling husband Tom was sick, with a chest infection and a horrendous cough. I was happy to put up with it keeping me awake all night but he insisted (bless him) on leaving me in peace in our room and sleeping in the spare room.

This sounded like a great idea but no one had slept in the spare room, which doubles as my study, for ....well...years. I decided that before he could sleep there I needed to clean the room.

I started with the pillow slips, sheets, mattress protector, doona and doona cover. They didn't all fit in the wash so I did two loads. Meanwhile I assessed the condition of the pillows and decided that even the poor probably didn't want them - they were very old, possibily mine from childhood - and so I threw them in the bin. Or more accurately I put them on the front porch in the hope that Tom would put them in the bin.

Now is a good time to mention I am allergic to dust. The spare room was VERY dusty.

Anyway, I put the bedding in the dryer (I have no clothes line and they did't fit on the airers) and made a start on the rest of the room. After some intense vacumming I decided that I was going to by a dyson and that my $30 vacuum cleaner, which was purchased when I left home in 2001, is useless. The room was a bit cleaner.

I moved the mattress out into the sun after giving it a good vacuum. I am not sure how I hoped this would help the mattress which is older than I am but I am sure it didn't hurt - perhaps the fresh air did it some good?

Then I started with the Glen 20. When I finished the first can I went to the shops and bought some more. Then I started again. I cleaned the walls with antibacterial wipes and opened all the windows in the room to let the fresh air in.

By the time I noticed the blinds needed cleaning I was completely over it. So I put the room back together, spraying Glen 20 over every layer as it went down, and did a final vacuum of the floor. And finally my forced spring clean of one room in my seven room house was completed. I think perhaps I should be more diligent in future with maintaining the cleaniness of the rooms I don't use everyday because if I have to do that every year it would drive me nuts!