There’s a palpable sense of change in the air at this time of year and as we move towards longer days and warmer weather, the quality of the light also transforms, illuminating every nook and cranny in our homes. Spring is certainly an optimistic and happy season but it’s suddenly a whole lot harder to get away with grubby windows and unswept floors…
As the urge to clean hits us, it’s tempting to blitz the house with powerful cleaning products as a quick-fix solution to the winter clutter we’re so desperate to shake off. But there are very good reasons to avoid these chemically-laden concoctions, and learning some gentler and more time-honoured methods of housekeeping can be a rewarding exercise.
Detox your home
A good way to view the process is as a ‘detox’ for the home. While spraying surfaces with bleach will certainly annihilate any passing germs, it is also a pollutant: a fact we’ve long been programmed into missing. Having strong chemicals around the house is potentially hazardous to health (particularly with pets and small children around) and is certainly bad for the environment when you wash it back down the drain.
So what traditional methods really work? Here are some tips:
Buy in some lemons. Lemons have dozens of uses around the home, and are great for freshening up kitchen items. Use half a lemon to rub away limescale on draining boards, then polish with a dry cloth for a shiny finish. You can use the other half either to freshen up your dishwasher (just jam it in an upright position during a wash) or to soak up odours in your fridge.
Vinegar is another home-cleaning ally that’s great for spring cleaning. You can dilute it 50/50 in water for an effective window cleaning fluid (store it in a spray bottle for ease of use), spruce up your crockery collection by rubbing them with a dab of neat vinegar or even make a potent floor cleaning solution with sweet herbs: see the recipe here.
Tool up. If you’re low on tools, don’t stock up on cheap, plasticky gadgets that will need endless ‘refills’: consider ordering in some hard-wearing, traditional mops, brooms and brushes from an artisan store like Labour and Wait or Bailey’s Home and Garden. Both sell visually beautiful items that will last you through many springs to come.
If you don’t have time to make your own products, there are now plenty of effective earth-friendly products available to buy ready-made. The Method range is consistently good, and Maison Belle makes some delicately fragranced products that are so beautifully packaged you’ll want to keep them on display – quite unlike their luridly-coloured, mass market competitors! The cucumber scented Spring Cleaner (£3.95) is particularly recommended.
