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The thermometer is finally reading “somewhat tolerable with a jacket” instead of “wear your parka, scarf, and gloves” and that means it’s (drumroll please) Spring Cleaning Season. Hurray! Okay, spring cleaning is probably the last thing you want to think about or do, but this year we think you can get it done faster and more efficiently with one of our favorite principles: delegation. There are lots of ways everyone in your household, no matter what their age is, can help with getting your home in tip-top shape. This year you can crossover into family workload allocation by sending your cleaning troops into battle with an age appropriate arsenal.
The first cardinal rule when it comes to delegating effectively: you must learn to ditch perfection. When you ask your children, husband, and live-in grandmother for spring cleaning help, suppress the urge to redo the tasks that aren’t done “perfectly” or even right. In doing so, you’re sending a message that it doesn’t matter if they do the task or not because you’re going to do it anyway. Worse yet, you are wasting even more of your scarce time. When you delegate you have to relinquish control of the task and be satisfied with the outcome, even if the DVD’s are not in alphabetical order. By letting go of the illusion of perfection (because really, there is no such thing) you will finish tasks in less time and will empower others in your family. Trust us, as Type A personalities we know it can be hard not to want to reorganize the dresser when your 7-year-old puts away her clothes in poorly folded order. But if you can show her how to put her clothes away nicely once and let her on her own, you’ll both feel less overwhelmed when cleaning.
We’ve broken up the spring cleaning tasks that any family member aged 2 and up can help you tackle.
Ages 2-5
While you might think there’s not much a child this age can do to contribute to the annual spring clean, there are actually quite a number of tasks that this age group can handle.
- Dusting. Put a feather duster in a child’s hand and they’ll have a blast. Keep it limited to items they can reach but can’t break.
- Watering and weeding outdoor plants. Many times spring cleaning also includes spring gardening and children flock to dirt. It’s also a great way for you to teach them about plants and how they grow.
- Washing the car. Sarah’s 2 ½-year-old son, Will, demonstrated an affinity for cleaning the snow off the car this winter, which now translates to cleaning the dirt off the car. We like to let him scrub the tires with a giant sponge. He’s also a big fan of spraying the hose.
- Under the bed/couches. Make it a scavenger hunt challenge to have your kids gather all the loose toys from underneath beds, couches, tables, etc. and then place the items they find in a bin in the center of the room.
Ages 6-10
More capable and focused when given direction, this age group can handle larger and more difficult tasks. Just remember that their attention spans will only be able to handle one or two of these tasks a day.
- Closet clean-out. Take all toys out of the closet and place them on the bed or floor. Then have them organize into piles of “Keep,” “Donate,” and “Throw Out.” Explain to them the importance of giving the toys they don’t use very often to the less fortunate and that if it’s broken beyond repair, it needs to be thrown out. You’ll still have to go through these items slightly, but they should be able to do the brunt of it.
- Laundry duty. Spring cleaning time is the perfect opportunity to teach your grade school age children how to fold towels and clothing, and possibly even how to run the dryer. If you feel they aren’t as coordinated with folding, try a Debbee Flip-N-Fold, (www.hsn.com) which basically does all of the folding for you. Now you’ll have more helpers for daily cleaning all year round.
- Cleaning out the pantry. As long as your kids can read dates, this one is ideal for getting rid of any food that has expired. Have a garbage can ready for anything “past date,” an area for food that’s “close to being expired,” and area for “good for awhile” food. Make sure when you put the items back into the pantry you use the FIFO (First In First Out) method, and put the items close to expiring in the front where you’ll be most likely to use them sooner.
- Washing out pet dishes, cages, etc. Your kids probably begged you to get their pets and it’s an important part of being a pet owner for the children to learn to be responsible “pet siblings.” Even though you do this more than once a year, you can also have them find, clean, or throw away any toys well past their prime, and also wash the pets as a part of the spring cleaning too.
Age 11 and Up
By Age 11 most children are able to do a large amount of cleaning tasks. Just keep them away from any tasks that require strong chemicals and be sure they wear gloves if scrubbing floors, walls, or the bathroom. Also, never allow them to do any chemical or mechanical type tasks without supervision.
- Floor, wall, and bathroom scrubbing. The showers, the bathtubs, the sinks, the windows, the wood floors, whatever needs scrubbed, they can handle. Again, just be sure they wear gloves and that you pour the solutions.
- Closet cleaning. Just like the younger group, a closet, clothing clean-out is important and they are old enough to also organize their whole closet by themselves. Let them do this one alone unless they can't reach a top shelf or something.
- Vacuuming. Vacuuming can be a fun chore. Give a child in this age bracket the responsibility of vacuuming the “special” places such as the car, in-between the couch cushions, and under the tables and couches. Wherever dirt and dust collects that you don’t vacuum on a regular basis can be their task area.
- The refrigerator. Help them take everything out of the entire fridge and have them wipe down every shelf they can reach. For tall older kids, have them scrape any frost from the freezer too.
Your Spouse
Whomever in your home is the strongest and tallest should be in charge of the majority of the heavy lifting tasks, such as relocating heavy boxes or changing light bulbs. Here are a few other meaty tasks they can take care of.
- Cleaning the gutters. The spring rains are coming and you don’t want roof leaks or gutter damage, so this is the perfect time to clean them out. (Be sure someone else in the house is spotting the ladder or is in sight distance of the gutter cleaner.)
- Cleaning out and organizing the desk/files. Create a folder for each area of your household for medical, insurance, legal, caregiver, and other family information so it’s all in one place and easy to find.
- Battery swap. Have them change light bulbs and smoke/carbon monoxide detector batteries.
- Getting the car ready for spring. Checking tire pressure, oil change, windshield wipers, emergency kit, etc.
Any Older Relatives Living with You
If these relatives are still functioning well, have them help you with easier tasks. They can save you time and energy and will feel great contributing to the family.
- Putting photos into albums. You’ve been meaning to do this since November and now you have a huge box of pictures from the last 5 months. This is a perfect task for them.
- Organizing books, DVDs, magazines, and music. They can be in charge of getting the entertainment in the house in order.
- Going through all “under sink” areas. If you’re like us, under each sink in the house is a mess of random items. Have them get rid of empty bottles, trash and items you don’t use.
