13 April . 2023
5 Spring Cleaning Tips for Your Embrey Mill Home
Spring at Embrey Mill is a glorious time.
Flowers bloom across the community, our parks become greener, and our nature trails and their views and animal visitors are revitalized.
Spring turns Embrey Mill into even more of a work of art.
There is one thing, however, that spring brings that many people don’t like as much as the flowers and birds: spring cleaning.
But we think spring cleaning gets a bad rap. It’s an essential time to refresh your home and make it as bright and sparkly as the world outside.
We wanted to make it a little easier for you, though. So, here are 5 spring cleaning tips for your Embrey Mill home!
1. Check your smoke and CO2 detectors
Sure, the noise is loud and scary, but checking that your smoke and CO2 detectors are working properly is a must. Remembering to test them every time the weather gets warmer (spring) and colder (fall), you’ll develop a pattern that will benefit everyone in your home. And don’t forget to change the batteries too. Fire prevention experts recommend installing fresh batteries twice a year for battery-powered detectors and once a year for wired detectors. Again, the change in season can be an easy reminder to do this. At the same time, take a peek at any fire extinguishers you own, just to make sure they are fully charged.
2. Spin Ceiling Fans in the Proper Direction
Ceiling fans can spin in two directions, and the direction of spin is actually quite important to your overall comfort. In the colder months in fall and winter, you want the fan spinning clockwise to pull up warm air and help it circulate throughout the room. In the warmer months, however, starting with spring, you want to switch the spin to counterclockwise which pushes more cool air down towards you. Having your ceiling fan spin in the proper-for-the-season direction helps your HVAC not have to work as hard, which will save you money in the long run. Also, stopping your ceiling fan to switch directions is a great opportunity to give those blades a good cleaning!
3. Refresh Your Carpets
Carpets take a lot of abuse by always being under our feet. We walk on them, run on them, lie on them, build couch forts on them. One thing we have to make sure to do, especially after the normally extra-wet season of winter, is clean them. Vacuuming is always important, but they also need a deeper cleaning every so often—and spring is the perfect time to do it. You can always hire a professional or do it yourself with a rented or purchased carpet cleaner, but there’s an easy way to help deep clean your carpets hiding in your pantry. Baking soda is a fantastic way to refresh your carpets for spring. Just sprinkle it over your carpet and let it sit for a little while. The sodium bicarbonate will absorb and break down the oily gunk and smells hidden deep in your carpets. After it’s had some time to work, simply vacuum the baking soda up for some really refreshed carpets.
4. Dust with Used Dryer Sheets
We all know that dryer sheets help prevent static cling with clothes, but their static-fighting powers can do wonders in other places of your home too! After you’re done a load of laundry save the used dryer sheets to repurpose as dust cloths. They’ll transfer some of their static-removing chemicals to whatever surface you rub them on and repel dust. Dryer sheets are great for dusting things you don’t want to dust often, like electronics, hard-to-reach shelves, and the already-mentioned ceiling fan blades. Just make sure to wear gloves, so you don’t get the chemicals on your hands and remember to wash your hands thoroughly after dusting.
5. Make Your Own Cleansers
Just like baking soda, there’s another helping cleaning item probably hiding in your pantry: white vinegar. Vinegar is made from acetic acid, an organic compound that gives vinegar its distinctive taste and smell and also makes a great cleaner and disinfectant. It dissolves mineral deposits, dirt, grease, and grime. Plus, it’s strong enough to kill bacteria on surfaces. There are many recipes online for different strength vinegar DIY cleaners, but mostly they are just mixes of white vinegar and water. Some do add essential oils, though, to temper vinegar’s powerful scent or lemon juice. Lemon juice is also very acidic, so that helps break up dirt and grease even more. And everyone likes lemony-fresh kitchen counters!
Spring Cleaning Your Embrey Mill Home
Checking your smoke and CO2 detectors, refreshing your carpets, reversing your ceiling fans, dusting with used dryer sheets, and making your own cleaning products will bring the fresh breath that is spring into your home. And even if you’ve just moved into your new Embrey Mill home, these 5 spring cleaning tips will get you in the habit of keeping your home amazing for years to come.