Even though spring is still far, far away where I live, I’m ready for the days to get longer and warmer, for the snow to melt and the flowers to bloom… and my home is desperately ready for its annual spring cleaning. Hi everyone, my name is Delphine (@delphinesjournal) from the Archer And Olive (@archerandolive) ambassador team. Let’s start planning all of this cleaning using our bullet journal!

Supplies: 

• Archer And Olive Notebook
• Fineliners
• Calliograph pens
• White paper

Prepare Your List

The reason why a bullet journal is perfect to plan your spring cleaning is because you can truly personalize your list and your layout based on your needs. Depending on your habits, you might want to focus your spread on the annual and/or seasonal tasks only, or you might want to include your regular monthly tasks. If you own a house or a car, there are extra tasks that add up compared to if you live in an apartment, and so forth. 

Here’s my personal list, divided in a total of nine categories (I joined some rooms because there isn’t much to do beyond my usual weekly clean-up):

1. Kitchen 

   • Declutter the pantry;

   • Declutter and wash inside the cabinets;

   • Deep clean the coffee machine;

   • Clean the oven;

   • Clean the microwave;

   • Clean inside the dishwasher; 

   • Clean the fridge.

2. Bathrooms

   • Declutter and wash inside the cabinets;

   • Deep clean the shower and bathtub;

   • Prepare the walls for painting;

   • Paint the bathroom. 

3. Bedrooms

   • Declutter unworn clothes;

   • Donate unworn clothes;

   • Clean the walk-in closet; 

   • Store winter clothes;

   • Organize summer clothes;

   • Flip the mattress;

   • Prepare the walls for painting;

   • Paint the bedroom.

4. Home offices

   • Clean the monitors; 

   • Clean the desks;

   • Declutter and wash inside the drawers; 

   • Declutter the closets; 

   • Clean the bookshelf. 

5. Living & Dining rooms

   • Wash the TV and media unit;

   • Wash the couch;

   • Clean the rug;

   • Wash the table.

6. Entryway

   • Clean the winter boots;

   • Store winter boots;

   • Declutter and donate unworn jackets;

   • Clean the walk-in closet.

7. Exterior

   • Wash windows;

   • Mechanical sweeper;

   • Prepare the soil and plants for gardening.

8. Basement

   • Clean the home gym;

   • Declutter the guest bedrooms;

   • Organize the storage closets;

   • Clean the downstairs bathroom.

9. General/Miscellaneous

   • Clean the baseboards;

   • Wash the interior windows; 

   • Clean inside the car;

   • Clean the outside of the car;

   • Wash air filters;

   • Wash the washing machine.

* Keep in mind that this is my ideal spring cleaning - it’s therefore very optimistic! 

Starting Your Spread

Draw different sized boxes with your favorite fineliner depending on the anticipated amount of work you need to do in each category. My boxes were either 5,5 cm x 8 cm or 5,5 x 5 cm. 

Once my boxes were drawn, I added some decorations to my spread using my Calliograph pens. This step is entirely optional, but I highly encourage you to experiment with your style here and perhaps try a new technique or design. Instead of carefully drafting each flower, I tried going with the flow and just try to enjoy the creating process, and it was so fun! 

Add Your Cleaning List to Your Spread

This is when everything comes together… fill your boxes with your categories and tasks! 

Your Timeline

I don’t know about you, but it would be very unrealistic for me to pull off a spring cleaning in one single weekend, especially since the exterior list solely relies on the absence of snow (which is highly unpredictable). In the meantime however, I absolutely could start cleaning inside my home! Personally, the first tasks I tackle are the easiest to do; I just find it encouraging to be crossing items off my list, and it gets me started!

You might want to set up a timeline for you to execute those tasks, which is why I recommend including calendars in this spring cleaning spread. Using your favorite pens, you can then prioritize and color code your tasks with specific dates.

It’s Cleaning Time!

Now that your list is done, double check if you have all of the necessary cleaning products at home. There’s nothing more frustrating than being ready to do a task and then have to run to the store because you forgot a product! Happy spring cleaning !

Video & Printable

If you’re more of a visual person, take a look at the YouTube video below, where I show you how I created this spread. 

If you don’t have the time to create your own spring cleaning spread, don’t worry! Download the printable below for a cleaning list template!

Let us know if you ended up creating a spring cleaning spread by tagging @archerandolive, @archerandolive.community, #AOShare and #archerandolive! You can also read this blog for more spring cleaning spread ideas!