While I love spring, I can tell you honestly, I don’t enjoy cleaning. My grandmother was a cleaning fanatic—spring, summer, fall, winter. I remember when she got older, she finally conceded that some of the cleaning was too much for her so she hired a cleaning lady. And….each week before the cleaning lady arrived, Grammie would clean her house so she wouldn’t be embarrassed to have a dirty house when her cleaning lady arrived.

Clearly that gene can skip a generation. My mother is also someone who keeps a clean and tidy house. My sister and I…not so much.

So each year I find lots of reasons not to participate in “spring cleaning.” I am usually busy doing anything else. I always say I am going to stay home and clean, but then warm temperatures and sunshine arrive. Birds are chirping. Roads are clear of snow and ice. And that usually means I am headed somewhere to take pictures, visit with friends, or spend time with family.

This year, however, spring has arrived and not only do I have to clean…I have to pack. Moving items around and putting them in boxes in preparation for a move from a home in which I have lived for nearly a decade is making me realize that I should have taken part in this annual tradition much sooner.

Many years ago at NRCM, I helped create a brochure filled with ways to clean one’s house using non-toxic household items like baking soda and vinegar. I had fun working on the project, and the result is our very popular “Clean Housekeeping” brochure, which is available on our website. This brochure is filled with ideas for cleaning copper pots, getting rid of garden pests, cleaning bathroom and sink drains, and much more.

More than a decade later, after sending out thousands of copies of this brochure to people who are looking for effective ways to clean without exposing themselves or their families to harmful chemicals,  I have actually brought my own copy home. I need to clean my apartment before I leave, and after missing the past eight years of “spring cleaning” in my home, it is time that I make it shine before the next tenant moves in.

If you have some spring cleaning to do, why not do it in a way that helps keep the environment and your family free from exposure to  toxic chemicals used in most household cleaners? Visit our website to download or request your own copy of NRCM’s “Clean Housekeeping” brochure.

Happy cleaning!