The three spring cleaning tasks experts say will make the most difference in your home this year

Spring means lovely warm weather and sunshine, but it’s also traditionally when our homes get their thorough once-a-year deep clean inside and out. For some that may sound invigorating, but for others it can be overwhelming and result in nothing actually getting done.

But you don’t have to clean the whole house this season; simply committing to one or a few tasks will make your house feel cleaner and tidier. Some cleaning jobs will have a bigger impact on the home than others, making them ideal to focus your efforts on if you’re only committing to a couple.

That’s why we asked two professional cleaners what they consider the three most important spring cleaning tasks.

For both Sara Allan, owner of Housekeeping Heroes, and Simone Tsigolis, founder of Jetlag Remedy, the most important task is windows, tracks and flyscreens.

Allan told nine.com.au these areas accumulate lots of dust and debris while being closed up during winter, while Tsigolis said this task will “give you the biggest visible difference”.

“The tracks are usually full of grit and dead bugs, and the flyscreens go grey with dust, which means you’re pulling all of that through the house every time you open a window over summer. Vacuum the tracks out first with the crevice tool, then wipe, and take the screens outside and hose them off – there are also some pretty good tools around,” Tsigolis said.

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The second spring cleaning task Tsigolis recommended is bedding and soft furnishings like mattress protectors, pillows, cushions, throws and rugs.

“A warm bed in a closed room all winter is exactly what dust mites like, and it tends to peak right as hay fever season kicks in. Wash whatever you can on the hottest cycle the care label allows, give the mattress and the couch a proper vacuum, and get the rugs outside for a bit of sun,” she said.

Third on her list is the air conditioner filter and ceiling fans. These are good to do now before it gets too hot so they don’t circulate dust and mould spores around the room when you turn them on again.

“That filter hasn’t been touched since March, and there’s usually a thick layer of dust sitting on top of the fan blades ... It’s about 10 minutes each, and your air con runs more efficiently [with a clean filter] too,” Tsigolis said.

In addition to cleaning windows, Allan lists decluttering wardrobes, cupboards and drawers and cleaning external gutters as her top three spring cleaning tasks.

“When it comes to decluttering, always have three plastic storage containers which will force the person to pick three containers to declutter and items must go into one of the three containers: for ‘keep’ Items, for donations (clothing bins) or rubbish/throw away,” she said.

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Gutters, meanwhile, are a good task to do during spring to prevent them causing problems during fire and storm season.

“For gutter cleaning it is essential to do this every month and debris can be brushed out with a cobweb extension brush from Bunnings,” Allan said.

Whether you’re doing just a few tasks or a full spring clean, the experts advise against trying to do it all in one go. Allan recommended doing one room at a time, while Tsigolis advised spreading it out across the season.

“I’d also say don’t try to do the whole house in one weekend. That’s how it ends up half finished. Three sessions of about 90 minutes over three weekends will actually get you there, whereas one massive Saturday usually won’t – or outsource it to the experts,” Tsigolis said.

Other tips to make spring easier include cleaning from top to bottom so that you’re not re-dusting surfaces you’ve already cleaned, and writing a list so you don’t get overwhelmed and get the dopamine hit of crossing things off when you do them.

And don’t try to do it all yourself.

“Involve all members of the household to each be given a specific area in the home to clean and by working in a team means less stress and stops the feeling of being overwhelmed,” Allan said.