Spring Cleaning: Where to Start, What to Include, and What You Actually Need

Spring is only a week away, and every year I have the same thought around this time: I want to walk into September with the house actually feeling reset, not just the usual quick tidy. Proper spring cleaning is different from a weekly clean. It’s the once-a-year deep reset of everything that gets skipped the rest of the time, and it’s genuinely satisfying once it’s done.
Here’s how I approach it, so it doesn’t become one overwhelming weekend of chaos.

Where to start
Don’t start with the whole house. Start with one room, and within that room, start high and work down and left to right, so you’re not re-dirtying anything you’ve already done. Ceilings, light fittings and the tops of cupboards first, then walls and windows, then surfaces, then floors last.
I’d also suggest starting with the room you actually spend the most time in, rather than the spare room nobody uses. You feel the benefit immediately, which makes it much easier to keep going.

What to include (the stuff you skip the rest of the year)
This is the real difference between spring cleaning and a normal clean. Make sure your list includes:
Washing windows inside and out, including tracks and flyscreens
Wiping down skirting boards, door frames and light switches
Vacuuming under and behind furniture, not just around it
Flipping or rotating mattresses
Washing pillows, doonas and any bedding you don’t wash weekly
Cleaning inside the oven, range hood filter, and behind the fridge
Descaling the kettle and cleaning out the microwave properly
Wiping down inside kitchen cupboards and the pantry, checking use-by dates while you’re in there
Cleaning air conditioning or heating vents and filters
Washing curtains or vacuuming blinds
Decluttering wardrobes as you go, swapping over winter and summer clothes at the same time
Cleaning out the car, glovebox included

What you actually need
You don’t need a cupboard full of specialty products. A solid spring clean really comes down to:
Microfibre cloths (a decent stack of them, you’ll go through a lot. I get a 20 pack from Bunnings for only $6.50)
A good all-purpose spray, plus a glass cleaner (I use Windex Surface and Glass as it pretty much cleans everything and it’s $5.90. The supermarkets typically have it on sale for  around $3-$4. I also love Aldi’s Window Cleaner, which is around $2.
Bicarb soda and white vinegar for natural degreasing and descaling
A grout brush or old toothbrush for tricky tile lines. Or save your back and get a long handled grout brush.
Rubber gloves
A step stool, for the ceiling fans and tops of cupboards/the fridge you normally ignore
Extra bin bags and a couple of empty boxes or bags for donations
A vacuum with a decent hose attachment for skirting boards, blinds and upholstery

Making it manageable
Rather than clearing your whole weekend, break it down room by room over one or two weeks. Put on a podcast, set a timer for 45 minutes per zone, and take a proper break in between. It doesn’t need to happen in one exhausting hit to count as a proper spring clean.
The payoff is real though. There’s something about walking into a genuinely clean, decluttered home right as the weather turns that makes the whole season feel like a fresh start.
Where do you always start your spring clean? I’d love to know if there’s a room or job you always save for last.