Spring Cleaning, Community Giving & Fun Open House

Spring is upon us, and you know what that means – SPRING CLEANING, Community Giving and a Fun Open House!

Spring Cleaning is truly a labor of love. It is an opportunity to de-clutter, reorganize and freshen up your home before your busy summer season. The idea of spring cleaning can be overwhelming so we decided to put together a few tips to help you get started. We also found this great spring cleaning checklist from Martha Stewart that will give you tips on cleaning each room of your home even more.

Closets

Have you ever counted how many pairs of jeans you own; how many t-shirts you’ve amassed over the years; or how many old pairs of shoes you keep around “just in case”? The idea of counting each of these items in your home is daunting. The rule is: if you haven’t worn a piece in a year (that is 365 days!) then it is time to bag it up and donate it. In Nashville, you can give to any of these reputable non-profits:

• Dress for Success – this non-profit accepts women’s professional / business-style clothing and accessories to help low-income women improve their economic situation.
• Operation Stand Down – this organization accepts clothing and personal care items to aid honorably discharged veterans in rejoining the Middle Tennessee community (as of 2009, 30% of the homeless population in Davidson County was made up of our U.S. Veterans).
• Nurses for Newborns – from diapers and baby food to sleepers and strollers, this organization will accept most anything for babies. This non-profit works with at-risk families to decrease infant mortality, child abuse and neglect.
• Safe Haven – donate most anything that can be used by a family to this organization that helps families out of homelessness in Middle Tennessee (families with children make up 32% of the homeless population).

Furniture

You wouldn’t realize it, but dust and dirt can settle into your furniture cushions! To get a good bit of it out, pull the cushions from your furniture, take them outside and gently beat them to remove dust – this even works to remove pesky pet hair. Use a vacuum hose clean under the cushions. These great non-profits will accept any furniture that doesn’t fit your spring decor:

• The Mary Parrish Center – donations of clothing, furniture and household items in good condition are used by survivors of domestic violence during their transition out of abusive environments.
• Habitat for Humanity HomeStore – this non-profit accepts furniture, decorative items, building materials and even the kitchen sink to raise money to build homes for the needy through Habitat for Humanity.

Decor

Everything collects dust, so it is important that at least one day out of the year you give each decorative piece in your home a good rub down.  Take everything off the shelves, dust your shelves and use a dry soft cloth on most of your knickknacks. For the tight spots, use your vacuum hose attachment. Donate unwanted decorative pieces to:

• Goodwill - this organization will accept any items from your home or closet, then resells them to provide job training and employment to the disabled or to individuals who have trouble finding meaningful employment.
• Salvation Army -  donate items from your home and closet to this non-profit which works to meet the needs of the local community. They have worked locally to build an adult alcohol and rehab center for men, offer night child care center for the homeless, and create programs to helping individuals develop skills and find jobs.

Floors

We can’t write a blog post without paying some attention to flooring. : ) For the best floor cleaning products, come by and pick up a free floor cleaning kit…we’ll REALLY give it to you for free and even tell you how to use it. Also, mark your calendar for March 31st for our Open House. We’ve partnered with Pro-Care of Nashville to teach you how to clean carpet and hardwoods properly, serve you FREE lunch and giveaway a professional carpet cleaning valued at $516! For professionally cleaned carpets and hard floor surfaces, call our friends at Pro-Care today.

Click here for details about our Open House on March 31st.