As Chinese New Year approaches, the festive moods are reignited all around the country. Kids are eager to receive ‘Ang Pows’ (Red Packets), and adults are excited to visit friends and families to do their once in a blue moon catchup over hotpot and bottles of beer.
Before we get too excited though, let’s not forget the essential tradition that many of us dread the most, but cannot neglect — Spring Cleaning.
Spring Cleaning
The ritual of cleaning our homes before the new year is a Chinese tradition that has been passed down from generations. An integral part of preparation before celebrating the Lunar New Year, spring cleaning is essentially giving every wall and corner of our homes a good clean, scrubbing away spider webs, and brushing away dust. The tradition holds a symbolic meaning of dusting away the bad luck and getting a fresh new start heading into the new year.
As we have uncovered the significance of spring cleaning, and why it is an absolute must for all of us heading into the Lunar New Year, we curated for you the essential checklist to have a fuss-free day getting your homes ready for visitors!
Fans
As great alternatives to the luxury of having air conditioners that make our homes cool and cozy, standing fans, or fans that are installed on the ceiling, are notorious for trapping dust and dirt. It’s important to keep our fans clean at all times by regularly giving them a good wash and/or brush if we don’t want to impact the clean air that we breathe in our homes. With the annual Spring Cleaning season coming up, let’s not neglect the spinning blades!
Windows & Curtains
We usually won’t bat an eye to the windows despite the dust that are stacked and piled up around the edges, especially so when our curtains and blinds give us the excuse to ignore them. This time however, let’s stop procrastinating and just pick up the dust brush or cloth and keep the windows dust-free.
Speaking of windows, let’s not forget to give our curtains and blinds a nice spin in the washing machines, but of course, do remember to check if their fabrics are suited for machine wash. Otherwise, getting laundry service to dry clean them should also do the trick!
Under the furniture
Dark areas like the bottom of our sofas, beds, and other furniture are where dust thrives, so it’s important to give these areas a thorough clean.
Carpets
Do not be fooled by the comfortable, soft platforms that our carpet provides for our feet. The thick fabrics of carpets usually trap a good amount of dust and dirt so it’s advisable to give it a good vacuum. If the vacuum doesn’t seem to do the trick, give the professionals a call and we’ll be sure to give your carpets a nice ‘makeover’!
Corners of walls and ceilings
As the corners of walls are a little difficult for our brooms and mops to clean effectively, we usually forgo the speck of dust and dirt that are trapped and left there. It’s essential to then get a damp cloth and clean them with our hands — It won’t take longer than 10 seconds, I promise!
As for our ceilings, it’s usually inconvenient to clean them due to the unreachable heights, and as most of us aren’t even close to the height of professional basketball players, we ought to invest in an extendable ceiling brush to get our homes ready for the new year!
Beds and Couches
Last but not least, we have our comfort zones that are our beds and sofas. If you’ve been lacking the time in the last few months, or even years to give the mattress and sofa pillows a thorough cleaning, it should definitely be an additional task to the spring cleaning list!
Is that All?
As this list serves to be a checklist for the most commonly overlooked areas when cleaning our homes, I’m afraid it is not an exhaustive one. However, you can find a more comprehensive checklist and save it for your reference on our Facebook page here!
Finally, with the checklist that seems endless and almost an impossible task to fit into your busy schedule, perhaps it’s time to call in for some help. Click here to book an appointment with De Hygienique to get your house ready for the Lunar New Year now!
