Though it might still feel like January outside, as of March 20th, it’s officially spring in Chicago! Hooray!
But in addition to the start of baseball season and finally being able to leave your apartment sans coat, the beginning of spring brings with it one, especially daunting task: spring cleaning.
Yup, it’s high-time you took a day (or two, or five) to voyage into the depths of your home and revive it for the season. And while this definitely sounds like a lot of work, we’ve got a few tips and tricks to help you out.
Here are our favorite spring cleaning hacks, ya know, for when winter finally decides to leave Chicago for good.
Try PressBox
Multiple Locations
Laundry, admittedly, sucks. And if you’re anything like me, doing more than one load of it at a time is the bane of your existence.
Enter, PressBox: the fair-priced and seriously convenient laundry service here to soothe your spring cleaning woes. To use PressBox, simply download their app, find the nearest locker bank, drop off your clothes/comforter/towels/winter sweaters and POOF, you’re good to go. PressBox will text you when your stuff is well and washed, and it can be picked up anytime 24/7.
Though maybe not the most budget-friendly option for your daily laundry needs (their main focus is dry cleaning, after all), PressBox is great for a deep clean. Or, if you’re still like me, for when you spill red wine on a white duvet and it won’t fit in your old-ass washing machine ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Buy a Scrub Daddy Already
When I tell you that the Scrub Daddy has changed my life I’m only being the tiniest bit funny, ’cause this shit is the real deal. First seen on Shark Tank a few years back, this sturdy little sponge changes its pliability based on the water temperature. So, if you need a particularly tough sponge, use cold water. If you’d prefer a squishy sponge, use warm.
Honestly, I’m not sure how anything in my apartment was ever clean before I had a Scrub Daddy, and if that’s not a glowing endorsement than I don’t know what is.
Plus, it’s hella cute.
Head to The Brown Elephant
Multiple Locations
In addition to sudsing and dusting every nook and cranny of your gross apartment, for most of us, spring cleaning also necessitates a purge of all the unused things you’ve collected over the past year. From sweaters you never wear to books you swore you were gonna finish in, like, 2013 (here’s lookin’ at you Wild), by the end of any good cleaning cycle you’re pretty much guaranteed to have a pile of stuff ya just don’t need.
And while I know how tempted you are to drop that pile in the dumpster behind your building and forget about it ’till the end of time, there is a better way. Make sure your lightly used clothing/furniture and other goods are donated to a good cause at places like The Brown Elephant, where all proceeds from sales benefit LGBTQ health and underinsured folks at Howard Brown Health.
Other options for charitable donation include: Goodwill, The Chicago Abused Women Coalition, The Salvation Army, Sarah’s Circle and more.
Vacuum Pack It
Now I promise I’ll try not to get too worked up about it, but Chicago weather is stupid weird. In the winter it’s frostbite-level freezing with snow up to your kneecaps and in the summer it’s egg-frying-on-the-sidewalk-level hot with nothin’ to cool you down but Italian ice from Mario’s (God bless).
So, understandably, many a Chicagoan has two distinct wardrobes to battle the elements – and usually very little space dedicated to storing them both.
Make some much needed room in your closet this spring cleaning season by vacuum packing your your winter clothes and shoving them into the deep recesses under your bed, you’ll thank me for it later. And yes, I did link y’all to Walmart, don’t judge me.
Grab a Few Tatine Candles
Want a place that feels clean without putting in all the elbow grease? Whether you’re a neat freak or a straight-up slob Tatine’s amazing smelling soy and wax candles will brighten up your space in no time. Locally made and sold, these beautiful candles are gorgeous, smell amazing and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. Okay, they’re not terribly cheap – but still!
As an added bonus, a percentage of the proceeds from some candles are given to great causes throughout the city.
When All Else Fails, Call a Cleaning Service
So maybe you suck at cleaning – whaddya gonna do? Call Molly Maids or Maye’s or King of Maids and they’ll get your place lookin’ spiffy in no time. For a fee, of course.
