The Great British Spring Clean | Art of Clean ~ Art of Clean - UK

Historically this time of the year has been the time when our thoughts turn to the big spring clean. What the origins are of us taking our marigolds in hand and donning an apron, is lost in the passage of time but the activity of cleaning at the end of March, is mixed in many different cultures, including the religious custom of Passover and the Chinese new year, which takes place shortly after the Western new year.

But never before have we had such an abundance of celebrity endorsements, apps and devices to help us keep our homes looking clean and smelling fresh.

When the spring clean time of year comes round, I'm possibly a little bit different as I don't think about cleaning but I get more sentimental and think about how much time previous generations had to carry out those chores of sweeping, scrubbing and washing. The idea of having a big thorough house clean is a wonderful thought but where does one start and who has the time?

For the moment, my own personal excuse for not having a big clean of any part of my home, is I'm currently living in a bit of a building site, we've had the builders in (don't worry I'm not blaming the builders for the mess, it's more about me making an excuse) so any amount of cleaning or vacuuming is overshadowed by clouds dust and dirt caused by the work going on. So it might seem a little bit futile to try and clean too much at the moment, but clean I must. Even the smallest amount of vacuuming and dusting makes a difference. I don't have carpets, just bare floorboards with rugs, which are easy to keep clean-ish!

I guess that's the point of spring cleaning that you can do as little or as much as you want. Luckily there are no spring cleaning enforcement agencies, other than your own nearest and dearest but are they really going to check for dust when they come to your home?

One thing I like to remember is, it's your home and you live there to your standards but remember previous generations who carried out some spring cleaning chores to keep their homes running smoothly. So next time you think about doing some cleaning and it seems a bit daunting, stick the radio on, turn up your favourite tune and proudly switch on the hoover and enjoy living in a clean house.