It's officially the first day of spring, which means it's time to stop putting off the annual cleaning tasks that can help you say good-bye to winter and hello to the warmer months. Chances are, dust, pet dander, pollen and other allergens have built up in your house over the year, and now is as good a time as any to tackle all that debris and make your home shine.
On March 20, the American Cleaning Institute released its 2013 Spring Cleaning Survey, which polled 1,777 adults to gain insight into their sentiments about this yearly ritual. Of those polled, 72 percent said that they partake in the annual event, with 8 percent indicating that they do so every few years and 5 percent revealing that they engage in spring cleaning every other year.
"Spring cleaning offers many households that opportunity to finally clean something that's been neglected for way too long," Nancy Bock, ACI's senior vice president of education, stated in the press release.
According to Bock, the most effective way to clean a property is to tackle it room-by-room to maximize efficiency. The most common areas of a house targeted by the ACI's survey respondents are the bedroom and kitchen, which 76 percent and 73 percent of individuals said they make an effort to focus on, respectively. Next up are the bathroom at 69 percent, the family room at 61 percent and the dining room with 45 percent.
As always, when cleaning out any part of the home, it's important for people who suffer from allergies and asthma to use cleaning products, such as those from EnviroRite, that will effectively remove allergens without aggravating their symptoms. It's also advisable to invest in a respirator mask since these devices can ensure that you don't breathe in dust, mold, pet dander, pollen or other irritants.
