Five spring cleaning tips you can take from the movies
With blossoms in bloom and the chorus of birds in full swing, we’ve reached that time of the year to get the carpet cleaner out for another annual Spring clean.
To help motivate you to start polishing and dusting, Attic Self Storage has released this cleaning-inspired, fun brainteaser to try.
They’ve neatly fitted in nine of our favourite Hollywood characters that have offered a helping hand for a spot of cleaning, but can you guess the titles of the films in which they star?
This film and cleaning hybrid got us thinking about what advice we can take away from the big blockbusters. Among all the laughter and tears our favourite movies bring us, we may be missing the everyday life lessons hidden within them.
We’ve highlighted some of the top cleaning tips you can take from the movies to make sure you’re making the most out of your spring clean and having fun while doing it.
1) Turn the music up like Mrs Doubtfire
Like most things in life, the hardest thing can be finding the motivation to actually start the task at hand. However, it’s much easier to start scrubbing when your hands are already moving to the rhythm of your favourite song.
Make sure to keep the music upbeat so your energy levels remain high and you have no excuse for slowing down. So, stick on your favourite record, put the needle down and turn the volume up!
2) Don’t cut corners… take it from Mickey Mouse
One of the reasons why the spring clean has become so prominent, is it gives us all the opportunity to have one large, annual clean, where the realcleaning can happen.
Throughout the year, we can cut corners as we spruce up our homes, from avoiding that niggling smudge on the bathroom window, to ignoring the dust building on the skirting boards, nothing gets past the Spring clean.
Mickey finds this out the hard way when he casts a spell on his brooms in Fantasia. He wants them to do all the work for him, but that goes terribly wrong and in the end it would have been easier to fetch the water himself.
After all of your hard work and by finally getting to all those spaces you usually miss, you will feel a great sense of pride, giving your home a unique beauty that no gloss or polish can offer once all has been said and done.
3) Snow White knows that teamwork makes the dream work
Springtime is often well known for celebrating renewal and new beginnings, so this spring clean is the perfect opportunity for assessing your space and bringing your home back to life.
If you live with anyone else, then this is the perfect time to revitalise the space you share together and turning it into a room you both enjoy.
Snow White might be aided by magical animals, but the message is crystal clear: teamwork makes the dream work. The way she allocates tasks between her forest friends and motivates them with songs means that everything is done in no time at all.
With synchronisation, motivation and strong camaraderie, the whole house could be done in one afternoon, wardrobes included. Plus, working together means you can turn even some of the tedious talk into a time of conversation and laughter.
4) Everything has its place, even Wall-e
Even though Wall-e lives alone, he takes pride in his property. Just one look at his heart-warmingly humble dwelling shows that his attention to detail has resulted in a beautiful home.
Wall-e’s decorative choices will have you brimming with nifty storage ideas. While the post-apocalyptic world he lives in might be a little hard to scrub squeaky clean, that little droid makes sure everything he finds goes in the right place.
The main message to take from here is that if you can’t find room for something, it’s time to throw it away. If you stay strict with this rule, you’re more likely to only keep your precious items, leaving no room for clutter.
5) Gear up like the Ghostbusters
Whether it’s a red wine stain that you’ve been covering up with a rug or an age-old spindle of cobwebs, you’re going to need the right tools for the job. Nobody knows that better than the Ghostbusters. When they get to work, their supply includes everything from ghost-sucking hoovers to proton ghost-chippers.
Before you start your spring clean, plan out your day and everything you want to clean. That way you can prepare in advance and make sure you have all the tools you need at hand. The last thing you want is to be halfway through scrubbing before realising you haven’t got the right polish for the job.
Photo by Jonathan Kemper
