Here’s your list of what to clean in March! Use it as your simple guide to what jobs need to be tackled this month around the house.
March is such an exciting month. For us, it’s mostly still very wintery and we’re still dealing with all of the messes that come with winter weather around the house, but we also start to get some real glimpses of spring weather, and with it the motivation to start getting ready for warmer weather ahead. So we’ll be focusing on doing some fun things to get ready for spring, as well as some things that will just feel really good to get done, once we realize how long it’s probably been since we last tackled them.
Your Simple List of What to Clean in March
Read through this explanation of what to clean this month and why, then scroll to the bottom to print out the checklist. Post it on your fridge or file it away in your homekeeping binder so you can check off what you get done!
Summer Toys and Storage Areas
There’s always that one first really nice day in the spring when you get really excited to play outside. You run to the basement to search for the outdoor toys, only to find that they’re all dusty and gross and spider-web-covered. Not fun. Let give them (and the area where you keep them) a quick cleaning now so that they’re ready to go.
All the High Dusting
OK, maybe not all of it, depending on your house, but a lot of it. Let’s focus on dusting the tops of door frames, the tops of the doors themselves, the top of window trim pieces and the tops of your curtain rods.
Dining Room Storage
Let’s take some time to look into those china cabinets, drawers where you store your linens, plate racks, and all those areas. Purge, organize, dust, clean, all that fun stuff. The bonus here is that you may even find some pieces that you forgot about that you can pull out and use for Easter to make the upcoming holiday a little extra special. 🙂
The Toaster and/or Toaster Oven if You Have One
I have a tendency to think that I’ve just cleaned the toaster when it’s actually been about six months or so. The great thing about this little task is that it’s really kind of fun to see what comes out of there. I like to just take it outside and shake it. The birds will definitely appreciate all the crumbs that you shake out of there!
Your Desk
Declutter and straighten the insides of your drawers as well as your desk top. If this is a monumental task, aim for progress and not perfection. Aim to spend five minutes working on this, three different times this month. You’ll be surprised at what a difference only this little bit of time can make. Finish up by wiping down the back, sides, and legs of your desk and your desk chair.
Laptop, Computers, Other Devices
This is one of those maintenance tasks that should be done pretty regularly, but if you don’t always get to it, doing it this month is definitely better than never doing it at all. You can find instructions for this task here: How to Safely Clean a Laptop
Seasonal Outerwear
Now’s the time to start dialing back the amount of winter outerwear that you have crammed into your coat closet or mudroom. Even if you’ll still need some of it on the coldest days, there will definitely be a few things that you can clean and put into storage now. Leave one pair of gloves and one hat out for each family member if you live in a cooler climate like we do, because you’ll definitely still need it some days.
All Family Members’ Sock Drawers
Everyone’s been wearing socks all day every day for months now and there are probably a lot of socks that are missing their partner or that are just worn out. It will only take a few minutes for each sock drawers and you’ll be so glad to not have to root through a bunch of mismatched, hole-filled socks after doing this.
Magazines and Catalogs
Despite my best intentions, I usually end up holding on to a lot of magazines and catalogs that I really won’t ever need “just in case”. I do have a collection of LL Bean Catalogs and I also keep issues of any magazine that I’ve been in, and I try to keep those fairly contained, but I almost always end up with more here and there around the house, even beyond those intentional collections. If you have this issue too, just take some time to take a look at a few of the extras issues and be really intentional with your decision to keep them or not. You’ll probably find you’re able to pare down your collection quite a bit.
The Air
This is an easy one. Your assignment here is simply to open up a few windows around the house on that first super nice day and let some fresh air in. Don’t forget to turn off the furnace while you’re doing this so you aren’t “heating the outdoors” as everyone’s dad used to say. 🙂
I’ll be adding a printable list to this post to go along all of our other printable lists from past months, so keep an eye out for that if you’ve been keeping these in a binder. I thought since we’re well into the month now, I’d better get this one out to you in digital form at least. 🙂
Read next: What to Clean in April
Past Months’ Cleaning Lists
- What to Clean in January
- What to Clean in February
- What to Clean in September
- What to Clean in October
- What to Clean in June
- The Creek Line House Cleaning Archives
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.