Spring Cleaning: Links to Printables, Easy Recipes, and more!

Spring cleaning was on my list this past week, even before I knew all the craziness that would be going on. I am still planning on making an IGTV video, sharing with you my favorite cleaning products, but just be aware you may not be able to get them for a couple of weeks. Today, I am letting you peak into what I've done this week to get my house freshened and cleaned. Get a free Spring Cleaning Checklist from Bits of Bri (you must subscribe to her email list to get all the printables). Check out more on her blog and Youtube channel for cleaning motivation. I'm not sponsored to say that, I just enjoy her content!

I am also sharing how I used just a few ingredients to make 30 min or less meals. This made it easy to serve healthy meals at the end of a tiring day!

Monday: I started with my front room, since that's the room that everyone sees. This was not a room on the checklist, but my goals for each room was dusting from ceiling to baseboards (ceiling fan/light fixtures, walls, pictures, baseboards), dust bookshelves, tidy the room, and finish with a really detailed sweep and mop of the floors). I changed heavy coats to one light jacket for each family member, and set out our outdoor blanket now that the weather is getting warmer.  For supper we ate salad with all the fixings. Spring greens, grape tomatoes, boiled eggs, croutons, bacon and cheese; yum!! Supper hack: Prepare the ingredients as you prepare your kid's lunch, so you are only having to clean up once. That evening just pull everything out and you have an easy peasy supper!

Tuesday: I quickly did the bathroom, since it was a small room in the house. It was a warm sunny day, and our homeschool group had Park Day on the calendar. Heavy cleaning would have to wait! Sunshine and warm walks were done instead. Still, I was able to do a good cleaning of the bathroom, and dust the cabinets and walls.
I also want to add that I decided not to do any minimizing  or organizing inside of drawers and cabinets. That will come later. To get the most momentum and ability to finish the rooms in a couple of hours (or on this day, much less) I needed to only focus on the cleaning aspects. 
For supper, we had tacos, using more of the tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese. For an easy taco seasoning mix: garlic salt, salt, pepper, cumin, and cajun seasoning. I also like to add cilantro to my taco and fajita dishes, but my hubby isn't as much of a fan. Meal planning at the beginning of the week, really helped not waste ingredients that can work over a number of days!

Wednesday: I tackled the Living room. I thought this would be a fairly easy task, but it was a much bigger mess than I realized. It was truly embarrassing the amount of junk we found under the couch cushions!
The living room, as well as Little Man's room, are two areas of the house I really like to enlist the help of Little Man. Because there aren't many breakables and plenty of things he uses as well, I get him to help with distributing things that didn't belong, to their proper rooms. I also got him to help with wiping things down.
That evening we had Skillet Chicken and Broccoli with Annie's Organic Mac and Cheese (our Favorite kind!). I only had a few pieces of chicken, and to make it stretch further, I cut it into thirds, seasoned it well, and cooked it until just done before throwing in broccoli. I added Parmesan on top and it was so yummy! Good seasonings for this dish are: garlic salt, basil, thyme, salt and pepper. I add a little butter and toss the broccoli and chicken to make it extra tasty. 

Thursday I was unable to do any spring cleaning, as I had errands to run for my family. We ate out that night with another couple, so I also didn't do any cooking!

Friday: I decided to tackle my room. IT WAS BAD! Too often it's the catch all for the rest of the house, and while I get ready in the mornings, my daughter loves to find things to pull out and play with. It took the entire day, but I got it looking so much better. That day the weather was nice, and I opened a window to let fresh air in.
My tip for an overwhelming room, is to take one section and complete it at a time. It allows momentum to build as you see the tasks get completed and the room clear.

Since we did takeout that evening (we normally don't eat out that often, I promise! haha!) I want to share a less-than-30-minute berry cobbler with you!

Easy Berry Cobbler
1 cup berries of your choice 
1 cup sugar (plus a little more to cook with the berries)
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter
Add berries and a few tablespoons of sugar to a saucepan and cook until sugar is disolved and fruit begins making it's own juices
While that cooks preheat oven to 350F. Add butter to glass 8x8 pan and let it melt while the oven is preheating. Mix flour, sugar and milk in a small bowl or large measuring cup. When butter is melted, pour flour and milk mixture in the dish and then 'plop' spoonfuls of the berry mixture in to make the 'cobbled' look. I actually am not sure how long it takes to cook. I would assume about 20 minutes. Our oven needs to be replaced, so I have to adjust the temperature and time to accommodate our oven. 



Obviously my house isn't done yet, but I will be continuing to clean (and sanitize!) throughout next week. Check back on my Instagram for more stock-up easy meals and cleaning motivation. I will be sharing my favorite cleaners on there as well!

Edited to add that I have teamed up with the Timberdoodle blog team and we are all sharing our spring cleaning tips!
Note: Amazon links are affiliated.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter