Spring Has Sprung!
And this is the perfect time for some spring cleaning inspiration from your Yorktown Public Library.
After hunkering down at home for the winter, I bet you are ready to come out of hibernation, throw open the windows, gather up your cleaning supplies and kick off the season with some spring cleaning.
Spring cleaning is a chance to hit the reset button. In an article in the March 2024 Cleveland Clinic website, Adam Borland, PsyD, clinical psychologist with Cleveland Clinic discussed the importance of spring cleaning on our mental health:
“Spring cleaning allows us to regain a sense of control and accomplishment, which can help with symptoms of depression and anxiety.”
Dr. Borland stressed that simply cleaning out your closet can motivate you to take on other tasks or goals you’ve been putting off.
So, where should you start when spring cleaning?
Martha Stewart offers a spring cleaning checklist that recommends the following:
- Dust
- Vacuum
- Clean baseboards
- Mop
- Shampoo rugs
- Wipe down walls and ceilings
- Clean upholstered furnishings
- Clean windows and curtains
- Clean ceiling fans and light fixtures
Check out the following materials at your Yorktown Public Library for motivation.
CHILDREN’S COLLECTION:
Curious George Cleans Up by Stephen Krensky
George is excited about his new rug, but happiness gives way to dread when he accidentally spills grape juice on it. George tries everything he can think of to clean the stain, with hilarious results!
Let’s Clean Up by Peggy Perry Anderson
Mother cleaned high. Mother cleaned low. Mother cleaned the room for Joe. Joe is delighted with his newly cleaned room. Now he can find all of the toys he wants to play with. But with so much space and so many great toys, which ones will he choose? His train? Or his planes? His racing cars? Or his rocket? As he pulls each from the closet and the toy box, his room grows messier and messier. So when Mother returns to his room, she discovers all of her hard work undone.
How Do Dinosaurs Clean Their Rooms? by Jane Yolen
Come along for some BIG fun as your favorite dinosaurs learn to pick up and put away their toys. How do dinosaurs clean their rooms? With trash cans and dusters and brooms! This book shows your own little dinosaurs just how fun and easy it can be.
ADULT COLLECTION:
Haley’s Cleaning Hints: A Compilation by Graham Haley
This book offers tips for cleaning around the home using common household products with multiples uses, presenting more than one thousand ingenious, economical solutions to help clean, unclutter, organize, and deodorize the home with such common products as toothpaste and vinegar.
It’s All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh
When you think of what it will take to clean your house, are you so overwhelmed you throw up your hands and cry, "It's all too much"? Walsh understands and shares his proven system for letting go of your emotional and physical clutter so that you can create a happier, more stress-free home and life.
ON THE LIBBY APP:
The Berenstain Bears Clean House by Jan Berenstain (audio book)
This children’s book is all about spring cleaning time and the Bear family decides to have a yard sale. Mama Bear goes through the house gathering up all sorts of tattered things--but each tattered thing seems to be someone's favorite tattered thing! Perhaps spring cleaning will just have to wait until next year.
Be the Boss of Your Stuff: The Kids' Guide to Decluttering and Creating Your Own Space (audio book) by Allie Casazza
Give your kids the decluttering guide that will encourage their independence and create a more peaceful home for your family. Allie Casazza has created a resource for you to show kids how to create and design their own space, offering practical ideas on organization and productivity, kid-friendly inspiration for mindfulness, and interactive pages for creativity.
Simpler Living: A Back to Basics Guide to Cleaning, Furnishing, Storing, Decluttering, Streamlining, Organizing, and More (eBook) by Jeff Davidson
Author Jeff Davidson has compiled more than 1,500 ways that you can simplify your life. Divided into sections for easy reference, this book illustrates how to eliminate stress in your home, your personal life, and in your professional life.
Cleaning can be a chore, a relief or a little bit of both! Some of us are consistent and methodical in our approach to cleaning, and others more haphazard. However, we are all that person who wants to dust off the cobwebs after a long, dark winter. Spring Cleaning will get you started on your journey to a clean and healthy home, free of dust, debris and clutter.
Clean Green: Tips and Recipes for a Naturally Clean, More Sustainable Home (eBook) by Jen Chillingsworth
Clean Green will show you how to tackle each room and cleaning task in a natural way. Featuring a collection of eco-friendly recipes to make your own hand wash, dishwashing liquid, stain remover, toilet cleaner, air freshener, and more. Learn how to create your own products that are safer to use and keep your home sparkling clean. Small steps. Big changes.
The Minimalist Cleaning Method Expanded Edition (eBook) by Annie Jean Brewer
We secretly envy that spacious, super-clean look but don't have a clue how to get it. We hate our messy homes so we try everything that lands on the shelf looking for a miracle. This new edition of The Minimalist Cleaning Method not only shows you how to clean your whole home faster and cheaper, it also shows you how to keep your home clean as well.
A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind (audio book) by Shoukei Matsumoto
Little known fact: Buddhist Monks are amazing at cleaning and tidying. In this one-of-a-kind guide to cleaning your home, Buddhist monk Shoukei Matsumoto reveals how to make your home as spotless as it is tranquil and peaceful. For Buddhist monks cleaning well is a cardinal skill and, in A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind, readers will discover their never-before-shared cleaning pro tips. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, true enlightenment is impossible if your home has even a speck of dust and, as such, Buddhist monks have much to teach us lay people about achieving a truly Zen clean.
Playing your favorite tunes while cleaning helps, too!
YPL has a great collection of CDs at the library, as well as audio books both onsite and on the Libby App to get you into the cleaning groove.
Spring Cleaning with a Twist
Now, if spring fever has not whipped you into a cleaning frenzy, these materials at your Yorktown Public Library will definitely help distract you from the dust bunnies hiding under your fridge until you find your motivation…and if you don’t want to find your motivation…that’s okay, too! The dust bunnies can wait. Just read! Reading-just like spring cleaning-promotes relaxation and reduces stress.
THE ADULT COLLECTION:
The Maid (Molly the Maid Mystery #1) by Nita Prose
Molly Gray struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. No matter--she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. When a guest turns up dead in the hotel, this story takes on Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit.
Below Stairs by Margaret Powell
Brilliantly evoking the long-vanished world of servants portrayed in Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs, Margaret Powell's classic memoir of her time in service, Below Stairs, is the remarkable true story of a kitchen maid named Powell who first arrived at the servants' entrance of one of those great houses in the 1920s. Work started at 5:30am and went on until after dark. Margaret's memories of her time in service are told with wit, warmth, and a sharp eye for the prejudices of her situation.
ON THE LIBBY APP:
The Spring Cleaning Murders by Dorothy Cannell (eBook)
This cozy British mystery focuses on Ellie Haskell, who has a bout of spring cleaning fever. But she also has an assortment of problems facing her, not the least of which is her char, Mrs. Malloy, giving notice and going off to London to babysit her new granddaughter. When a member of the Chitterton Fells Charwomen’s Association is found dead, Ellie investigates what might have happened. And then another of the CFCWA is murdered.
The Deadly Dust Bunnies by R. A. Muth (audio book)
Running a thrift store is so much better than cleaning houses, so when The Treasure Trove goes up for sale, my bestie and I jump at the chance to buy it. After all, this is our chance to give up the toilet brushes and feather dusters for good. Lucky for us, our grand re-opening coincides with the opening ceremonies of the Blueberry Bay Days Festival. But nothing in the Cooper's Cove Small Business Owner's guide prepared us for what to do if a dead body turns up in your dumpster full of dust bunnies.
The Dust Bunnies by Nicki Rae (eBook)
Meet Fluff, Puff, and Stuff, three adorable dust bunnies ready to reveal their favorite hiding places, snacks, and games! In this charming rhyming book, young readers enter the world of dust bunnies—which happens to be right under their their own bed! Under the couch, in the corner, and anywhere crumbs and dust can be found, dust bunnies will be at play! Perfect for Easter baskets, spring cleaning season, or for any bunny-loving, chore-resistant child.
DVD COLLECTION:
Sunshine Cleaning (Rated R)
Rose is a single mother attempting to support her son Oscar and her unreliable sister Norah. Rose takes a job as a bio-hazard crime-scene cleaner to help pay for a private education. She brings Norah on to help in her steadily growing business. As the sisters work to clean up the messes left behind by the chaotic lives of others, they must learn to reconcile their own differences and overcome a troubled past if they hope to prosper in their newfound venture.
Cleaner (Rated R)
When a man who specializes in cleaning crime scenes washes away the evidence of a murder before the crime is reported, he soon becomes drawn into a deadly mystery in this thriller.
Spring cleaning offers the opportunity to reset your mind, your thoughts and your environment.
Visit your Yorktown Public Library soon and celebrate spring by checking out the materials you need for a complete spring refresh. Happy Spring (cleaning)!