Spring cleaning tips for the whole family

Delegate

Decide which members of your family will be best suited for certain tasks and assign accordingly. There's a caveat to this one -- you need to be realistic about which cleaning tasks your children can actually complete without you needing to come back through and do it all over again.

Give your toddlers dust cloths or feather dusters and have them remove dust from height appropriate and safe objects and pieces of furniture. Keep them away from chemical laden cleaning products.

Give teens the task of tackling their rooms, but be specific. You don't want to discover in a week's time that your kid simply shoved everything on the floor under the bed or in the closet.

If your husband is a garage junkie or the master of the backyard, let him handle those areas on his own.

Organize

Rather than simply putting things away, take this opportunity to really clear out the clutter! Out with the old and in with the new. Take it one drawer, shelf or cabinet at a time. Remove everything from the space, clean it out then only put back items that you use on a regular basis. A good rule of thumb: if you haven't used something in a year, you probably don't need it (unless of course it's a family heirloom or something of that nature).

Need a little incentive for ridding yourself of your stuff? The less you have of it, the less you need to spring clean!

Check out these tips to organize your clutter >>

Ask your children to make a pile of the items they are ready to trash/donate, but check through it before anything goes to approve the pile.

• Dust high/tall items before vacuuming, sweeping and mopping floors.
• Take this opportunity to flip the mattresses and wash pillows, curtains and other linens that don't get a weekly wash.

• Use an antibacterial cleanser in particularly germy areas like the bathroom and kitchen.
• When it comes to the kitchen, check the expiration dates on cans, dried items and frozen food. After cleaning out the fridge/freezer, store a box of baking soda in the back to absorb odors.