With the spring season just around the corner,

To spring clean your home in preparation for putting it on the market, pick a nice bright day if you can and open up all of the blinds and curtains in your home to let the light in. If it's warm enough outside open up the windows and let your house air out while you work; make sure that you turn the heat off while you're working with the windows open so that you're not heating the great outdoors. If it's too cold to work like that, try airing out the parts of your home that you're not cleaning and then closing the windows and turning the heat back on when you clean those rooms. The best place to start spring cleaning in any room is at the top. With a cloth or a microfiber mop, dry dust the walls and pay particular attention to the corners of the room where cobwebs tend to collect. Depending on the type of wall covering or paint, you can also damp wipe the walls to help remove any sort of cooking residue or fingerprints from the walls. Pay particular attention to the corners around doorways and the vicinity around switches; these areas tend to get the dirtiest. If plain water won't take smudges off, use a mild vinegar solution instead. The next thing you'll want to take care of are your windows. Check the washing instructions on any fabric drapes and wash or dry clean them as required. Dust your window blinds carefully so that they don't get bent. Wash the inside and outside of your windows to let the spring sunshine in. One of the best ways to clean glass is with a spray bottle of vinegar and newspaper to wipe it down. The outside of windows might require a ladder or a window washer's squeegee to get high enough. In some areas it's also possible to hire a company to come and clean your outside windows. If you have carpet or rugs in your home you have a few options. Area rugs can be sent out to have cleaned and wall to wall carpeting can be steam cleaned if it's really dirty; but if your carpets or rugs are just a little stale you can sprinkle a liberal amount of baking soda over them, let them sit for a few hours or overnight and then vacuum it up. This will pull any smells out of them and leave them fresh and clean smelling. There is probably more areas of your home that you can think of that might need a good cleaning when the bright spring sunshine peeks in your windows, but these steps will give you a good place to start. Another benefit to giving your home a good cleaning before you put it on the market is that you can see where repairs might need to be made or painting might need to be done to help perk up your home.