16 Spring Cleaning To-Dos You Can Tackle in 5 Minutes (or Less)

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that…

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that basically…do themselves—plus our trustiest tools and helpers. The goal: clean less, go outside more.


When we think of spring cleaning, we imagine a full-day affair of vacuuming, mopping, dusting, and the like, but sometimes a little burst of cleaning or tidying can be almost as satisfying as a deep clean. And oftentimes, even after a full-force cleaning day there are little pockets of our home that escaped the scouring frenzy. As part of Home52’s spring cleaning efforts, I gathered up a host of cleaning tasks you can do in five minutes or less (yes, really!). These are low-impact, high-reward projects that will make your home feel fresh—and some of them may even surprise you!

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How to Get Your Windows Squeaky Clean & Streak-Free

We’re not exactly sure why, but cleaning the windows is one of those tasks that gets put off until the absolute last minute. And by last minute, we mean: It’s 9 a.m. and your in-laws are visiting at 10 a.m.—the counters have been scrubbed, the beds are…

We’re not exactly sure why, but cleaning the windows is one of those tasks that gets put off until the absolute last minute. And by last minute, we mean: It’s 9 a.m. and your in-laws are visiting at 10 a.m.—the counters have been scrubbed, the beds are made, the floor has been vacuumed—but the light coming into your home remains… mottled.

Okay so maybe it’s because for many of us, this means getting up on a ladder outside our windows, and for others, it simply doesn’t seem doable at all in a 5th floor walkup (hello, city-dwellers). Unfortunately though, we’ve all got to face it at some point, since there’s nothing that makes a space feel bigger and brighter than cleaning the windows.

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An Ode to My Roomba—The Friend I Didn’t Know I Needed

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that…

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that basically…do themselves—plus our trustiest tools and helpers. The goal: clean less, go outside more.


I never thought I needed a Roomba. I didn’t think they really worked. I already have a standing vacuum, so I didn’t need an automated one. “I have too much odd-shaped furniture; it would never navigate properly,” I thought to myself. “It’s so much money for a cleaning item,” I rationalized. And anyway, where would I even store it? It’s clunky and doesn’t immediately fit my home's aesthetic.

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The $0 Trick to Always-Clean Kitchen Shelves

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that …

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that basically…do themselves—plus our trustiest tools and helpers. The goal: clean less, go outside more.


Kitchen cabinets are actually some of the messiest spots in the home: where spills, stains, and drips go to turn into unrecognizable gunk. This can be particularly upsetting if, like me, you have recently updated cabinets that you want to try to keep shiny and new for as long as humanly possible. (All this time spent indoors has made that window real short!) A couple months after moving into our home early last year, I was forced to clean a nasty mess of cooking oils, turmeric, and sugar off an otherwise pristine surface, and that was when I decided there had to be a better way.

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8 Cleaning Tasks That Basically Do Themselves

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that…

Welcome to Your No-Sweat Guide to Spring Cleaning, a month-long series that puts the fun (yep, for real!) back into cleaning. We’re talking spruce-ups that take less than five minutes, why-didn’t-I-think-of-that hacks, and hands-off cleaning tasks that basically…do themselves—plus our trustiest tools and helpers. The goal: clean less, go outside more.


I spend seven days a week in my house (you, too?). Sometimes I get out for a grocery run or go for a walk around the block to the post office (when I realize I haven’t left in three days), and occasionally I meet a friend for dinner, but for the most part, I spend a lot of time looking around at all the unclean surfaces in my home.

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PSA: It’s Definitely Time to Wash or Toss Your Pillows

We already know that sheets need to be cleaned far more often than is convenient (once a week… yep—it’s a chore), but when you really start to think about the dead skin cells, dust, and dirt that settle on your sheets, it’s a natural next step to say, …

We already know that sheets need to be cleaned far more often than is convenient (once a week… yep—it’s a chore), but when you really start to think about the dead skin cells, dust, and dirt that settle on your sheets, it’s a natural next step to say, “Oh god, what about my pillows?” Oh god indeed, your pillows are some of the worst perpetrators. Turns out, pillows are filled with all sorts of allergens like dust, pollen, body oils and skin cells, and fungi which may be stuffing you up and making it harder to sleep.

It's a whole, happy little eco-system in there. A 2005 study by the University of Manchester found an average of more than a million fungal spores in the household pillows they tested; synthetic pillows were found to have a higher concentration of aspergillus fumigatus, the most common strain, which feed dust mites, can exacerbate asthma, and can lead to disease in those with compromised immune systems.

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How to Remove Chocolate Stains (‘Cause We All Have Them, Right?)

Chocolate is the greatest gift to mankind—full stop. You can have it on your birthday via a rich chocolate cake with a luscious ganache, as a beverage when you feel like cozying up with a cup of hot chocolate, or even at the dinner table as a beer-infu…

Chocolate is the greatest gift to mankind—full stop. You can have it on your birthday via a rich chocolate cake with a luscious ganache, as a beverage when you feel like cozying up with a cup of hot chocolate, or even at the dinner table as a beer-infused sauce for your rib eye. It’s true that incorporating chocolate into your meals is easy, but how to remove chocolate stains from your clothes (when you throw table manners out the window at the mere sight of it—we’ve all been there), is another story.

Now, different people approach stains in different ways; that’s why we’ve got two tried-and-true methods below to nix that delicious eyesore according to your preferences: with pantry staples or super-powered laundry products. Either way, we’re sure you’ll be pleased and heading back for seconds of the fondue that brought you here in no time.

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DIY Sachets for Sweet-Smelling Sock Drawers

As we’re sure you well know, the months of February and March can easily stretch into what feels like a never-ending winter, especially when warm, teasing days poke through just to be dashed by a forecast of snow the next. One way to make them fe…

As we’re sure you well know, the months of February and March can easily stretch into what feels like a never-ending winter, especially when warm, teasing days poke through just to be dashed by a forecast of snow the next. One way to make them feel instantly less bleak? A breezy little assembly-line craft, and one that’ll (physically) warm your cold, winter hands.

These sweet-smelling handmade sachets are just the thing to spruce up your unmentionables drawer and air out stuffy closets—smaller ones are kind of like boxes of baking soda in their ability to stave off stale odors lingering in last season’s clothes. Not only that, but larger versions can be popped in the microwave for about a minute and act as the world’s best-smelling heating pad for your snow-shovel backache. Come summer, these little guys can also be stashed in the freezer to relieve the back of your neck from sweltering temps, as well as provide gentle cold relief to strained muscles. 

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The Best Vacuums for Every Kind of Dust, Dirt & Mess

Here at Home52, we’ve often called upon the larger Food52 team to participate in roundup-style stories, and it’s always interesting to see which topics engender immediate passion, and which we have to tease out more directly. Most recently, we asked ou…

Here at Home52, we’ve often called upon the larger Food52 team to participate in roundup-style stories, and it’s always interesting to see which topics engender immediate passion, and which we have to tease out more directly. Most recently, we asked our coworkers to share the very best things they bought for their home in 2020, which they responded to quickly and with excitement, eager to spread the gospel of standing desks, giant mixing bowls, and corn on the cob sculptures (yep).

The only topic that perhaps outdid that? Vacuums. When I put a poll out in the company-wide Slack channel asking for vacuums they “swear by/saved for/cradle in bed at night,” the responses poured in with speed and fervor. As it turns out (and lucky for my article, and you), working from home for a year makes people passionate about ridding their homes of dust and debris—and our staff has lots to say about how their vacuums improve their quality of life.

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The Best Vacuum Cleaners for Every Kind of Dust, Dirt & Mess

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

Here at Home52, we commonly check in with the larger Food52 team for r…

This post contains products independently chosen (and loved) by our editors and writers. Food52 earns an affiliate commission on qualifying purchases of the products we link to.

Here at Home52, we commonly check in with the larger Food52 team for roundup-style stories, and it’s always interesting to see which topics engender immediate passion, and which we have to tease out more directly. Back in 2020, we asked our coworkers to share the very best things they bought for their home, which they responded to quickly and with excitement, eager to spread the gospel of standing desks, giant mixing bowls, and corn on the cob sculptures (yep).

Read More >>