Why do we Spring Clean?

It has finally started to warm up! You can’t shake the feeling that you want to clean the baseboards, clear out your closet, and sweep underneath the couch. The urge to spring clean is strong, but the question is, why is spring cleaning a thing?

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Believe it or not, the phenomenon of spring cleaning has actually been around since homes were heated by wood and lit by lanterns. In the winter, wood-burning furnaces would be kept on at all hours to keep a house warm and would subsequently leave a layer of soot on every surface. Once it would start to warm up and the furnace wasn’t used as often, families began cleaning to scrub away that layer of ash from heating the house all winter. Although we don’t have to scrub away layers of soot when spring rolls around anymore, we still have an innate feeling that spring is a time to clean the places we haven’t thought of in a year.⁠

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We also clean more in the springtime due to lower levels of melatonin that make us sleepy. During the winter, the days are shorter and there is less sunlight. Less light triggers the production of melatonin, the hormone that helps with the timing of your circadian rhythms and sleep and makes you less likely to clean those uncommon areas. Once the days are longer and it stays bright later, your body produces much less melatonin, giving you the energy and motivation to clean. ⁠