People who live in condos in Ottawa know how cold the winter can be in the Canadian capital. But eventually spring rears its pretty head, and that signals the time for spring cleaning.

Here are some tips to remember:

Organize Your Home

Even before spring arrives, you have to do some organizing so that the task won’t overwhelm you. You’ll find it much easier to begin your spring cleaning if everything in your home is habitually placed in its proper place. You can’t just place your stuff wherever you want. Each item should have its own place. This may mean that you need to upgrade your storage solutions.

At least by the time spring arrives you won’t be dealing with a messy home anymore.

Prepare Your Cleaning Supplies

It can be disheartening to finally find the determination to begin your spring cleaning, only to discover that you don’t have all the needed cleaning supplies. While it’s still winter, you can go online and find deals for rubber gloves, frags, sponges, and cleaning solutions. Check that your mop and vacuum cleaner are in top working conditions.

Declutter

Not everything that’s in your condo needs to stay. You may have items—probably lots of them—that will need to be thrown out or given away. You can start with your closet, and then check all your storage compartments for items you don’t need.

Starting with your closet is always a good idea. You probably have clothes that you haven’t touched in a year or more. Other items here may no longer fit you. They may even be out of fashion already. You can then either sell these items, or give them away to friends and charity organizations.

During the winter, you can place these clothes that you plan to get rid of in a bag separate from your closet. That gives you a few days to get used to not having these items. At least when you miss some of them terribly, you can still put them back in your closet.

The same goes for other items in your unit. Just separate what you may have to get rid of in the spring. When you find that you don’t miss them, you can get rid of them more easily come spring cleaning time.

Set a Date

You can’t just start your spring cleaning whenever you want. If you’re like most people, there’s a great temptation to keep putting it off. And eventually, it won’t get done at all.

So you should be serious and set a date over the weekend when you need to begin and do the work. Mark the days on your calendar, and even set the time to start. By setting a schedule, you’re more like to stick with the plan.

In fact, you can set a schedule with an app so you don’t forget because of the alarm. Some apps can let you schedule 5-minute breaks after every half hour or so, which can help you from getting too tired. Just don’t set the breaks for more than 15 minutes, as this can tempt you to lose your motivation to continue working.

Prepare Your Snacks and Drinks

Your kitchen and fridge should be stocked with your favorite snacks, so you can eat and drink during your breaks and maybe even while you work.

Prepare a Spring Cleaning Playlist

Music can help energize you, and it can also alleviate the tedium of spring cleaning. Music is better than turning on the TV, which can distract you from working effectively. So prepare that spring cleaning playlist now.