Creative Curiosities: A Spring Cleaning Extravaganza
Spring is creeping up on us and what’s a better way to celebrate the seasonal transition than by diving into one of the hallmarks of spring – spring cleaning! We wanted to know all about our Creative Consumers® associates’ (CCs) cleaning habits, the products they rely on, their tried-and-true methods, and what’s first on their hit list of projects to tackle.
While there are many things to be learned about consumers’ cleaning habits, the topics we’ll be highlighting in this article are:
The Projects: The projects or areas of struggle our CCs are most excited about addressing
The Relief: How cleaning transforms the CCs’ moods
The Plan: The strategies and products our CCs rely on to ensure a great clean
To gather all the responses, we used our Inspire® Consumer Insight Accelerator to poll the CCs and collect a series of images they sent us to express how they feel, show us the products they’re interacting with, and describe the engagements they’re partaking in while getting ready for spring!
The Projects
We asked 68 of our Creative Consumers® associates, “As is tradition, spring cleaning can mean a lot of different things to different people. What does spring cleaning mean to you?” From spotless-deep cleaning to embracing the outdoors with some much-needed gardening; here are all of the ways our CCs are cleaning up this season:
Out with the old! On the top of the priority list for our CCs was to de-hoard their inessentials. Of the Creative Consumers® associates we polled, 72% said they’d need to see some decluttering this vernal equinox and finally send in their boxes of untapped goodies to their local donation centers.
CC Leah S. even showed us her box from Ridwell, a sustainable subscription service that picks up your hard-to-recycle goods and sends them to the ideal location - whether that be a donation center to be reused and re-loved or a recycling center to be recreated into something new.
“Goodbye” winter stuffiness and “hello" crisp springy-goodness! With one less vote than de-hoarding, 48 of the 68 polled CCs said that they’d be setting aside some time to open up the windows for the first time in months and let in some of the fresh (not frozen) air.
Is it really spring cleaning without a top to bottom scrub of the entire house? 46 of our Creative Consumers® associates said they’d be getting to every last nook and cranny with a ceiling to floor deep clean. Grubbiness begone!
The days are numbered for that one junk-closet we’ve been turning a blind eye towards. 40% of our CCs said that they’d be channeling their inner organizational gurus to give their “dump rooms” a makeover to make sure EVERYTHING has a home.
For those who never had a chance to rake up the fall leaves before the snow – now is your time to shine! Make way for the spring flowers and perfectly trimmed bushes that 24 of our Creative Consumers® associates will be planting this spring.
A whopping 21% of our Creative Consumers® associates said that they’re keeping their spaces clean all 365 days of the year – spring or otherwise!
Of our polled CCs, 11 of them said that they’d be pulling in the whole family for some group “fun.” It’s all-hands-on-deck for this cleaning session!
Lastly, 5 of our Creative Consumers® associates humbly admit that they’re in no rush to get started on all the chores. A little mess never hurt anybody.
The Relief
The cleaning of a home can be a transformative experience, so we asked our Creative Consumers® associates, “How does it feel before and after a spring clean?” Our response options included:
Trapped by Chaos / Freed by Order
Lost in the Mess-Maze / First-try Find-ability
Horizontal Closet Hell / Vertical Storage Virtue
Phase One: Clean / Phase Two: More Clean
Grubby Goblin Mode / Fresh as a Daisy
Super Stressful Setting / Peace at Last
The results can be seen in the chart below along with some of the pictures they’ve captured of their transformations before and after their cleaning projects:
“Peace at Last” was the most popular response to our second question for the Creative Consumers® associates with 50% saying that the biggest transformative change they feel after a cleaning project is stress relief!
Creative Consumers® associate Andrea D. even shared her post-clean self-care that she treats herself to after a rewarding cleaning experience - in this case, unloading a moving truck.
Tied with 28 of our CCs concurring were the categories, “Trapped by Chaos / Freed by Order” for the organizing pros, and “Phase One: Clean / Phase Two: More Clean” for the CCs who love to make sure their spaces are fresh 24/7.
Here are just some of the photos our Creative Consumers® associates snapped of their orderly cabinets and closets:
The clean feeling extends outside of the home, and our Creative Consumers® associates are proof of that! 37% of the CCs we polled said that they love breaking out of that “Grubby Goblin” feeling with self-care, clean foods, good smells, and the freshness of a daisy.
The benefits reaped of a tidy domicile come from the satisfaction of the chaos being contained. Here are some of our favorite clean-up and remodeling before-and-after’s that our Creative Consumers® associates shared with us:
CC Amy L. snapped a photo mid stuffed animal wedding and an after of the “venue” once the guests had all filed out and some renovation had been done.
Here’s a beautiful and intense kitchen makeover from Creative Consumers® associate Frank A.
CC Stephanie H. showed us her organizational expertise with a before and after of her bathroom closet.
CC Katherine B. gave us a look at the before of her ongoing bathroom renovation project.
The Plan
There’s no one way to clean. We all come at it from different places, with different tools, and with a slew of different tactics. With this last question, we asked our Creative Consumers® associates, “Where does your spring cleaning strategy come from?” From family secrets to the latest tech, our CCs described all their favorite tricks to getting that sparkly finish. Here are the results we gathered:
Tried-and-true is the best way to go! 35 of our 68 Creative Consumers® associates said that all they need are the basics. Dust, vacuum, mop, and disinfect; no need to get too complicated!
Following the love for simplicity is the 39% of CCs that said their experience has been the best teacher in efficiently getting a spotless clean. Through the years, they’ve been able to dial in their abilities to swiftly tackle any mess they may encounter.
For CC Charles N., he stands by his staples: vinegar and baking soda!
Of the CCs we polled, 30 stood by the fact that necessity is the mother of invention. They have no need for specificities – whatever is on hand is what’s going to get the job done and they certainly make it work!
Below we’ve collected a series of some of the products our CCs always make sure to keep stocked and on-hand:
About 24% of the CCs said that they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves that they’ve learned through the mastery of generations before them. This is how they saw it done when they were young, and it’s how they get it done now.
CC Odin E. even shared a photo of the new help he’s recently acquired!
For 8 of our Creative Consumers® associates, they said it’s all about the latest cleaning tech. They’re taking tips from the pros online and investing in the new machinery that’ll get the job done better than ever before.
Several of our CCs called out specific tech pieces that they’ve been loving lately like the BISSEL SpotClean Pro™ Portable Carpet Cleaner, Shark VACMOP Pro, TotalClean® 5-in-1 Air Purifier, and Dyson V8 Animal+.
With spring upon us, it’s always nice to start prepping for your spring cleaning attack plan. Hopefully, you’ve been able to gather insights, inspiration, and maybe a few tips from our Creative Consumers® associates who’ve all been working hard this transitional season to make their homes nice and tidy for the warmer months.