Why ditching spring cleaning could be good for you

Spring sunlight reunites many Canadians with the visible streaks of dirt and dust coating their windows, walls and floors.

It's a season when the compulsion to deep clean and declutter is strong within the collective psyche, driven by a mix of product advertising, tradition and a post-winter energy boost. Fifty-nine per cent of Canadians engage in spring cleaning every year, according to a 2022 Ipsos Survey conducted for cleaning supplies producer Libman Company.

But this year, Vancouver mom and business owner Jenn Wint plans to skip the purge.

"If I did do it, no one would notice. So if I don't do it, no one will notice."

Wint is the author of the children's book Josie's Busy Calendar. It's about learning to prioritize mental well-being over a long to-do list, and she says deep cleaning to seasonal deadlines, with two small children in the house, is not only an extra burden but a waste of time.

"It's like brushing your teeth while eating an Oreo."

'Quiet quitting' at home

Mental health benefits are often used to justify the tenacious ritual of spring cleaning. But more recently, in the wake of converging layers of pandemic burnout and parental burnout, a counter-argument has emerged, championed by parents who say they're finding relief in choosing not to do any spring cleaning at all.

"It not only brings back the actual time ... but it lightens my mental burden to say, I can relax and have fun because I don't have these things hanging over me that I used to think were so important," said Rebecca Renegar, a family life educator and doctoral candidate at the University of Tennessee, who wrote a blog post called Quiet Quitting at Home.

Quiet quitting is a term used to describe the decision to complete necessary work requirements without going above and beyond. Renegar says it's a concept that she's now applying to unpaid, domestic labour.

According to Statistics Canada, if Canadians were paid for every hour of housework completed, they would receive, on average, $23,240 a year. Women and parents would receive more.

Renegar says if families want to reallocate this time and energy to recuperation or recreation, it's important to identify what's a priority in the home and what they choose to let go of. 

While her Vancouver home won't be getting a top-to-bottom scrubbing this month, Wint says she plans to prioritize one essential domestic task as a nod to the season.

"You have to move all the dead plants off the ledge by the sink in order to open the blinds and let spring in."