Working with the Moon's Rhythm

Spring arrives and something in us wants to open the windows. In lunar tradition, the waning moon — the fortnight after the full moon — is the time for clearing, releasing and emptying. That makes it the natural companion for a spring clean: drawers emptied, cupboards wiped, the things you no longer need carried out of the house. Then, as the new moon arrives, you turn that cleared space into intention: what you want to grow in the brighter months. Cleaning first, then planting, so to speak.

You do not need to be strict about it. If the sun is out and you have a free afternoon, that is your window. But if you like a rhythm to hold onto, use the waning fortnight for the heavy work and the days around the new moon for the gentler, more reflective bits.

Your Natural Cleaning Kit

Three things will carry you through most of a spring clean: white vinegar, lemons, and bicarbonate of soda. Add a few dried herbs and you have everything you need.

• White vinegar spray: one part white vinegar to one part water in a spray bottle. Good for worktops, tiles, taps and glass.
• Bicarbonate of soda: for sinks, baths, the inside of the oven, and anything that needs a gentle abrasive.
• Lemons: halve one and use it directly on taps and chopping boards, or squeeze the juice into a paste with bicarbonate of soda.
• Herbs: lavender, rosemary, thyme and mint, dried from last summer or bought loose.

Two cautions, because natural does not mean universally safe. Vinegar will dull marble, limestone and sealed stone, and it should not sit on aluminium. Do not mix vinegar and bicarbonate of soda expecting a stronger cleaner — you get a satisfying fizz and salty water. Use them one after the other instead: bicarbonate to scour, vinegar to rinse.

Room by Room

Start high and work down, so dust lands on floors you have not yet cleaned.

• Kitchen: wipe shelves with the vinegar spray and leave to dry before restocking. Sprinkle bicarbonate of soda into the sink, scrub with a damp cloth, then pour a kettle of hot water down the drain. For wooden chopping boards, scatter coarse salt, rub with half a lemon, leave ten minutes and rinse.
• Bathroom: a lemon half rubbed over limescale on taps, left five minutes then rinsed, works surprisingly well. Follow with the vinegar spray on tiles.
• Bedroom: strip the bed and air the mattress by an open window for an hour. Wash bedding with a few drops of lavender oil if you like. Turn the mattress, and tuck a small bowl of dried lavender into a drawer.

Herbal Infusions for the Whole House

An infusion is simply a strong tea. Pour just-boiled water over a handful of dried herbs, cover, leave twenty minutes, then strain. Rosemary and thyme make a clean, green-scented spray for worktops; lavender and mint are softer and better for bedrooms and linens. Add a splash of vinegar to the cooled infusion if you want to keep it for more than a day — store it in the fridge and use within a week.

If you would rather scent the air than fill a bottle, simmer lemon slices, rosemary sprigs and a few cloves in a pan of water on the lowest heat for half an hour. Keep an eye on the water level so it does not catch. It is a lovely thing to do whilst you work through a cupboard.

Airing, Drying and Light

The oldest spring ritual is the simplest: open the windows. Ten minutes in every room each morning, even on a cold day, replaces the damp, still air that builds overnight. Take rugs and cushions outside if you can, and let the wind do the heavy lifting.

Dry what you can on a line. Sunshine bleaches and freshens, and there is a particular pleasure in bringing in bedding that smells of cold air. Move furniture a hand's width away from the walls in the rooms you use most, so air can move behind it, and wipe the tops of doors and skirting boards last, working your way back towards the door.

Setting Intentions for the Brighter Months

Once the house is clean, sit down with a cup of something warm and write three intentions — no more. One for your home, one for your body, one for something you want to grow, whether that is a skill, a friendship or a patch of herbs on the windowsill. Write them at the new moon if that appeals, or whenever the house feels finished.

Keep them somewhere you will see them: folded into a jar, tucked behind a plant pot, or written on a card beside the kettle. Read them again at the full moon and notice what has shifted. A spring clean is not really about the house at all — it is about making room, and then deciding what to put there.