Spring cleaning will be easier if you pare down. Make one meal a week from your pantry. You'll save money, thin your cabinets and surprise yourself at your creativity. If you display collections, divide them up. Display a third and pack away the rest.
Fewer items make a bigger visual impact, as well as take less time to dust.
Get together with other parents and swap, or offer them to a children's group for the dress-up box. Give your kids charity bags of their own, then work out a reward for every time they fill it. Plan for your week's big cleaning job all week. If it's cleaning the refrigerator, sort through one shelf each night while you're cleaning up from dinner. Every home has a junk magnet, usually where the mail collects.