Spring cleaning needs to be done, and now is the time of year to start, even though the temperature is still freezing. Putting it off until the warmer weather arrives is a mistake, because once the days warm up its much better to be outside enjoying the garden not stuck in the house doing monotonous housework.

Another mistake I feel people make is to try and get it all done in a week.

You can't get it all done in a week, or even a month.

Forget cleaning a whole room at a time; instead zone it to manageable chunks.

This is how I zone my living room.

There is one easy wall, one awkward wall, one straightforward wall and one difficult and time-consuming wall.

I always start with the difficult wall. It's difficult because the wall has two large radiators, with supporting pipework; and there is also a large heavy dresser that acts as bookcase, china display cabinet, and souvenir depository.

First job is to take everything out of the dresser and lay things on the dinning table. Next I pull the dresser away from the wall. The dust and dirt gathered behind it is always astonishing bearing in mind this gets done every year, but it does remind me why I take the trouble to do it.

Having brushed down the wall, cleaned the radiators, and skirting boards, I polish the dresser inside and out.

I only use real beeswax, so its hard work, but looks and smells gorgeous when its finished. Then I push it back into place.

Now everything has to be put back – or does it? No - it doesn't. This is the time to prune out the books, and only keep the ones I know I will actually read,

I also throw out all the bits and pieces like plastic cutlery that have somehow found there way into the drawers - because at the time, I thought they might come in useful, only they didn't - because I forgot I had them. Having finished here I call a halt, and the next day I tackle the easy wall.

The easy wall is so called because its mostly one huge glass window. Quick and easy to clean while the curtains are in the tumbler drier to remove all the fluff. (I don't wash them). After this, I'll do the straightforward wall.

Nothing on it and only a very plain dining table in front of it that can be cleaned with spray polish, then a quick vac of the chairs and I'm done.

The awkward wall has got multiple surfaces all requiring a different cleaner.

There's a fireplace with two sorts of tiles and a wooden top. A picture above this needs to be taken down in order to clean it, then carefully put back and straightened up. The telly is on a black glass stand that shows every speck of dust unless cleaned properly, and the mound of cables behind it is like a pile of spaghetti covered in fluff.

Having cleaned all my walls I tackle the middle of the room by vacuuming the three piece, and floor, then I climb up the step ladder to baby wipe the light fittings, (with the electrics turned off), Finally, I look carefully round the room to see if I've missed anything, doing whatever that might be, then I put my cleaning things away.

Oh, I forgot to say, before I do any of this I brush the ceiling. Phew!

Some years I do a cheats clean, which is to say I spray polish onto the radiators then the room smells as if I've cleaned it when I haven't.