If you are doing spring cleaning for Pesach (Passover) this time line may help you plan how soon to start Passover cleaning and how to get it all done on time. As I explained in my article "The Jewish Spring Clean: What is Passover cleaning", Pesach or spring cleaning can be kept to a minimum or turned into a major spring clean. This time line is for those of you who want to get through the entire house before the Passover holidays begin or within four weeks. If you are lucky enough to have someone else doing the spring cleaning then you can use this time line to schedule their work load.

Start your spring cleaning as soon as Purim ends, in 2010 this would mean 28th of February. This gives you a full four weeks before Pesach begins on 30th March when the house needs to be free of aby bread or leavened products for a kosher Passover.

Week One of Pesach spring cleaning

In the first week your target is to get through all of the bedrooms. If you have between one and five bedrooms this should be possible. Take on a room a day and start with the cupboards. Take the clothes out a shelf at a time, wipe down the shelf, and then return the clothes folded nicely, and make sure you get rid of any clothes that are too small or old. You can keep the castoff clothes in bags or boxes until you have finished all of your bedrooms and then take them to a charity shop or a place where they can be recycles.

After spring cleaning the cupboards for passover, start to wipe down the surfaces, and do a general clean. If you have carpets vacuum them and perhaps clean them with carpet cleaning spray. You can leave the windows until later unless you have the time.

Week Two of Pesach spring cleaning

Move on to the other rooms of the house and plan to get through all of the other rooms except the kitchen by the end of week two. Unless you have a huge house you should manage the lounge/sitting/living room, bathrooms, toilets and if you have a dining room, study or playroom. Once again start with the inside of the cupboards, and then go on to a thorough cleaning of the room for Passover. With bookshelves this means taking down all the books, wiping the shelves and returning the books. With a sofa or other furniture vacuum, brush and beat out all the dust.

To spring clean the bathrooms and the toilet take this opportunity to clean in a way you don't normally clean. Scrub down the bathroom and toilet walls, organize the towel shelves or cupboard, wipe light fittings and polish taps and other accessories.

Week Three of Pesach spring cleaning

By now your house should be looking good. In this week your task is to do anything you missed in the previous weeks, and have everything shining except the kitchen. You need to include in this week window cleaning, which is a day's work for most houses. For a thorough spring cleaning of the house I usually make a list at this point of everything I may have forgotten to clean for Passover or which I still have left to do. My list includes cleaning the car, washing the school bags and the store room, laundry room or outside area of the house, I also list things that need fixing which I have noticed during my spring cleaning.

Week Four of Pesach spring cleaning

This is kitchen spring cleaning week. The reason I leave a complete week for the kitchen is because in terms of getting rid of leavened products and bread before Pesach the kitchen needs the most attention. Another reason to give the kitchen a whole week, is that you will be exhausted by now and working a little slower.

If I have the time I do one major appliance a day, that means fridge, oven and stove and then the other kitchen areas fit into the other days. The appliances are literally taken to pieces, cleaned and put back together to get them kosher for Passover. Towards the end of this week you will need to do your Pesach shopping of foods kosher for Pesach, and also organize what utensils and plates you will be using for Pesach. This could be plastic, a separate set of dishes for Pesach or getting your usual kitchen things koshered in the ritual baths (mikvah).

By the time you finish spring cleaning and get to Passover Seder you should be exhausted but satisfied and happy. There is nothing like the feeling of having gone over every inch of your house and knowing exactly where everything is. You will have gotten rid of a large amount of useless or old items and this truly makes the Pesach holiday feel like a new beginning.