We’re less than a week away from the spring equinox, and rumors of spring cleaning have already begun. Usually you pay no mind to the rumors, but this year is going to be different. You’re married now, so you’re adulting harder than usual. Or at least you’re thinking about it. Obviously spring cleaning is totally optional—there isn’t an inspector coming around mid-April to evaluate the job you’ve done. Unless your mother-in-law is coming…that’s kind of the same thing.

If you and your new spouse do get roped into the spring cleaning hype, here are our best suggestions for being efficient, staying sane, and doing a better-than-usual job.

Divide and conquer.

You got married for the wartime idioms, right? I’ll bite the bullet on this one. Let’s bury the hatchet. Your brother wants his Bluetooth speaker back…don’t shoot the messenger. Although, if you’ve never thought about the relatable idioms, that’s cool too. Anyway, divvying up your space for spring cleaning will help the project feel more manageable, decreasing the risk of you or your partner waving the white flag and going on a Netflix binge instead.

So split it up. Maybe he tackles the bathroom and the living room while you work on the bedroom and the kitchen. Leading the charge (last one, I promise) on your own part of your shared space will motivate you both to do a better job, and it will save you time.

Blast music, avoid arguments.

You + Your Partner + A Challenging Task = Potential Conflict. It might be basic math, but if you’ve been married for any amount of time, you understand its significance. Rather than letting your spring cleaning session turn into a potential brawl, turn it into a daytime dance party. It’s a well-known fact that arguments can’t start when both parties are jamming out to The Chainsmokers. Get out the Bluetooth speaker (before your brother asks for it back again), turn up the tunes, and avoid marital conflict like pros.

Purge like there’s no tomorrow.

One of the most catastrophic parts of new marriage is when two single individuals bring their hobbies, dishes, decorations and general junk into the same space. Unfortunately, there’s no escaping the chaos without a massive purge. And you can only avoid it for so long—it took us about a year to get to. But the sooner you do it, the sooner you’ll remember why you chose to share you home with this person in the first place…and it had nothing to do with his 3 ft. tall lava lamp or her abnormally large collection of beauty samples. So take this spring cleaning opportunity to purge the things that you don’t need, and never look back.

pinterest spring cleaning suggestions for newlyweds