Did you read the Little House on the Prairie books when you were young?  I loved them and read them over and over.

While there was a lot to take away from each story, something that has stuck with me over the years is how the Ingalls family did their spring cleaning.

Spring Cleaning Circa 1870s

If you don’t remember the Ingalls family spring cleaning routine (and why would you?), it went something like this.

Change the straw tick in the mattress.

Sweep the dirt floor.

Replace the waxed paper in the windows. 

Spring Cleaning Circa 2010s

My, how times have changed.

This is Spring Cleaning at our house (with tips on each, to follow).

Store the skis and poles.

Wash the ski gear.

Tune the bikes.  

Sorry, mattresses, floors and windows — you’ll be lucky if we get to you.

Last year, we made some big improvements in how we stored our skis. But we didn’t account for the poles and they’ve been an annoyance all winter long.

Here’s the problem:

 See how they hang in a bunch and in the way of the skis? It works okay when you’re grabbing all the poles, but it’s a pain the rest of the time.

Enter some inexpensive, easy to install racks from StoreYourBoard.com. 

Store Your Board: Ski, Snowboard, Skate Board, Surf Board

If you’re not familiar with StoreYourBoard.com, it’s an online company that sells inexpensive racks to help you hang up just about any sporting equipment.

We got the multi-sport rack, currently on sale for $19.99. Photos on the website show it holding hockey sticks, skis, snowboards, skateboards and even gardening equipment.

While there are more specialized racks for each sport, this set of two three-tiered black plastic brackets did the trick for us. And you can’t beat the price.

The racks came with clear instructions, mounting screws and substantial, beefy drywall anchors (my husband was most impressed with these). 

Here’s how they install (allow about 30 minutes).

We couldn’t be happier with the result.

After we got the racks installed, we noticed that the arms feel a bit flimsy, or loose, if you wiggle them side-to-side. However, when we tried to move them up and down, the arms hold firm. They are quite sturdy with the weight of skis or poles on them.

Interested in learning more? Check out the wide variety of racks at StoreYourBoard.com. In addition to racks for all types of boards, they also have bike racks, fishing racks and kayak racks. And that’s just a few examples of the storage solutions available.

Finally, if you place an order, use the coupon code “braveskimom” for 10% off! 

Thanks StoreYourBoard.com!

The Rest of Spring Cleaning

Now that we have our skis and poles neatly positioned, here are a couple of tips for the rest of Spring Cleaning.

Coats and Ski Pants

You probably already know this, but I didn’t until I had basically destroyed a waterproof Gore-Tex shell. Technical clothing won’t stay technical forever unless you take care of it. The best way to keep the waterproof in your waterproof clothing is to keep it clean and wash it as needed (but not every time you wear it) and wash it with a technical detergent, followed by a spray-on or dryer activated waterproofing. 

I use two Nikwax products, available from REI. There may be others and I’m interested in hearing if you have a favorite. Thanks.

Bike Tuning

Two summers ago, I ran this guest post from Jen at Velomom.com. Rather than try to recreate her tips for seasonal and periodic bike tune-ups, I’m sending you back to the original! 

Enjoy… and Happy Spring!

Related Posts:

• Wax Your Skis for Proper Summer Storage, April 15, 2013. 

To facilitate this post, I received one set of Store Your Board racks. As always, all opinions are my own and are exactly what I would tell my friends and family. 

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