The Essential Guide to Spring Cleaning Your Mac, iPhone, and iPad

The Essential Guide to Spring Cleaning Your Mac, iPhone, and iPad

While most Americans consider Memorial Day the start of summer, in reality we have a few more weeks to go before June 20 -- the official first day of summer -- arrives. If you haven’t done your spring cleaning yet, now is a great time to do so, and we’ll give you some tips on using your Mac or iOS device to cut down on that workload.

Few of us actually enjoy the act of spring cleaning, cathartic though it may be for many. But it’s a great time to say “out with the old, in with the new,” especially when you can enlist your favorite Apple device for help.

So without further ado, we present a few ideas on jumpstarting that spring cleaning project in your home or apartment, MacLife.com style!

Home Inventory

Whether you rent or own, an inventory of the items in your living space can prove vital should the worst occur. Even if you already have homeowner’s or renter’s insurance, your agent will want to have a list on hand in the event of a claim, especially for higher ticket items like your computer, HDTV and other home theatre items.

Thankfully, developer Binary Formations has come to the rescue with its $14.99 Home Inventory software for Mac. Available from the company’s website or the Mac App Store, this slick software acts as a database for all of your belongings, cataloging all of the makes, models, serial numbers, prices and just about anything else you’d like to know, keeping the data safely backed up on your hard drive or even cloud services such as Dropbox and SugarSync.

Best of all, Home Inventory offers iOS companion apps so there’s no need to bring bulky items to your Mac. Home Inventory Photo Remote for iPhone and iPod touch allows users to gather a complete inventory in the palm of your hand, then wirelessly sync it back to the Mac over Wi-Fi, while the universal Home Inventory Backup keeps your inventory data handy from anywhere you happen to be at the time, including an iPad. Both iOS apps are free.

Out with the Old!

Now that you’ve completed an inventory of the contents of your living space, you’re probably horrified to find out exactly how much junk you’ve accumulated in your time there. So why not take this opportunity to part with some of it and reclaim precious space?

As the old saying goes: “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure.” (Clearly this expression was originated prior to women’s liberation, but applies equally to gals as well.) Nowhere is this saying more true than eBay, that bastion of auction commerce where most anything can be converted into a quick PayPal payment.

Thankfully, eBay has some fine iOS apps available, so sellers no longer need to chain themselves at their Mac or PC when listing new items. The recently revamped iPad app, in particular, is a slick way to pawn your stuff off on some poor, unsuspecting slob (er, buyer) for fun and profit.

Although eBay has revamped their fee structure in recent years, you’ll essentially be triple-taxed by selling there -- first you’ll pay eBay to list the item, then again when it sells and finally, by their PayPal subsidiary for accepting the payment. But keep an eye out for free or cheap listing days, which could help save valuable pennies, especially when listing a lot of items.

Depending on what you’re selling, there may be cheaper options than eBay. The company’s sister site, Half.com, offers an easy way to sell books, textbooks, music, movies and games with no upfront costs. (You’ll lose 15 percent when a sale is made, however.) The company’s free iPhone app makes it even easy by simply scanning a UPC code and naming your price.

Likewise, Amazon Marketplace is great for sellers who aren’t in quite a big hurry to sell. In addition to the categories listed above, Amazon also allows selling cameras and other photo equipment, electronics, toys and games, baby products, kitchen and housewares, tools and most anything else. Like Half.com, there are no upfront fees, which are paid only when the item sells. Amazon deposits directly to your bank account every two weeks, and it’s super-easy to sell something purchased from the website as well.

Getting Rid of the Unsellable

The eBay auctions have closed and neither Half.com or Amazon Marketplace has produced any buyers? Don’t despair, your old stuff doesn’t have to hit the landfill quite yet.

If the item you can’t sell falls into one of five categories -- textbooks, electronics, video games, movies and TV or music -- you can always trade it in for credit using Amazon’s Trade-In Store. Search for the item by title, adjust the condition of the item accordingly and Amazon will tell you what it’s worth, then provide a free shipping label. Within a week or two, your item(s) will be checked in and a gift card credit will magically be applied to your Amazon account so you can start buying more junk (er, stuff you really need).

As a last-ditch effort, you can always consider donating any remaining items. Donations to charitable organizations can generally be deducted from your Federal taxes, but you’ll need to keep good track of the donations as well as any paperwork associated with them.

For this task, the 99-cent Donation Tracker app for iPhone comes in rather handy. This iOS app lets users record the date, value and charity that the item was donated to, along with photographic evidence that it actually existed and a description of what it was.

Not sure where to make your donation? The free Goodwill Donation app for iPhone comes to the rescue, using location services to find your nearest store or collection area and even helps track donations, providing a digital receipt conforming to IRS requirements.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everbody Clean Up

The inventory is done and the clutter is mostly gone -- now all that remains is to dig in and get your hands dirty. It can seem like an overwhelming task for any size apartment or house, but once again, your iOS device comes to the rescue.

The 99-cent Housekeeping List app should be your first step in the process. Preloaded with more than 150 items to help organize cleaning, the universal app is an exhaustive checklist for adding, deleting or rearranging tasks with ease. The app can feature an unlimited number of lists for every occasion, and you’ll have the complete and total satisfaction of checking items off the list when they’re finished.

Now it’s time to tackle the actual cleaning, and while you can’t exactly strap an iOS device or Mac to you to get the job done, the App Store is at your disposal when you need assistance. The free Good Housekeeping @Home app offers excellent advice on busting even the toughest of stains, general cleaning tips and even a gallery of home decor to inspire you when the hard work is all done.

If you need additional inspiration while buried in the task itself, get some words of encouragement from the 99-cent Cleaning Quotes app for iPhone. The app developer swears to us “housekeeping is a fun topic,” and has collected quotes “mainly written by authors, comedians and distinguished individuals” to provide some “fresh perspective” on cleaning. Quotes are updated regularly and the developer encourages users to submit their own via email to be added in future updates.

Call in the Troops

If spring cleaning is simply too much for you to bear -- even with the assistance of your fine Apple products -- it might be time to call in the professionals. In the past, this arduous task meant digging through the Yellow Pages (you remember those enormous printed books, right?) or even Google searches to find the best candidate for the money.

The free YP Local Search app from YellowPages.com (also available for the iPad) is the perfect thing for every iOS user. Tap on the Search icon, type (or speak) “cleaning” or a similar query and within seconds, you’ll have a list of possibilities, neatly sorted by distance and rated by fellow users just like you.

A tap on any selection calls up quick access to the company’s phone number, including directions, a map of where they’re located and even a website link, where applicable. Select vendors even offer coupons right from inside the app along with full details of their hours of operation, payment methods accepted and what services they offer.

So there you have it -- no more reasons for spring cleaning to be a chore! If you’ve discovered any additional ways to bring your Mac or iOS devices into the housecleaning fold, be sure to share them with other readers by adding them to the comments!

Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

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