Sprint vs. Marathon: Most people are not spring cleaning marathoners, although the way they go about spring cleaning would make you think they want to be. Break your spring cleaning up into segments. Rather than pulling apart every bed to clean the bedding, take it one room at a time and keep things manageable. No need to tear your whole house apart at once. One room at a time will do the trick.

More than a One-Man Job: Make spring cleaning a family affair. You cannot do it all by yourself and still keep your household running day to day. Enlist your kids and your spouse to help you. They helped you get your house to the state it is in, so they can help you get it back to new. Give them a reward like dinner and a night at the movies and you'll get them on board. If that's not enough, call in reinforcements. There are lots of cleaning services that will come in for one day and help you whip your house into shape.

One Hour Per Day: Instead of doing a deep clean all day every day for a week straight, which will just tire you out after one day, try deep cleaning for one hour a day until your spring cleaning is finished then add a one hour a week deep clean project to your weekly cleaning routine throughout the rest of the year. This will help you manage the stress as well as make spring cleaning much easier the next time around.

Make a Plan: You don't get overwhelmed when you have a plan of attack for spring cleaning. Know what you are doing before-hand and don't allow yourself to get distracted or start projects that you hadn't planned on doing that day. Make a plan and stick to it. Things will probably come up, but have a plan B. Having a plan keeps spring cleaning more manageable all around and keeps you from being overwhelmed by the mess.

Take Time to Enjoy: Once you've thoroughly spring cleaned a room, take a few minutes to enjoy it. The feeling of being in a perfectly ordered, clean room is one of the best feelings in the world, and it's a great motivator to get the rest of your home done. Take time to pat yourself on the back for a job well done, even if it's the smallest room in your house. You'll get the momentum to tackle the bigger jobs if you can see your success with the smaller ones (and visa versa).

Make Decisions and Stick to Them: One of the hardest parts of spring cleaning for a lot of people is throwing things out. Make a decision before you even start to de-clutter and throw away at least half as much as you keep. It is liberating to throw something away for a pack-rat. It frees you up to be able to get rid of other things that are weighing you down. The clincher is sticking with your decision. Once you've thrown something out, don't go back for it. It is more overwhelming to find space for everything you keep than to throw out things that you don't need or use.