To some people, especially
Neat Freaks, cleaning is
Serious Business. They'll bust out the brooms, vacuums, etc. and clean to an extreme point, to go as far as going to clean other people's houses.
This is often a pregnancy trope in sitcoms; a woman displays nesting syndrome and becomes maidzilla during some unknown stage of pregnancy. Often
Played for Laughs.
This trope is not limited to springtime.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- Keroro Gunsou: Keroro treats the Hinata family's annual New Year's Eve cleaning, like nearly everything else, like a major military operation.
- Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei: Chiri Kitsu, who goes to other people's houses to clean them and throw out questionable items, even if the owner of the house wanted to keep them.
- Toradora: The male protagonist, Ryuuji, feels the need to clean other peoples' houses, and even the school bathroom.
Literature
- Howl's Moving Castle, "Chapter Five: Which Is Far Too Full Of Washing"
- Lake Wobegon Days: Diane, who treats it like a military operation. The War On Dirt. It begins: "One fine Saturday morning, Diane opened her eyes and smelled something bad from under the blanket. Ed had been doing that a lot lately."
Live-Action TV
- Friends: Monica would go on these binges, even washing random cars parked on the street.
- Full House: To Danny Tanner, spring cleaning is like Christmas and he has the whole family help out.
Newspaper Comics
- FoxTrot: Andy is prone to fits of this and dragoons the rest of the family into helping her.
Western Animation
