Introduction
Everyone wants a clean home, but no one wants to do those chores. That’s why some people take the easy way out and search for “home cleaning services near me” and outsource the job to professionals. On the other hand, if you plan to do spring cleaning yourself, here’s how you can go about it.
The Checklist
1. Kitchen – You cook a lot of food in the kitchen. When you fry or cook things, the oil vapors go up and some of them escape the kitchen chimney. Those vapors settle on your cabinets and countertop and develop an oil slick that builds up over time. Moreover, the cabinets also get buildup from food smears, lotion, kitchen grease, and more. The oily surface also attracts dust and debris and makes it even more filthy.
It’s best to get rid of that buildup from your cabinets with a scrubber, hot water, and some heavy-duty cleaners. Make sure you clean out the pantry, before cleaning the cabinets. You also need to clean out the oven with some baking powder and dish soap. Your job gets easier if you have a self-cleaning oven.
Apart from the oven and cabinets, you also need to clean out the microwave and the fridge both on the inside and the outside. That can be done with all-purpose cleaners, scrub, and some elbow grease. Also, make sure to vacuum the dust on the coils at the back of your refrigerator.
2. Living Room – The living room is a place that’s used quite frequently and has a lot of dust, debris, and dirt in hidden places. Start off with visible spaces and make your way to the hidden spots. It’s important to get rid of all the dust from the beginning. Begin by dusting the fixtures and the furniture and move from the top to the bottom so that you don’t have to do redundant cleaning later on.
Proceed to vacuum all the lampshades and upholstery and vacuum the carpets. Once all the dust is gone, it’s time to wash the mirror and glass surfaces inside the living room. Use a good-quality glass cleaner with a squeegee to make your job easier. After that, wash all the pillows and blankets and fluff them up after they are dry. Next, bring out your furniture to an open space or a well-ventilated room and polish it down. You can also shampoo your carpets or send them to a professional cleaner.
3. Bedroom – When was the last time you washed your pillowcases and sheets? If you have to think hard enough to come up with an answer, then it’s been too long. Ideally, you’re supposed to wash your pillowcases and bedsheets every week. If you don’t like chemical detergents, you can make your own cleaning solution with some vinegar and bleach. It’s cheap and effective at killing bacteria and restoring the sheets and pillowcases to their former white color.
However, that’s not where spring cleaning ends. You also need to clean your bed pads and mattresses. This needs to be done once or twice a year and spring cleaning is the perfect opportunity. You can vacuum your mattresses and steam clean them. On the other hand, your bed frame just needs the gentle brush of a microfiber cloth dampened in warm water. Make sure that you rinse the microfiber cloth a few times so that you don’t redistribute the dust on the bed frame. You can also use this opportunity to organize your closet and vacuum it out.
4. Bathroom – A relaxing bath and shower are very important to wash away all the stress and cleanse your body and mind. However, that becomes impossible when you have filth in your bathroom. Make sure that you clean your shower regularly so that you can have a relaxing shower whenever you want. Get some distilled white vinegar and dilute it with water. Heat up the mixture and use it to clean hard water stains from the shower, taps, and even the bathtub.
Next, you need to clean soap scum from the floor and walls, and to do that you can either buy a soap scum remover or make your own by mixing cornstarch, vinegar, and regular dish soap. Use this solution to scrub out the soap scum. It may take several tries. When you’re done with the shower, bath, walls, and floor, it’s time to move on to the shower curtains.
If the curtains are too dirty and have developed signs of mold, it’s time to replace them. Otherwise, you can throw them inside the washing machine and after they are cleaned, disinfect them with rubbing alcohol.
5. Cleaning every room – Now, let’s look at some general cleaning that every room in your home needs. Start off with the baseboards. Every room has baseboards and unfortunately, they are some of the most overlooked parts of your home. They become grimy over time. Dust and vacuum them and then clean them thoroughly with some warm soapy water. After that, leave them out in the open to air dry.
Next, you need to clean the walls to match the baseboards. However, this task is best left to professionals since you need to know the type of paint on the wall to figure out suitable cleaning solutions. If you have wallpapers, you can easily replace them or dust them off.
If you have drapes and curtains in your home, you can throw them in the washing machine and get them cleaned. Your blinds also collect a lot of dirt, hair, and dust at the edges and in those gaps and you need to clean them out. Clean them well with a microfiber cloth dampened in warm water and you’re good to go.
Conclusion
Spring cleaning can take up more than a couple of days since you have to take care of every part of your home. It’s difficult and very tiring. Instead, you can search for “home cleaning services near me” and hire pros to do the job for you.
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