Spring Cleaning Part 2: Deep Cleaning Your Home

Welcome to the second segment of our three-part Spring Cleaning series: Deep Cleaning. Hopefully, you went through the decluttering with us last week and are now ready to get scrubbing, if not you can check out that post here.  Deep cleaning your whole house can seem daunting at first, but if you break it into chunks, it’s not so bad.

Top Tips for a Deep Clean

• Work systematically, one room at a time. (Bathrooms are an exception, you can treat those as one room - more on that later.) 
• Start with the biggest jobs / dirtiest rooms first. 
• Start on the far left and work your way around clockwise.
• Clean top to bottom - light fixtures, ceiling fans, vents, walls, furniture, floors. 
• Vacuum everything first. Wiping dust and dirt with a wet cloth makes mud which is much harder to clean. 
• Change your rags and water often
• Don’t forget to show your appliances some love. *Always read your manuals first*
• Stay Safe! 
  • Use the right cleaner for the job. 
  • Read your labels
  • Rinse your surfaces really well before switching cleaners. 
  • Work with windows open and fans on as much as possible.

Room by Room Tips

Bathrooms

• We like to let the cleaning solutions do the hard work. If you have multiple bathrooms, treat them as one room. Spray all your showers, add the cleaner to all your toilet bowls. Then work your way through scrubbing and rinsing them all. 
• Not all cleaners polish. Deep clean and sanitize with your preferred bathroom cleaner, then polish faucets with Windex when you do your mirrors or use the appropriate polisher of hypour choice. 
• Don’t forget to clean your toilet brushes too. Keep them clean between uses: rinse brush really well, spray generously with hydrogen peroxide and rest over the toilet bowl to dry before placing them back in the holder. 

Kitchen 

• Use something with a good de-greaser - Mr. Clean is great - for cleaning your hood vent, the area around your stove and the tops of your cupboards.

• *Hot Tip - line the tops of your cupboards with paper towels for easy cleaning next time!

• The rest of your kitchen needs a good disinfectant (we love bleach, but use what you prefer)
• Remember to move your appliances. Clean the areas behind and under them as well as the appliances themselves.
• Range Hood Filters 
  • Your range hood filters should be cleaned monthly. If you maintain them with a regular cleaning schedule, they can usually run through your dishwasher. If it’s been a while and they have a lot of build up; they will need some extra TLC. 
    • Fill your sink with very very hot water. 
    • Add dawn dish soap & ¼ cup of baking soda and mix. 
    • Add filters and allow to soak for 10-15 minutes. 
    • Scrub with a clean scrub brush and rinse.
    • Allow to air dry before replacing them. 

Living Rooms & Bedrooms

• Move all of your furniture to get to those hard-to-reach places.

Laundry Room

• Vacuum thoroughly, especially in and around your washing machine and dryer. 
• Vacuum your lint trap filter and around the trap as much as possible.
• Remove your washing machine soap dispenser and clean dispenser and surrounding area.
• If you have a front loader, wash the seal well with bleach to remove mould build-up. Do not use anything that sudds up for this. Bleach & water or straight bleach is best.
• Remove and wash the washing machine filter (check your manual for instructions)

Other Home Appliances

• Clean or replace filters on your Humidifier, HRV & Furnace. 
• Clean and disinfect your vacuum(s) 
• De-scale your coffee maker & kettle
• Vacuum the crumbs from your toaster and wash the crumb catchers
• Wash your humidifiers & diffusers 

Happy Scrubbing! 

We hope you find these tips helpful. What are your go-to cleaning hacks? Let us know in the comments below.

Ready to move outside? Check out Part 3: Exterior Home Cleaning and Maintenance