Not everyone has the budget for professional house cleaning services. A maid service is terrific for deep cleaning your home, especially since it’s something you only do once or twice a year. Regardless of who does it, deep cleaning makes a world of difference in your home. Though, it can be expensive, especially if you have a large house, kids, and pets.
If your home needs a good house cleaning, but you don’t have the budget for a maid service, you can do the job yourself. With some planning and organizing, you can clean your own home efficiently and thoroughly, like the professionals.
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Prepping and Organizing
Remember that deep cleaning involves cleaning your home from top to bottom. It does not include regular housekeeping chores or decluttering. Cleaning and decluttering are entirely different tasks. If you attempt to do all these at the same time, you’ll burn yourself out.
You should complete any chores or tackle clutter before the deep cleaning. These are also the tasks that professional cleaners expect the homeowners to perform first, before the deep cleaning begins.
If you need to declutter, do that before you attempt to clean. Make that a separate project and take the time to put things away as well as weed out those items you don’t need. The same applies to regular household chores. If your goal is to deep clean your home, then you’re wasting time if you have to stop to do the dishes, switch the laundry, or change the bed linens.
Before you tackle your deep cleaning project, be sure all these things are already complete. That way, you can be efficient in your cleaning tasks. Most of the time, you can accomplish a deep clean in a matter of hours if all you need to focus on is the actual cleaning.
Gather Your Supplies
Before any project, it’s a good idea to gather your supplies. House cleaning is no different. Your job is simpler and more efficient if you have all your supplies collected and ready to go. One must-have is a cleaning caddy or a bucket with a sturdy handle. That way, you can carry your supplies easily.
For Your Cleaning Caddy
Some essentials for your cleaning caddy include the following:
- Bathroom cleaner
- Cotton rags (terry washcloths, cutup tee shirts, etc.)
- Floor cleaner
- Furniture polish
- Glass cleaner
- Microfiber cloths
- Newspaper (for cleaning glass)
- Paper towels
- Rubber gloves
- Sponge with a scrubbing side
Microfiber cloths are not very absorbent, though they are great for dusting, cleaning wood, and polishing. For example, a damp microfiber cloth works well when you need to rub off water spots on furniture. Avoid them when you need to clean and dry a surface at the same time.
Use your paper towels for dirty or greasy messes, like the toilet or stove. That way, you can throw the nasty stuff away without worrying about contaminating your sponge or rag. Often, you can start with paper towels, then finish cleaning the surface with your sponge or cloth.
Finally, a newspaper is a perfect window cleaner. It won’t leave particles behind as paper towels do. The paper is a gentle abrasive that won’t leave streaks or watermarks.
Other Tools
The larger items you will need to deep clean your home include the following:
- Long-handled duster
- Vacuum cleaner
- Broom
- Dust mop
- Wet mop
The long-handled duster is essential if you have high ceilings or ceiling fans to clean. Without one, you will be climbing and struggling to reach those upper corners and light fixtures.
Let the Cleaning Begin
Once you have all your supplies, plan out your cleaning tasks. Our recommendation is two-fold: Vacuum and dust your entire house first. Then, begin cleaning from the top down.
Vacuuming Floors and Corners
Removing surface dirt and dust is necessary for deep cleaning your home. If you skip this step, you will be pushing dust around and creating muddy areas as you try to scrub. Vacuuming applies even if you have wood or tile floors instead of carpet.
Before busting out the mop, be sure you have vacuumed, including, and especially the corners and in and under furniture. You’ll want to use your vacuum attachments to vacuum your furniture, in the corners of your kitchen, and anywhere that dust and crumbs collect.
Other areas you should vacuum besides your floor corners are the lampshades and upholstered furniture. Once you have tackled all the corners and crumb-caching furniture, move on to rugs and carpets.
Next, vacuum any tile, linoleum, or hardwood flooring. Removing surface dirt first makes mopping much easier and more efficient.
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Dusting
Dusting accomplished the same pre-treatment goal for your wall surfaces as vacuuming does for floors and corners. Cleaning is far less messy if you have already removed the surface dust. Begin with your topmost shelves. Remove the items like knickknacks and wipe them off. Use a separate cloth for these items, so you don’t end up getting cleaner and furniture polish on them.
Dust and then polish any wood surfaces, then replace the items. Move on to the next surface. Next, move on to lamps. You can vacuum fabric lampshades and dust the base. Be sure to lift each lamp and dust under the base.
Once you have finished vacuuming and dusting, you are ready to get to the business of cleaning and scrubbing your surfaces.
Cleaning from the Top Down
Most of us do out maintenance cleaning at the eye level only, meaning we often skip ceilings, crown molding, and baseboards. For deep cleaning, your goal is to be comprehensive and clean those overlooked areas. The easiest and more practical way to do this is to go from top to bottom.
Begin cleaning your top shelves and ceiling fans and light fixtures first. Then, work your way down. Hopefully, you included the ceiling fan blades and ceiling corners during your dusting. If not, have the vacuum handy to catch anything that floats down on you.
Because you removed the dust, you should be able to use cleaners and wet rags easily. The same applies to your floors. Mop your floors or use your carpet cleaner on the carpet as your final step. If the weather outside is mild, you can clean with your windows open to allow the cleaner smells to dissipate quickly.
Maintenance Cleaning
If you don’t already have a cleaning schedule for maintenance cleaning, now is an excellent time to set one up. After all your hard work deep cleaning your home, it’s wise to keep up with simple cleaning throughout the week to keep your home looking clean and welcoming.
For example, you may want to designate one cleaning task per week in addition to your regular housecleaning chores like dishes and wiping surfaces. For example, this week, dust your furniture with a dry cloth. Next week, vacuum the baseboards, and so on.
Hiring a maid service is worth every penny if you can afford it. Professional house cleaning services can take quite a load off your schedule. Though, they are not in the budget for everyone. With some prep-work and a little preplanning, you can get your home as clean as the professionals, in less time than you think.
