Cochrane Cleaning Services goes beyond your typical weekly or daily cleaning routine. It’s about scrubbing and sterilizing hard-to-reach areas, wiping down all surfaces, dusting light fixtures and vents, and much more.
Creating a thorough cleaning checklist by room helps you stay on top of deep clean tasks. This way, you’ll know that you’ve covered all areas of your home.
1. Bathroom
A clean home is important for keeping the family healthy and happy, but there are times when it’s necessary to go beyond your daily or weekly cleaning routine to reach deep-seated dirt, grime and allergens. Whether you are moving into a new house, staging your current home to sell or preparing for an upcoming event, it’s important to set aside time for a deep cleaning to help ensure that your home is buyer-ready and free of dust bunnies and soap scum.
The bathroom is one of the most germ-prone areas in the house, and a thorough cleaning can help reduce bacteria, mold and mildew buildup, as well as deodorize and sanitize all surfaces from toilets to countertops. Start by disinfecting all of the fixtures in your bathroom, including the toilet seat and handle, bathtub and shower doors. Use a sanitizer cleaner on the sink and faucet, scrub countertops with an appropriate product for your surface material, and wipe down mirrors and glass. If your grout needs attention, spray it with a bathroom cleaner or vinegar solution and allow to soak for 15 minutes before scrubbing. Finally, freshen the air with a room deodorizer or spray.
Deep cleaning can take up to 8 hours or more, so it’s best to break the task into room-by-room cleaning over several days. It’s also helpful to have all of the cleaning supplies needed before starting, including a vacuum cleaner with attachments, an all-purpose cleaner, disinfectant spray or wipes, a mop, broom and microfiber cloths.
Once you’ve completed your deep cleaning, maintaining a clean home is all about creating and sticking to a consistent routine. Incorporate small tasks like wiping counters and sweeping and dusting floors into your daily or weekly schedule, and consider setting monthly tasks such as washing the refrigerator door and freezer or cleaning the laundry machine to help maintain a clean and healthy living environment.
2. Kitchen
While standard cleaning focuses on daily chores like sweeping, mopping, and countertop wiping, deep cleaning takes it one step further. It eliminates stubborn grime and disinfects hard-to-reach areas that standard cleaning often overlooks. It is the best way to ensure a hygienic home environment and prevent the spread of germs. It is also important to do a deep clean before hosting an event, moving into a new house, or selling your current property.
While a kitchen cleaning checklist may vary slightly depending on how frequently you cook and the size of your appliances, most tasks remain the same. Begin by clearing the clutter and removing any items that don’t belong in your kitchen. You can put these items in a box or basket to donate later. Sweep the floor, wipe down surfaces, and scrub and sanitize the sink and counters. Remove drawer dividers and organizers to give them a good cleaning. The toe-kick area underneath cabinets is a crumb and dirt magnet that easily gets missed during daily sweeping and weekly mopping.
A good kitchen deep clean should also include sanitizing the microwave and oven. This will help reduce bacteria, and it is especially important to sanitize the stove burners, which can harbor bacteria and cause food to taste burnt. A good quality sanitizing spray or wipe can do the trick, and a disinfecting sponge is always helpful.
A deep cleaning should also include sanitizing the refrigerator drip pan, and wiping down any light fixtures. This will also help reduce bacteria, and it is especially important in a kitchen that is used by more than one person. This is also the perfect time to clean nooks and crannies that are often neglected during standard cleaning, such as the baseboards and behind appliances.
3. Living Room
A clean home is essential to keeping it healthy and feeling great. Dirt, dust, and grime have a way of settling into overlooked corners and under furniture, and can cause allergy and asthma symptoms.
A comprehensive cleaning checklist, like the one offered by Karen’s Green Cleaning, can help homeowners create a consistent cleaning routine that is effective and sustainable. As a result, maintaining a clean home can be less overwhelming and more enjoyable.
Living rooms often collect a variety of items, from piles of books to stacks of magazines. They can also be a gathering place for family and friends, making it important to keep them tidy.
To make sure your living room is clean and welcoming, start with a thorough dusting. This includes the ceilings, lights, and trim. Then, move on to tables, chairs, sofas, and other surfaces. Remember to use a microfiber duster that traps the dust rather than blowing it into the air.
Vacuuming is also a key part of cleaning the living room. It removes crumbs, pet hair, and other debris from carpeting and upholstery and helps maintain the beauty of your home. For high-touch areas, such as sofas and chairs, consider using a tool that can get in between the cracks and crevices to remove allergens and germs.
Make sure to dust picture frames and baseboards as well. You should also give appliances, such as washing machines, dryers, and garbage disposals, a monthly cleaning to remove odor-causing residues and prevent buildup. After completing your cleaning checklist, take the time to admire the transformation in your home. Then, commit to a regular schedule to ensure your newfound cleanliness remains permanent.
4. Bedroom
It’s a good idea to set up a bedroom cleaning routine that includes daily and weekly tasks so that you can keep your space looking tidy. This will help you feel relaxed and comfortable when you get into bed at night.
If you don’t already have a wastebasket in your room, consider getting one to avoid simple everyday rubbish like tissues, garment tags, and snack wrappers from building up. Emptying the trash on a regular basis will also make your bedroom look neater.
Vacuum and mop the floors in your bedroom, making sure to get behind furniture. Clean the baseboards, too, and wipe down mirror surfaces. You might also want to dust your bed heads, windowsills, lamps, and other furniture pieces in the room with a damp cloth or dust rag.
Finally, take the time to air out your bedding, ideally removing and washing all sheets and pillowcases every week. Washing your duvet or quilt once a month is also a great way to freshen it up, suggests Becky Rapinchuk of Clean Mama.
Keeping a routine and setting aside an hour a week for these tasks will ensure that your bedroom always looks fresh, inviting, and ready for a restful night’s sleep. To learn more, check out this bedroom cleaning checklist that’s full of easy-to-follow tips.
To make your job easier, be sure to have all the right supplies on hand, including all-purpose cleaner, disinfectant spray or wipes, glass cleaner, a broom, a vacuum with attachments, and a mop. You can also use natural, non-toxic products to deodorize your home. A little baking soda sprinkled around the floor or in a closet will naturally absorb odors.
5. Outdoors
A comprehensive cleaning checklist takes care of all the rooms in your home, including those on the outside. It helps you achieve a spotless, inviting home that’s the envy of your neighbors. A complete cleaning schedule also includes sanitizing high-touch areas, reorganizing digital files and removing old items from your home to make space for new ones.
Unlike standard cleaning, which is designed for daily maintenance, deep cleaning goes beyond surface cleanliness to ensure that every nook and cranny of your house is free of germs and allergens. From dusting hard-to-reach light fixtures to sterilizing high-touch areas and scrubbing baseboards, it makes sure your kitchens, bathrooms, living spaces and bedrooms are clean from top to bottom. It’s essential for establishing a clean baseline that your regular cleaning routine can maintain on a continuous basis.
The time it takes to complete a full house deep cleaning varies depending on the size of your home and its level of cleanliness. Ensure that you have all necessary supplies before starting and work systematically to avoid getting fatigued. Breaking down the list of tasks by room and priority can help you get the job done faster and more thoroughly.
If you’re planning to sell your home, a full house deep cleaning may help increase the price of your property. Buyers are more receptive to overlooking missing wishlist items when they see that a home has been meticulously maintained. It’s also a great opportunity to declutter and remove personal belongings so that buyers can envision themselves living in your house.
Whether you’re preparing for a spring clean or just need to tidy up, this checklist will help you eliminate dirt, scum and allergens from your entire house. With the right tools and techniques, you can clean every corner of your home, from wiping down countertops to scrubbing baseboards.