Our Approach For How To Deep Clean A Home
This room-by-room guide makes deep cleaning your house much easier
Cleaning up a dirty house is not a difficult undertaking but can be unwieldy if not approached in an orderly way. This is the MaidxChange way of methodically tackling a deep cleaning for your home. Take advantage of this guide to tackle any room quickly and easily. Occasionally even the most tidy homes need a thorough clean up.
A monthly deep cleaning can help in reducing the amount of time needed to do regularly scheduled cleanings. Our deep cleaning checklist follows a room by room breakdown of items that will get done when you book with MaidxChange.
Generally, we move around each room, starting in one place and going top to bottom cleaning as we go. That’s our approach whether for a standard clean or a deep cleaning. This cleaning list is useful for our cleaning professionals and to anyone when the house becomes messy.
Before we begin
Deep cleaning a home can be part of a cathartic experience. Like Marie Kondo “does it spark joy” type of feeling. The reason is that when you deep clean a home you are uncovering, refreshing, and uplifting your living space, essentially changing the way it looks and your perspective on it.
Here’s a nugget of wisdom: a good cleaning happens when you prep your place. Let go of clutter. Move things that might get in the way of a cleaner getting into the nooks and crannies of your home. Help speed up the process by moving furniture away from walls so we can get a vacuum cleaner into hard to reach places quickly.
Take up anything that has accumulated on the floor, on counter tops, tabletops, or items around your furniture to get ready the deep cleaning. Pick up clothes that are laying around the house. That kind of thing.
How often should you deep clean?
There are varying ways to incorporate cleaning into your home maintenance routines. Is it okay to do some spring cleaning before Spring? For us, any time is the ideal time for a cleaning that goes deep. You don’t need to wait until the Spring. The schedule can can be seasonal or monthly. MaidxChange believes that a monthly deep clean helps set a home of for efficient regular cleanings.
A good tip is to follow this checklist but break it up into smaller monthly or weekly tasks that tackle a specific room or 1 room a month. Remember some parts of your home can be cleaned once a year while others must be cleaned everyday. Spring is an ideal time to clean your house thoroughly but cleaning a home once per year won’t suffice for freshness. Bottom line , when people share a space, there is an increasing need for deep cleaning.
What are the cleaning supplies of the trade we use?
At MaidxChange we like to move efficiently and methodically through the home to hit all areas, and not miss anything. In the same way a chef uses different types of knives for slicing vegetables or fish, cleaners utilize specific products and tools for sparkling up a home.
The essential cleaning supplies for effective deep cleaning
- rubber gloves
- glass cleaner: critical for mirrors, tabletops, and even glass inside picture frames
- feather duster or swiffer: we love using feather dusters to dust light fixtures, window treatments, window sills, up to ceiling fans, and around baseboards and molding
- an old toothbrush: this is a trick of the cleaning trade to gently scrub getting at dirty grout, or at tough to reach areas
- microfiber mop: lifts dirt and dust effectively
- vacuum cleaner with vacuum hose attachments for to clean underneath hard to reach areas
- clean clothes, we believe clean cotton dish towels are the most effective cleaning cloth. Anything else tends to leave streaks or residue
- a sturdy scrub brush, mostly for the bathroom areas and to remove soap scum
- lint brush for removing pet hair from furniture
- microfiber cloth, it’s washing machine safe and effective at cleaning multiple surfaces
- paper towels for blotting certain areas that are stained from things like de-icing salt (in the winter) or to wipe clean easy to clean areas
- warm water mixed with a white vinegar solution in a spray bottle
- baking soda (see our post about vinegar and baking soda)
- lint roller for picking up pet hair
- blue low abrasive sponge: nothing beats a soapy sponge for getting into kitchen or bathroom areas
- spray polish for cleaning wood furniture
The ultimate guide to deep cleaning your entire home, with room-by-room checklists
Bedroom
A deep cleaning in the bedroom should include getting behind the headboard and under bed frame to get rid of dust and any dirt that may have accumulated over time. Look to clean baseboards and molding with a sponge and warm soapy water. Don’t rub too harshly, just a gentle wiping motion should work.
Dusting and polishing mirrors and bedroom furniture are good items to include in a bedroom deep cleaning. Dust neglected surfaces like curtains.
Mudroom
Use a damp cloth with warm soapy water to remove dirt from shelves and to wipe down benches, coat hooks, shoe trays. In the winter, if shoes or the mudroom floor has ice melting salt or chemical stains, remove them with white vinegar and water. Check out our post about cleaning during winter!
Common areas
Pay particular attention to the nooks where dirt can make homes, the corners of hallways, underneath a foyer table, landing areas and on wooden staircases. Polish your furniture. Take everything off bookcases, coffee tables, built ins, and wipe with a dusting brush and then use a few drops of wood cleaner and polish. Don’t forget to get areas such as the linen closet, laundry room (under the washing machine and dryer). Dust common room area ceiling fans and light fixtures. Don’t miss windows, giving a quick wipe with glass cleaner using either a cotton or microfiber cloth. Dusting is often missed in a standard cleaning so taking a feather duster across picture frames, mirrors, and even plants is an essential part of deep cleaning.
Kitchen
How to deep clean a kitchen?
Along with daily household maintenance, you must perform regular deep cleans for an efficient kitchen.
We work top to bottom which means starting at the top of cabinets with dusting and wiping of any dirt. Open the cabinets and remove all of the food, cookware, and utensils that might be inside. There will be food or spices debris and potentially grime from utensils that may not have been cleaned properly.
After cabinets we follow the path of gravity and hit countertops and lower cabinets. Move left to right through the kitchen. When you get to the stove, you’ll see that cleaning can involve scrubbing with a abrasive brush, toothbrush, or even steel wool. Don’t forget the interior of the oven and oven door.
Next is the refrigerator. We have a whole section on deep cleaning that.
Then you’ll get to the sink, dishwasher, garbage disposal, garbage and recycling bins, microwave, and pantry areas. Here is our guide element by element.
Kitchen cabinets
Standard cleanings don’t usually involve cleaning kitchen cabinets. When deep cleaning you home, MaidxChange gets into the kitchen cabinets and tries to create order and cleanliness. But you must start at the top as that is where dust, grease and dirt have settled since the last time you cleaned. We may get on a step stool with a microfiber or feather duster and start to agitate the dirt on the cabinets. When properly dusted, we will use a multipurpose cleaner, or warm water and soap, to remove dirt and grime.
Next comes the insides of the cabinets. Everything should be removed. We do a quick wipe down to get rid of spice or food residue (side note, ever notice how all purpose flower always seems to get everywhere?). Again, a sponge or even wet paper towel might be enough to clean the insides of the cabinets. Before you move on, take a few minutes to wash the exteriors of the cabinets and hardware. A sponge or damp cotton cloth will do the trick.
Wipe down the microwave
Remove the tray from the microwave then quickly wipe with hot water or dish soap. Hit the microwave interior with a damp microfiber cloth. Do the same for the exterior buttons on the microwave door. Lastly, pick up the microwave from the bottom (unplug it first) and wipe down the countertop beneath. You’d be surprised how many crumbs like to hide under there.
Clear out crumbs from the Toaster
Put all the crumbs in the trashcan. Afterwards, remove the crumb tray from your toaster and wipe off all grease in the removable tray. Use dish soap and vinegar as needed for the surface.
Flush the coffee maker
Mix equal portions water and vinegar and run a brewing. If your espresso maker needs cleaning, wash it thoroughly in a hot bowl using warm water to remove any coffee stain residues.
Disinfect the countertops
When you clean up the dirt from the countertop, wash all the surfaces with the use of a good quality disinfectant spray cleaning product. Use warm water for cleaning backsplash grout. You can add baking soda into your water for an additional deep clean boost on the backsplash.
Wipe down lower cabinets, drawers and shelves
Empty your cabinets or drawers. Its a wonderful moment of assessment and giving away any items you don’t regularly use. Wipe off all interior areas with hot water and dish soap. Clean cabinets and drawer exteriors and hardware before putting items back in.
Cleaning the oven with baking soda
Most ovens come with an automatic cleaning option. Using it is a full day process! Our cleaners get into the oven with muscle and effective techniques instead!.
Deep cleaning the stove top
We like to use a diy cleaner solution for tough to clean ovens. Remove the oven gratings and let them soak in the sink in a warm soapy pool. After removing the oven gratings sprinkle baking soda on the oven top, and then spray a solution of water and vinegar on top of it. Let the mixture sit for a few minutes before scrubbing with a blue abrasive sponge. Dry with a cotton cloth.
Deep cleaning inside the oven door
Similarly, we like to use baking soda and vinegar in a paste to get rid of the greasy streaks on the oven door glass. And, for good measure, we add a touch of dish soap to the mix. The paste is baking soda, water, and a touch of dish soap. Spread this onto the oven door glass evenly. Let sit and then after 5-10 minutes spray vinegar and water onto the surface and scrub with a blue sponge. We also use a toothbrush to get in deep. Wipe and move on.
Run the dishwasher on empty
Discard any debris that may have been overlooked from your dishwasher. Place a dishwashing container filled with vinegar in the container and run the dishwasher for a cycle. Sprinkle baking soda into the dishwasher and run again on warm. The vinegar and baking soda do wonders for cleaning a dishwasher.
Clean out the refrigerator
Before you go to the inside of the fridge, remember, this is a deep clean! That means dusting the top of the refrigerator and wiping it with warm water and a cotton cloth.
Get everything out of your fridge and freezer. Remove the shelving and clean in warm water in the sink. You can use glass cleaner on any glass shelves.
A damp microfiber cloth can help with a quick wipe of the freezer. No need to defrost it during this cleaning as that takes a lot of time and will cause water pooling around the fridge area.
Lastly, move the refrigerator out and sweep and mop behind it, and around the sides.
Wash the kitchen sink
Clean out the sinks by sprinkling baking soda and letting it sit for a minute or two. Then wash with a sponge and warm water.
Sweep and mop the floor
Sweep your floors and wipe everything down quickly before washing. Use mild soap and warm water along with a cotton cloth to wash the kitchen floors. If you see any stuck on food or dirt on tiles or in grout, get your toothbrush out and scrub. The kitchen floor is best done on hands and knees. It’s tough work but will look great!
Bathrooms
We like to break the bathroom up into distinct cleaning occurrences:
- first we work around the room doing shower interiors and tubs, sink interiors, toilet bowls interiors mirrors, window sills, doors, and cabinets
- then we focus on is the outsides of the bathtub, toilet, and shower finishing with the floors.
Bathtub and shower interior
Before you get started, remove the bath mats. Remove everything else from the shower (shampoo, conditioner, gel, sponges) and bathtub rim. We use an all purpose cleaner, vinegar and water mix, or tile cleaner to get the inside of the shower and tub areas. It’s best to really scrub the area, trying to remove mildew and built up soap deposits.
When you deep clean your house, you go beyond what is done for your routine cleaning. And that includes getting at areas of the bathroom like the dingy grout between tiles. The best solution for getting at grout to remove stains is either a baking soda and distilled white vinegar paste or a Comet like cleaner worked into the tiles with either a scrub brush or what we like to use, an old toothbrush! Let the paste sit on the grout lines for about 10 minutes before scrubbing and rinsing with water. Wipe dry with a cotton cloth.
Next clean the tub bowl area. Comet, baking soda and dish soap, or a vinegar solution all do the trick. We don’t rinse the tub and shower right away, but do that after and let everything flow down the drain after at the end.
Toilet bowl interior
Nobody likes doing this bit, but with a good brush and strong cleaner you can move through it quickly. Douse the bowl with a cleaning solution. Again, Comet is good or if it’s a green cleaning, baking soda.
While the powder is still dry, use your toilet cleaning brush to scrub the bowl. You can use a bit of the toilet water to help if the powder isn’t spreading and getting hard to reach areas. Scrub thoroughly. There can sometimes be hard water stains on the ceramic in the bowl. Baking soda and vinegar help to remove those types of stains.
When we’ve made sure that all areas of the bowl are done, we will flush the toilet to rinse the cleaning off (and clean our brush).
Inside the sink
Again, a little Comet or baking soda can be sprinkled into the sink and then scrubbed clean.
Mirror above the sink
One time when we move from bottom to top is right after cleaning the sink. There is usually a mirror. Hit it with glass cleaner and a dry cotton cloth to prevent smudges.
Exterior areas
Once all of the interior areas are cleaned, it’s time to wipe everything on the outside down and spiff it up. That includes the outside of the toilet, tub, shower doors (clean with glass cleaner), sink exterior, pedestal, towel racks, door handles and hardware. These areas are easily cleaned with all purpose cleaner and a cotton towel.
Lastly, dust and wipe down light fixtures, mirrors, shower curtains and shower curtain liner (you can use a steam cleaner to get to fabric curtains), other furniture in the bathroom. Finally, wash the bathroom floor with a warm soapy water mix.
Vacuuming
The last part of a deep clean is vacuuming. Make sure to have attachments to get behind and underneath certain hard to reach areas. Also, if there are pets in the home, a hair removing attachment is essential. We also like to be equipped with a lint brush to capture stray pet (or human) hair.
Deep Cleaning Is Cathartic
A deep cleaning checklist might even include more than we’ve covered here (did we talk about vents, light fixtures and switches, or the finer points of cleaning the laundry room?). We can talk about this endlessly.
The bottom line, though, is that a home gets lived in every day and an every week cleaning isn’t enough. To our teams at MaidxChange here in the Twin Cities, it’s always Springtime — we are perpetually up for deep cleanings. It’s one of our specialties!
Let us help you, even if it’s the dead of winter. Book a deep cleaning now!
