Spring cleaning is really just a deep cleaning that many people do when the weather warms up and their energy spikes. Grab our Spring Cleaning for Busy Moms checklist to make sure you hit these 19 often-forgotten spots.
Deep Cleaning Your Home
If you're reading this, I'm guessing that it's time for a deep clean of your home. There are many potential reasons why your house could need a good deep cleaning. You may be:
- Selling your house and preparing it to put on the market
- Wanting a spring cleaning after a long winter
- Moving and need to clean the house you are leaving
- Catching up on neglected housekeeping
- Moving into a pre-owned house
I am confident that you will be amazed to discover how much a clean home positively affects your entire family. Deep cleaning your home provides numerous gains, including these 8 surprising benefits.
How to Deep Clean Your Kitchen
As one of the most used rooms in your home, the kitchen requires regular surface cleaning. However, because the kitchen is prone to more germs than your toilet bowl, you also need to deep clean it. At least once a year.
Pay attention to these areas to achieve a great deep cleaning in your kitchen:
Oven – If you have a self-cleaning oven, the process is simple. Close the oven door and start the self-cleaning process. Once the cycle is complete, you will need to take a damp sponge or cloth and thoroughly wipe out the ash left behind.
It involves significantly less elbow grease than hand scrubbing the oven requires!
If, however, you do not have a self-cleaning oven, use an oven cleaner. I also highly recommend lining the bottom with an oven liner to make future cleanings easier.
Microwave – This appliance is way easier to clean than the oven! Take out any removable trays and wash in warm, soapy water. Wipe out and scrub (if necessary) with soapy water. The wipe with a damp sponge or cloth to remove any residual soap.
Refrigerator – Starting at the top, take everything off the shelves and removing the shelves. Wash each shelf with hot soapy water. Continue the same process as you head down towards the bottom shelves or drawers.
Most refrigerator drawers are removable. Wash them in hot soapy water as well. Don't forget the small shelves inside the door! Be sure to wipe down the outside of the fridge, paying special attention to the handles.
Places Often Overlooked But In Desperate Need of Cleaning:
- Small Appliances – Clean out all the crumbs in your toaster and toaster oven. Wipe down the surfaces of all small appliances. Other small appliances such as the coffee maker or ice maker or tea kettle may need additional sanitization or cleaning.
- Garbage Disposal – Putting fresh lemon (cut a lemon into quarters) and ice cubes in the disposal are great ways to disinfect and deoderize while also sharpening the blades of your garbage disposal.
Check out this helpful video explaining even more!
- Backsplashes – I find that the backsplashes (particularly behind the stove) collect grime, dirt, dust, grease, and more. Wash down the backsplash with an all-purpose cleaner and scrub the grout with a toothbrush.
- Range Ventilation – The stove exhaust fan does a lot of work in pulling out steam, smoke and odors while you are cooking. Another thing it pulls out: grease. Make it a point to clean your exhaust fan (many have removable filters that can go into the dishwasher. If they can't go in the dishwasher, wash them in hot soapy water).
- Fruit Bowl – I don't know about you, but it seems like I have fruit go bad every now and then. That can lead to bacteria and make people sick, so it's a good idea to wash your fruit bowl in hot soapy water any time you deep clean your kitchen.
- Ice Trays – Things spill in the freezer. I hate to admit it, but it's the truth. That can cause your ice trays to absorb odors and make your ice “taste funny”. Wash these in warm soapy water to remove any residue and odors.
- Cabinets, shelves, and drawers – give them all a thorough wipe down (especially the cabinet doors and handles). This is an excellent job to have the kids do to help!
How to Deep Clean Your Bathrooms
Bathrooms can get pretty nasty if you do not clean them regularly. The problems areas will most likely be the tub and shower (soap scum). However, if you have boys, toilets can be really nasty too!
Pay attention to these areas to achieve a great deep cleaning in your bathrooms:
Showers and Tubs – If you have a shower caddy, take it out and wash it. It may even need to be replaced. Clean the shower head with an old toothbrush and bathroom cleaner, like Soft Scrub. You may need some heavy duty cleaners for soap scum build-up or mildew stains. The toothbrush works well on tub jets and other small, hard-to-reach places.
Toilet – Squirt some cleaner into the toilet, swish it around with the toilet brush, and leave it to soak awhile to fight any stains.
Countertops and sinks – You may or may not clean these on a regular basis. Take an extra couple of minutes to wash the countertops, sinks, and sink fixtures. Be sure to clean out any corners!
Floor – it always needs a good deep cleaning, especially if you have tile flooring. Use a toothbrush and scrub the grout lines to prevent mold from growing and freshen them up.
Related: 40 Time-Saving Deep Cleaning Hacks You Never Knew You Needed
Places Often Overlooked But In Desperate Need of Cleaning:
- Toothbrush holders – Toothbrushes always drain down into their holders after you use them. They can be very easy to overlook, but it's important to clean them out once in a while and prevent bacteria from growing. Use warm soapy water.
- Shower Head – these little babies collect calcified minerals and are super easy to overlook when doing a normal bathroom cleaning.
Watch This Video For Step-By-Step Instructions to Easily Clean Your Shower Head
How to Deep Clean Items in Bedrooms and Throughout the Entire House:
These items aren't room specific and likely exist in multiple rooms.
Drapes and Blinds – Your vacuum cleaner attachments can be very handy for cleaning drapes and blinds on a regular basis, but if they are really dirty, you may need to take a different approach. Here are some tips:
- Drapes may need to come down to be washed.
- Blinds will have to be wiped down with a damp cloth.
- Don't forget to wipe down the window sills as well.
- Take the time to give your windows a good cleaning with Windex or another glass cleaner.
Places Often Overlooked But In Desperate Need of Cleaning:
- Chairs and tables (tops, sides, underneath) – how often do you clean your chairs and the sides of your table….really? If you are like me, it isn't often. Take a few quick moments to wash the surfaces you don't clean on a normal basis.
- Door Frames & Door Knobs – Do you clean your door knobs and door frames? I started doing that years ago when my kids were sick all the time. Now I do it whenever we get sick or it's been at least 4-6 months since I last did it. Give them a quick wipe down.
- Light switches and Outlet covers – while you can use a screwdriver and remove them for a thorough cleaning, I think wiping them down well with a damp soapy cloth or a disinfecting wipe does the trick.
- Dusting – A great job for the kids; seriously, delegate this task. Give each one their own duster or a rag with a little spray on it and have them go to town on every surface they can find.
- Air vent covers – I recommend removing and washing in warm soapy water. Allow to dry before replacing.
- Lighting Fixtures and Sconces – remove the light covers and wash them in warm soapy water. Dry them by hand or allow them to dry and replace. Be sure to dust or wipe down the rest of the fixture.
- Trash cans – to disinfect as well as to eliminate lingering odors, make a 1:1 water to vinegar solution and use it to spray your trash can while the bag is out. Then wipe down the trash can with a damp cloth. If it needs to scrubbing, use a warm soapy water solution.
- Walls – This is an excellent job for the kids to do! Fill a bowl with warm soapy water; give them sponges or small washcloths and show them how to wash the walls (getting dirty fingerprints and other marks off) without dripping water everywhere (squeezing out the cloth and wiping up any water that does drip.
- Baseboards – I try to do this once a year because they just get so dusty. Fill a bowl with warm soapy water and use a washcloth to wipe off the baseboards. You may find that you need to go over each board a couple of times to get it clean. Overall, this is a quick-moving job, so keep moving forward!
- Pet Beds – If you can, throw it into the washing machine. However, most pet beds aren't able to go through the washing machine. Vacuum off pet hair, if needed. Spot clean any areas that need it, then take outside and shake it out. Let it sit outside for a couple of hours to air out before bringing back inside.
- Television remote and game controllers – these are often used multiple times a day by several people. Take care not to drip water on these or the water will ruin them. I tend to use damp wipes (like a Chlorox wipe) to wipe down and disinfect any and all controllers.
Be sure to clean these 19 easy-to-forget spots the next time you are deep house cleaning.
Don't forget about the outside of your home! Margaret from the Suburban Tourist has some great tips for spring cleaning the outside of your home!
