To ask if you deep clean your house and HOW?

[WilliamKnott]

I often see it mentioned on MN and I want to do one but I'm a bit of a slattern don't have a clue where to start or what to do.

I finished work last week and have two weeks before I start new one so I want to embark on a deep clean as the house is a shithole

Any help would be much appreciated as I'm currently lay in bed drinking coffee and dunking digestives

I'm through disability unable to clean nowadays but I used to do regular deep cleans. Tidy first, everything should have a home.

Clean the windows

Cupboards, drawers, wardrobes, take everything out, clean the inside of the cupboard or drawer and separate items into 'going back' and 'throwing out'. Put unwanted stuff in bin liners for disposal put them outside so they're not in the way. Wipe the stuff going back before putting it neatly away.

Then hoover, including using the long vaccum attachment along the skirting boards and where the walls meet the ceiling. Run it along the curtains too. Move furniture to clean behind it. Don't just go round it. Get as much behind radiators as you can. Use long handled duster too.

Once all surfaces are clear and you've done your main vacuuming you just do one room at a time working from the top of the room to the bottom and going top of house to bottom of house. Begin by using an extendable duster to sweep across the ceilings, round light fittings etc to catch any spider webs the hoover may have missed.

Then onto damp cleaning (not polishing. Spraying polish sends as much into the air as it gets. Hot soapy water is all you need for this stage).

All your surfaces (including skirting boards, behind radiators etc) except ones that that you can't use a damp cloth on get wiped down. All ornaments get cleaned, dried and put back. Any surfaces that need chemicals eg bathroom, use those instead of the hot soapy water. Go back over everything you've damp cleaned with clean warm water (no chemicals) and dry with a lint free cloth. Finish with a final vacuum or mopping depending on what flooring you've got and you're done.

I'm sure there's things I've forgotten but that's basically it

Investing in a cleaner to come once a month to “deep clean” (I.e. doing all the cleaning jobs I simply don’t have time to do myself after irking FT and looking after DS every other waking moment of the day) has really helped me keep on top and the best money I’ve ever spent.

She does things such as oven clean, skirting boards and dusting blinds, windows, and many other things once a month.

I then keep a weekly check list for things to do before / after work once DS is at nursery / before I need to pick him up:
Daily - empty dishwasher and refill, Hoover &mop downstairs floors
Every other day - wipe down toilets and bleach, swap hand towels in downstairs loo and main bathroom, empty bins (more as and when needed)
Every week - strip beds and wash bedding, iron at least a weeks worth of clothes from the ironing pile, wash DS clothes and iron/put away

I feel like I’m missing a load of things off but you get the idea!

The above jobs are also split between me and the other half.

Would deffo advise declutterjng (be brutal!) as it will feel loads better and also motivate you to do the cleaning 😁 x

Thanks everyone, I appreciate you talking me through this! I had a very productive day and am feeling optimistic about the rest of the week.

I'm actually considering anonnancy's suggestion of getting a cleaner in once a month. How many hours does your cleaner do @anonnancy?

We have cleaners for 90 minutes every week, they stop it descending into a hovel, and it means we keep the place reasonably tidy in between visits so they clean rather than tidy. I love the cleaners and highly recommend it.

Marie Kondo book has great strategies for decluttering. If the house is tidy and not cluttered with stuff, it's a lot easier to keep clean

And for a really thorough deep clean, I would narrow it down even further and just tackle one area / corner of a room, rather than the whole room. So eg for a wardrobe, empty it, perhaps move forward to clean behind it, clean inside it, sort clothes to decide what to keep (or not), put clothes back, take bags to charity. It takes 30 mins or so, only needs to be done once in a blue moon

For me, doing little jobs frequently and keeping on top of it works better than trying to tackle the whole house in a oner, which is a huge job

We pay £14 per hour for cleaner. In 2.5 hours, she cleans 4 bed house, changes bedding and does the ironing

She does work fast, but I also think it really helps that we're tidy. It's easy to clean a table if it just has one book on it

A skip

I totally agree decluttering comes first . I have one room that has minimal stuff and can be visitor ready in 10 mins. I listened to The Declutter Hub free podcasts for inspiration. Like a PP I also put food stuffs in baskets in the kitchen cupboards . It’s so much easier to clean and I can see what I have. I have managed one room so far but it feels so relaxing in there I love it and I am encouraged to keep it clean and tidy .

@PoshWatchShitShoes Jesus, I feel exhausted just reading that!

Declutter first, then get round to cleaning. You can't clean properly with piles off stuff everywhere to distract you!

And don't rush - take it one room at a time, take plenty of breaks so you don't hurt your back, knees or hips and have patience.

We did it over the first lockdown and it probably took three weeks in total - that was with lots of breaks, the odd day off etc.

My biggest piece of advice is when decluttering, always have an 'exit strategy'. Have designated piles for 'bin', 'donate/sell', 'keep', etc and have bin bags ready.
The worst thing you can do is start pulling things out of drawers and end up feeling overwhelmed as you haven't actually 'sorted' anything, just moved it!

I have just read this thread and now I am going for a lie down :)

Deep clean for me means:
*washing carpets
*washing curtains and blinds
*emptying and cleaning inside all cupboards, wardrobes etc
*cleaning hard to reach /inaccessible area like behind/middle of radiators, closed glass light fittings, light fittings in general, extractor fans in bathrooms etc
*washing paintwork - I may also touch up wall paint for obvious knocks, scuffs, etc
*steam cleaning tiles at high level - lower level tiles I’ll clean as normal fortnightly cleans, but I’ve tiles in bathrooms that go up to ceiling
*id normally also do a sort out to eliminate items I don’t use - clothes, or items in food storage in kitchen etc.

I’d aim to do all living areas and bedrooms once per year ( I don’t do all at once except carpet cleaning as I hire a machine), then kitchen and bathroom twice a year. Kitchen is next due in November as I clean and sort out before I start getting Christmas stock in.
I haven’t included washing inside of windows as I do that every 3 months minimum anyway.

I do a pre Christmas (October) and post Christmas (February) deep clean.

And by that I mean my cleaner does the cleaning (with help of specialist oven/window/carpet cleaners) and I do the decluttering .

To declutter I’m ruthless. Boxes for charity, bin bags and a skip bag for rubbish and boxes for keep but do something (w.g. Fix a button etc).

I take one room and do 6 minutes at a time. Normally I keep ploughing on but I always reset the 6 minutes and only ever stop on an alarm. Somehow it keeps me motivated.

I’m also ruthless (except with my own clothes - this is my mental block). Yes in an ideal world everything would be cleaned and fixed and kept or donated but sometimes you just have to bin it. You’ve got to get rid of the guilt.

@WilliamKnott

What is this obsession with deep clean? Are you planning to do surgery in the dining room?

For me it's the autumn version of the spring clean which i didn't do

Thank you for replies I'm reading whilst dunking!

My house is reasonably clean and organised. By which I mean that if a friend knocked on the door unannounced I wouldn't feel the need make excuses before showing them into the living room or kitchen or letting them use the loo. The floors are vacuumed/washed as appropriate, surfaces are clear and clean and no cobweb in a conspicuous place is more than 2 weeks old.

I don't get the obsession with deep cleaning. Assuming no one in the house needs a sterile living space surely it's enough just to keep your home reasonably clean all the time. Why is a a deep clean necessary? In my mind a deep clean is something you do when a place has got so filthy that the usual dust, wipe and vac won't suffice. For instance if I were to dismantle the wardrobes I am fairly sure the space behind them will need a very thorough clean to get rid of 20 years of dust but I'm not going to move them regularly just to clean away unseen dust. Similarly the fridge or the cupboards - if I spill something in there or see a mark I wipe it up there and then. That way they are always clean enough that they don't need a periodic special deep clean.

Having a coffee and digestive dunk before tackling spare room i.e. general dumping ground.

It was lovely to wake up to my gleaming bedroom

I have bin bags, sisters!

Well done OP
I find the easiest room to do if you are overwhelmed from decluttering are the bathroom and the hallway. They are also rooms that you can make a start on if you only have a spare hour but still feel like you have accomplished a lot
Hope the spare room has been put to rights!!

You’ve inspired me OP! The house was ticking along nicely until we got a puppy 3 months ago and it’s been quite hectic with puppy and holidays and lots of days out with preschooler DS. So I’m making a start at deep cleaning. Following The Organised Mum Method, starting with the bootcamp!

@GameSetMatch

Once a year I get a cleaning company in and they do everything including the cooker and hob. It’s £140 for a four bed house and loft room which I think is amazing value as it’s £90 for the cooker and hob alone. Three people turned up and stayed about 4hours.

God, just do this and have another biscuit.

I think a deep clean covers everything that doesn't get touched in a weekly clean.

I don't pull out my sofa or hoover the headboard every week. That's more of a every 3 months job. Same with top of picture frames, that's more of an every few weeks thing.

Then I get the oven deep cleaned every 6 months and the sofas and rugs professionally cleaned every 12 months.

Working out a weekly, fortnightly, monthly etc plan helps keep on top of everything.

I do think some people are blind to their own house though. I never mind visiting where there's clutter, but I've got 2 friends with filthy houses. I thought one had a revolting kitchen, because it was very old and due to be demolished... nope, went over for lunch in her fancy new extension and lovely kitchen, I opened the fridge to grab the milk for her 🤢 I honestly don't know how we didn't all get salmonella after lunch!!

Thanks for the inspiration. I've decluttered the enormous ikea kallax unit this morning which is home to kids toys, craft stuff and some completely random things.
Turns out we had about 25 finished colouring in books as well as infinite sticker books with no stickers left, and 6 different (new, unused!) sets of pencil crayons.

I always put clean and declutter videos on YouTube for inspiration for a big declutter and clean. I also find doing both at the same time is easier so as others have said, every drawer or cupboard or wardrobe cleared clean it then put stuff back in.

For me a deep clean is:
Hoover the whole house including under beds and behind sofas
Clean carpets if needed
Clean windows
Clean any cobwebs on ceilings
Scrub kitchen and bathroom.
Clean oven fridge and microwave
Declutter drawers and cupboards and clean in them
Polish all furniture

How are you getting on OP?

I deep clean each room once a month.
The children's bedroom from top to bottom, sort toys, clean base boards, windows, wardrobes etc it only takes a few minutes to tidy each day afterwards.
I deep cleaned the living room yesterday with Netflix on my tablet.
I'm incapacitated every fortnight for a fortnight PMDD. I don't do much during those weeks everything goes to shit, it is helpful when I am back on track.