It’s that time of year again –
The leaves are changing, the air is getting warmer, and……the sunshine is making your house or apartment look a tad dingy.
Oh no!
Tackling general cleaning isn’t always the most fun activity, but it’s important to do every once in a while to keep your place looking (and smelling) its best.
To help you out, I’ve got 106 general cleaning tips (yes, you saw that right!) and I’ve categorized them into standard cleaning, deep cleaning, spring cleaning, household cleaning and disinfecting.
But first, don’t forget to grab your FREE tracker for the MOST important general cleaning tasks to do for a clean and organized home!
It’s an instant download PDF printable!
FREE General Cleaning Tracker (Instant Download)
Grab my FREE General Cleaning PDF Tracker. Just click on the image or the link and it will be instantly available.
How to Keep Your House Clean
Nobody likes a dirty house (or dirty kitchen for that matter!).
It’s messy and it smells bad.
You might even be embarrassed to have guests over if your home is too dirty.
So, how can you keep your house clean?
Before I tell you a TON of cleaning tips for your home, I want to share the core six that I live by every single day.
- Make bed (have the twins make their own bed) every morning
- Empty dishwasher and tidy up kitchen
- Do one load of laundry
- Vacuum high traffic areas
- Wipe down bathrooms
- Tidy/clean as I go about my day
For starters, try these general cleaning tips to help you form a plan so you can build a routine around cleaning!
1. Get started with the right cleaning supplies
To keep your house clean, you need the right cleaning supplies!
This includes things like a good vacuum cleaner, mop – this TikTok mop is THE BEST – broom, and sponges. You might also want to invest in some good cleaning products, like soap, disinfectant, and window cleaner.
Of course, have on handy: paper towels, rubber gloves and microfiber cloths.
Pro tip: If you live in a two or three story house, get a cleaning caddie for each level and get a swifter and hand-held vacuum cleaner like the one I have too!
It will save you from trips and forgetting items (trust me, you WILL forget things as you are going up or down the stairs).
2. Start with the easiest task first
After you have all the proper cleaning supplies (and your cleaning caddy), it’s time to start cleaning!
But, don’t try to do everything at once – start with the easiest task first.
My favorite and easiest cleaning task is sweeping the floor or taking the trash out.
I always start my cleaning routine this way.
Other easy cleaning tasks you can start with are:
- Making your bed each morning
- Doing a load of laundry
- Emptying the dishwasher
- Putting laundry away
- Putting dishes away
3. Break tasks down into manageable portions
Once you’ve started on a cleaning task, don’t try to do it all in one go.
Instead, break it up into smaller, manageable chunks.
For example, if you’re cleaning the kitchen, start with the countertops and then move on to the stove.
You can always come back later to finish other tasks, like cleaning the floors or washing the dishes.
4. Separate, organize and store items in one place only to make it easier to find things when needed again
Raise your hand if you ever lost an item in your house or apartment?
*raises hand*
Losing your car keys, your phone or the remote gives you a terrible feeling!
Over the years, I’ve learned to create a place for those common misplaced items.
Phones and keys go in a basket and the remote goes on the table by the TV.
Organizing is part of cleaning and to clean your house it’s best to store items in one place only.
This way you will know where everything is when you need it and you won’t have to go searching through the whole house for one specific item.
5. Use cleaning methods that require less work and are quicker
A cleaning method helps you isolate a cleaning task and makes you feel accomplished when you are done. By doing ONE cleaning method a day or every other day will help you clean your house easily.
Check out these three cleaning methods I use to clean my house much faster than normal.
The Swish and Swipe Method: Clean your kitchen counters, stovetop, and other surfaces with this easy method. All you need is a bucket of hot water, soap, and a sponge or cloth. Dip the sponge into the hot water and soap, then swipe it across the surface you want to clean. Rinse the sponge in the bucket of water as needed.
The Vacuum and Mop: This is a great way to clean your floors quickly and easily. Start by vacuuming the floors, then use a mop to wet and wipe them clean. Be sure to wring out the mop as needed so it doesn’t get too wet.
The Dust and Wipe: Clean surfaces like tables, dressers, and shelves with this cleaning method. Start by dusting the surface with a cloth or duster, then use a damp cloth to wipe it clean.
6. Take the opportunity to declutter and get rid of things you don’t need
This is a good time after you do a quick clean to start to declutter your house.
This means getting rid of things you don’t need, like old newspapers, magazines, or clothes you never wear.
You can either sell them, donate them, or recycle them.
Having less stuff in your house will make it easier to clean in the future!
To help you out, start decluttering these things first:
- Expired food in the pantry
- Gadgets or kitchen appliances you never use
- Expired coupons
- Broken pens
- Mismatched socks (or socks with holes)
- Old towels or sheets
- Old makeup
- Old suntan lotion
- Old medications
- Receipts
7. Keep a regular cleaning schedule
It’s important now that you have the cleaning supplies and cleaning methods to clean your house that you create a cleaning schedule.
This means setting aside time each week to clean specific areas of your house.
For example, you might want to vacuum and mop the floors on Monday, dust on Tuesday, and clean the bathrooms on Wednesday.
With the FREE General Cleaning Tracker PDF you can mark with days you will do what general cleaning task, making it easy to see at a glance your weekly cleaning schedule.
8. Remember, make cleaning your house fun!
I know cleaning can be overwhelming, but remember to have fun with it!
Put on some music, dance around, and make it a game.
The more fun you have, the quicker it will be done! Plus, you’ll be more likely to keep up with your cleaning schedule if you enjoy it.
Standard Cleaning: What You Need to Do
Most people know that cleaning is important.
It’s one of those things that you have to do, but no one really enjoys. The good news is that there are some standard cleaning tips that everyone can use to make the process a little bit easier.
Standard cleaning means cleaning that you do every day or must do daily to keep a home tidy.
Once you adopt these standard cleaning tips, you can roll them into your general cleaning schedule.
9. Start from the top and work your way down
One of the most important things to remember when cleaning is that you should always start from the top and work your way down.
This means that you should dust the tops of bookcases or pictures on the wall before moving on to the lower surfaces and vacuuming what dust you didn’t catch.
This will help to prevent any dust or dirt from being redistributed around the room as you clean.
10. Don’t forget the little things
It’s easy to focus on the big cleaning tasks and forget about the little things that can really turn a messy room into a clean and organized room.
Make sure to dust all of the surfaces in a room, including window sills, baseboards, and picture frames.
Other small tasks I like to do around the house is:
- wipe my stainless steel dishwasher and fridge (the twins like to get their fingerprints on the fridge handles)
- running the Swifter after I vacuum to get the hard to reach places (i.e. behind the couch or under the office desk.
These small tasks can make a big difference in terms of the overall cleanliness of your home.
11. Tackle the dirt and grime head-on
One of the worst things about cleaning is dealing with the dirt and grime that accumulates over time.
If you tackle this dirt and grime head-on, though, it would be a lot easier to deal with.
Take the time to clean your floors and surfaces on a regular basis, rather than waiting until they are absolutely covered in dirt.
The Free General Cleaning Tracker PDF has that covered!
12. Invest in a good vacuum cleaner
Over the years I’ve gone through many vacuums but recently I found the Shark Pro cordless stick vacuum to be the BEST at everything.
It never gets tangled with hair (it has a self cleaning brush roll), it’s light weight and I can bend the stick to fit under my couch!
I love this little vacuum so much I bought one for the upstairs too!
Having a good quality vacuum will make it much easier to vacuum floors and surfaces on a regular basis.
13. Vacuum/sweep high traffic areas of your house
With your good quality Shark Pro, use it in the kitchen and wherever you eat as well as other high traffic areas.
For my home, the living room and dining room are hardwood so after each meal, I run my Shark vacuum under the dining room and then at the end of the day I vacuum the kitchen, dining room and living room.
Even if your home is a little clutters, doing this will really help your house or apartment LOOK clean and fabulous!
14. Focus on the sinks, toilets, and tubs
The kitchen and bathroom are two of the most important rooms in your home when it comes to household cleaning. We use these rooms more than any other room!
That’s why it’s a good idea do focus on cleaning these areas on a regular basis.
Scrub sinks with Lysol’s Power Foam , toilets with an antibacterial soap and tubs on a weekly basis. You should also make sure to sweep and mop floors in these rooms on a regular basis.
15. Work by doing one task (dusting) before moving on to the next task
I found the most effecient way to clean your house is to do one task until it’s completed.
For me that was to dust everything in the house before I moved on to vaccumming.
By doing one task at a time, you will be able to focus more and get a better result. Also, this will help to prevent you from forgetting to do certain tasks.
16. Put things away as you go
One of the best household cleaning tip I found is to put things away as you go.
Dust a shelf or put the items that you remove in their proper place before moving on to the next shelf.
You will be less likely to have to go back and forth around the room, which will save you time in the long run.
Pro tip: get your family or roommates on board with this task ASAP. Once the people in your apartment or home start cleaning up after themselves you will instantly have a tidy house EVERY SINGLE DAY. Trust me on this….
17. Start your standard cleaning by making your bed (or cleaning your sink)
Whether you follow the FlyLady and start your day shining your sink or not, find your “anchor” to help you get in the mood and the mode to start your general cleaning.
For me, I like to make my bed before I head downstairs to empty the dishwasher.
And, yes, by doing this it also is doing the “easiest” task first.
18. Disinfect and sanitize your sponges!
When your sponges start to smell funky it’s time to disinfect and sanitize your sponges!
No need to replace them. Simply get your sponge wet with a squirt of dish soap, squeeze it a bit so the sponge has some water and the soap is distributed.
Then place the wet sponge in a bowl and microwave your sponge for 2 minutes.
There you go! You have a brand new sponge for cleaning!
19. Clear your fridge of old food
Another important task in terms of cleanliness is clearing your fridge of old food.
Go through your fridge on a regular basis and throw out any food that is past its expiration date. Also, wipe down the shelves in your fridge on a weekly basis to prevent any buildup of dirt or grime.
20. Tackle well-known clutter spots
What’s the one hot zone in your apartment or home that clutter just likes to go?
For me, it’s the kitchen counter.
Anytime I leave something on the counter or stovetop for more than a day, somehow it turns into a pile of school trip forms, receipts or appointment cards.
So every day, I look over everything out and put it back where it goes.
This helps to keep my home feeling clean and clutter-free.
For you, this may not be an every day task, but if it is, this is a general cleaning tasks that must be done so that your place doesn’t look cluttered.
21. Wipe the table after you eat (each meal)
A good household cleaning tip is to wipe down the table after you eat.
This will help to prevent any food from being left on the table, which can lead to bacteria growth. Also, you should make sure to wipe down all surfaces that were in contact with food.
I use a DIY cleaner of vinegar and dish soap for areas where I eat.
If you want a general cleaner, I share a DIY all purpose cleaner recipe in my Tik Tok cleaning hack post!
22. Take your shoes off at the door
One simple standard cleaning method is to take your shoes off at the door.
Yes, it’s that easy!
This will help to prevent any dirt or grime from being tracked into your home. Make sure to place a mat at all doors to help catch any dirt or debris before it has a chance to enter your home.
I live in the East coast so taking off your shoes once you come into the house is standard here.
23. Clean as you go
Want to know a secret?
The easiest general cleaning tip I can give you that will help you have a clean home every day is to clean as you go.
If you make an egg salad sandwich, take the time to clean up your dishes before you eat.
Also, if you notice any dirt or grime, make sure to wipe it up right away. By cleaning as you go, you will be less likely to have to deal with a big mess later on.
24. Wash your dishes every day
It goest without saying, but if you always have a sink full of dirty dishes, you need to tackle this project first.
It will be much harder to keep your home clean if you have a constant reminder of how dirty your kitchen is. So, make sure to wash your dishes every day.
And, scrub any pots or pans that have been used. Try not to let them soak over night! No one wants to wake up to an already full sink!
What I do to make sure I’m on top of the dishes is to set a timer.
When the timer goes off I know my load of dishes in the dishwasher is done.
I stop what I’m doing and empty the dishes.
You might think emptying the dishes is too time consuming, but it really isn’t.
I timed myself and it takes me 7 minutes to empty and LOAD the dish washer.
So, see, not that much time out of your day.
25. Do laundry regularly
Another standard cleaning item you should do is laundry on a regular basis.
This means doing a load every day, if possible.
What I found is if I start this habit, within three or four days you have caught up on all your laundry (even bedsheets and towels too!).
By that time, you don’t have to do a load of laundry every day. You can now schedule a day in the week to do your laundry!
26. Don’t let the mail pile up
Make sure you mail doesn’t pile up, and end up in your clutter hot zone!
As soon as you get the mail, go through it and discard any junk mail immediately. Then, file away any important mail in a designated spot.
27. Keep your counters clear
Every day, I wipe down my counters and keep them clutter free as much as possible. You should only have items on your counter that are being used on a daily basis.
28. Squeegee your shower doors
Part of your standard cleaning is to build cleaning tasks into what you do every day, right?
This list is to help you see if you can add some of these standard cleaning into your daily routine.
One easy thing that doesn’t take much though is to squeegee your shower doors after you take a shower.
This will help to prevent any soap scum or water spots from forming. Make sure to wipe down all surfaces in your bathroom on a regular basis.
Doing this after each shower will automatically keep your bathroom clean – and smell clean too!
29. Prepare simple meals
I know what you’re thinking –
This technically isn’t a HOUSEHOLD CLEANING thing to do.
But here me out –
You eat every day and these days we are eating more meals at home than at restaurants.
But, I don’t know about you I’m not going to make bread in my bread machine and then cook spaghetti sauce from scratch and then fry meatballs for dinner!
The kitchen would be a mess and it would take hours to wash it by hand or three loads in my dishwasher to wash all the dishes I used to make those meals.
Instead, opt for simple meals that don’t use a ton of dishes. Examples include:
- Sandwiches
- Leftovers
- One pot meals like soups and casseroles
- Make ahead freezer meals (these are awesome because you pop it into the oven or Instant Pot and use bowls or dishes and a fork!)
30. Don’t go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink
This one is hard, I know!
I’m tired at the end of the day but I do my best to make sure I don’t go to bed with a dirty dishes in my sink.
If that means running the dishwasher at 11pm at night, I will, because…
Waking up to a clean kitchen definitely starts my day off on the right foot!
Deep Cleaning: Monthly/Yearly Cleaning Tasks to Do
It’s time to deep clean!
Deep cleaning is a more extensive form of cleaning than standard cleaning house.
Standard cleaning vs deep cleaning
Deep cleaning generally involves more time, effort, and supplies than standard cleaning does.
A key difference is that deep cleaning typically targets areas that aren’t regularly cleaned during standard cleanings – think vacuuming the couches or scrubbing the shower and tub top-to-bottom.
Also, deep cleaning requires a different level of attention to detail than standard cleaning does.
The good thing about deep cleaning vs standard cleaning is that you don’t have to deep clean that often.
I only do it every six months or so so I don’t worry about it much.
To help you out on what deep cleaning tasks you should focus on, check out my list!
31. Wash your shower curtain (in the washing machine)
For years, I would try to wash my shower curtain by spraying it with an antibacterial cleaner.
But, the next day, I would smell something funky in the bathroom. I wasn’t sure if it was the shower curtain since I sprayed it, but my bathroom never smelled fresh and clean for years.
It wasn’t until I thought, “hmm, I can try washing my shower curtain in a bleach cycle in the washing machine.”
I tried it and guess what?
It works! Well, it works for the cheap vinyl ones!
I do this at least monthly.
For another shower task, check out my Tik Tok shower cleaner hack (#10).
32. Vacuum your couch cushions
I do this deep cleaning every other month but really, I should do this monthly!
Take off all of your couch cushions and give them a good clean.
Then, clean the couch’s nooks and crannies.
You’ll find food and dust for sure!
33. Vacuum your mattress (turn and flip)
Get the handheld (my Shark Pro dub for a handheld too), and with the roller brush attachment, vacuum all the mattresses in your home.
This cleans up dead skin cells and dust, lint, and hair that has accumulated.
Do this every six months!
34. Give your vacuum a thorough clean
Not only do I have my Shark Pro but I also have a Roomba and every three months or so I give all my vacuums a thorough cleaning. This means taking out the tracking and removing all the dust as I can.
If it’s possible, I’ll even give it a wash and change the filter.
35. Strip the beds and deep clean your sheets, pillow cases and blankets
Laundry stripping is a chore but it does help.
You can do it the traditional way by putting sheets and towels in the tup and using 1/4 cup Borax, 1/2 cup detergent, 1/4 cup washing soda and very hot water.
You can do this monthly but I do it every fall.
36. Tackle Furniture Stains
Whether you have stains on the couch or your rug, deep cleaning means tackling areas you don’t normally and for me, that’s stains!
With twins, I’m bound to get a stain on the couch and I’ve been known to get coffee stains on the carpet!
The Bissell Little Green Machine is perfect for this type of job.
37. Clean your oven range hood and filter
Your oven range hood and filter/fan has probably built up a lot of grease. To deep clean and de-grease your oven hood range and filter or fan, use a degreaser or oven cleaner. Let it soak for a bit, wipe it off and then use Dawn Dish spray to really get all the grease and grime off.
For filter, soak it in hot soapy water and then use an abrasive scrubbing pad to really wash the filter.
38. Clean and disinfect trashcan
My trashcan is a big trashcan that sits in the kitchen. So, I have to be sure it isn’t smelling funky or overflowing. This would just lead to a smelly kitchen.
But every summer, I take out my trashcan spray all the gunk off and then fill it with water and put a shot of bleach in it to disinfect.
I do the same for the trash lid. I let it sit out most of the day – the sun has antibacterial properties too – and it’s as good as new!
39. Give your fridge a deep clean
To give your refrigerator a deep clean follow these steps:
- Empty the fridge of all food and drinks
- Remove any shelving containers that aren’t affixed to the refrigerator door
- Wipe down inside the fridge such as shelves, crisper drawers, door handles and corners. Be sure to clean light fixtures if they have visible dirt on them.
- Use a vacuum cleaner to remove any dust or crumbs that may have built up inside the fridge over time (the lip of my fridge always seems to have crumbs!)
- If you have a freezer on top of your fridge, be sure to defrost it and clean it as well
- Replace all food and drinks once everything is clean. Don’t forget to wipe down the exterior of bottles and cans before placing them back inside the fridge.
- vacuum the refrigerator coils
Try to clean your fridge on a monthly basis to prevent build-up of dirt and grime!
40. Clean oven and oven racks
When we moved into our new house, we also get a new oven.
This was over two years ago and well, I haven’t been doing my deep cleaning! Ouch!
So, this is how I’m going to deep clean my oven and oven racks:
Remove oven racks and set aside.
Then preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If it’s a big mess in the oven, I just use the self-cleaning function that lasts many hours.
Let the oven “cook” for 20 minutes. During this time I will use Commet and a scrub pad to work on the oven racks.
I can use a Rubermaid tote to put my oven racks in but then the tote gets all greasy and that’s a whole other mess I DON’T want to clean!
So I do what I can in the sink or tub. By this time the oven has cooled.
I will use my ceramic oven top scraper to get any hard black burnt gunk off inside the oven.
I will then use Dawn Dish spray on the oven and oven racks and let soak for 5-10 minutes.
I then wipe clean with a damp sponge and my oven is good as new!
41. Deep clean cabinet doors
Over the years your cabinet doors will get a greasy film on them that’s hard to remove.
But, I found a secret! The Dawn Dish spray works perfectly as long as you use it at least once a month!
42. Scrub walls
With a washcloth and hot soapy water I like to take the time to scrub my walls.
I don’t go too hard but enough to remove dirt, oil and other grime.
Once the walls are dried I use my Magic Eraser to get anything I missed.
I scrub my walls once or twice a year.
43. Clean under the sink
Take everything out under the sink and give it a good clean.
Replace any empty cleaning sprays or bottles and change worn out sponges.
44. Clean exhaust fan (bathroom)
This can be a fire hazard to don’t forget this deep cleaning tasks!
Use your vacuum or shop-vac to give your exhaust fan a good vacuum.
45. Dust areas you normally don’t dust
This might be:
- crown molding
- lamps
- light fixtures (ex: bathroom light fixture)
- mirrors
- molding
- wall corners
- under things like books, papers, furniture
- under electronics
5 Deep Clean Chores to Squeeze In!
46. Vacuum areas you don’t normally vacuum – For every room move around your furniture and rugs and vacuum those areas you don’t normally vacuum.
47. Clean inside bathroom vanity – Take everything out of your vanity and give the shelves and mirror a good clean.
48. Polish furniture – with furniture spray, go around your house polishing up your wood furniture.
49. Washing your blinds – with a wet microfiber cloth, scrub your blinds on both sides. If you can, take them off the wall and soak them in the bath with hot soapy water.
50. Ventilate your home – During the winter months we cannot open our windows. It’s just too cold. So when it’s possible, like on a warm winter day, we like to open all the windows to let cold air in and filtrate our home. Let our home breathe.
Spring Cleaning
Spring cleaning to me usually is decluttering, organizing and replacing. It’s sort of like out with the old and in with the new.
Whether it’s a new organizational system, new process or just new things that are replacing broken things, this is what spring cleaning is for me.
51. Clean stove top
I have a ceramic stove top and while I should clean it with a ceramic cream, I don’t.
I just use my counter cleaner to clean my stove top but this leaves black and burnt food on my stove top.
As part of your spring cleaning, it’s a good idea to give your stove top (knobs and all) a good clean and shine.
52. Give your microwave a good clean
Set a bowl of water (and a bit of lemon juice if you want) and microwave it for five or so minutes to create steam.
Let the bowl sit in the microwave after the time is up, so that when you clean your microwave, it isn’t hot.
Use a sponge or scrub pad to clean up your microwave.
Take out the microwave plate and either wash it in the dishwasher, or scrub it in the sink.
53. Match your plastic containers
Is your plastic container cupboard growing? Mine sure is! Spring cleaning is the perfect time to match containers to lids and remove any mis matches.
54. Go through dishes, pots/pans, cups and silverware
The same goes for your dishes, pots, pans, cups and silverware.
Take all of these out of the cupboards or drawers and discard any old or mis matched items.
55. In closets remove seasonal jackets, hats, mitts
Every spring, I have to remove seasonal clothing like jackets, hats and mitts so I can make room for summer equipment like suntan lotion and sunglasses!
56. In bedroom closets, remove small clothing or ones you don’t wear
Part of my spring cleaning is to also go to the bedroom closets and downsize as much as I can.
57. Match socks and remove mismatched socks
Go through all your socks, and match them or remove ones that don’t have a match.
58. Go through underwear, bras, cami’s
I do the same with my underwear, bras and cami’s. If they are worn out I chuck them!
59. In laundry room, clean out lint trap, empty trash
If you have a laundry room, make sure to use the vacuum to clean out the lint trap. While there, empty the trash too. Mine’s always full of lint!
60. In bathroom, clean under sink
Take items out from under the bathroom sink and give it a look. Remove old sponges and cleaners and organize too!
61. Wash out bathroom trash can
If you have a trash can in the bathroom remember to give that a wash.
62. Remove old medicine
It’s important to throw away expired medicine!
63. Go through holiday totes
One thing I don’t see many spring cleaning blog posts have is to go through your holiday totes. I have a few totes for my Christmas holidays, but generally one for other holidays like Easter or Valentine’s Day.
I like do go through my holiday totes for spring cleaning by throwing away broken decorations or just downsizing.
64. Tidy closets
As I’m downsizing my clothes, I take the time to tidy my closets so that it’s easy to find all my clothes.
65. Tidy dresser drawers
I do the same for my dresser drawers. I put all my socks on one side and bras on the other for example.
66. Vacuum under beds
I know for my deep cleaning section I did tell you to vacuum in places you don’t normally vacuum. I was envisioning your main living area and not your bedrooms.
So take this spring cleaning to vacuum under the beds!
67. Go through books/magazines
If you have books and old magazines cluttering your home, spring cleaning is the time to tackle this project!
You can do it!
68. Go through all paper (important documents, bills, school notices, etc.)
Paper is a big thing in my home, and for my spring cleaning, I will be tackling all the paper like bills, documents, etc..
When I have downsized my paper, I will place what’s left in a file accordion organizer.
69. Tackle cords, power bars, video game equipment
I have a bin of random cords and power bars. If you are like me, take this spring cleaning time and tackle this project!
70. Replace old curtains, pillows and bedding
If it’s in your budget, update your place with some new curtains, pillows and bedding.
This spring cleaning I am updating my living room curtains since the living room was recently painted.
71. Go through photos/albums
If you still have photo albums, now is the time to transfer your photos digitally and finally remove the albums!
72. Trophies/souvenirs
I know this is sentimental but if you have a box filled with childhood trophies, what point is that if it’s tucked away? Take the time for this spring cleaning to really sort through this and consider only keeping one keepsake.
73. Throw away old makeup/makeup brushes/sponges
Go through your makeup and toss any old or broken makeup.
74. Throw away old perfume, skin creams
While you’re there, toss any old perfume and skin creams since these do have an expiry date!
75. Go through scrapbooks/diaries/journals
The same goes for your scrapbooks, diaries or journals. No need to keep these if you never use them!
76. Go through tools/hardware
If you have a garage, take the time to downsize your tools and hardware.
While it was fun buying the latest gadget, in reality, if you never used it after Christmas, it’s pointless to keep it!
77. Go through gardening supplies
The same goes for your gardening supplies! Scrap what you don’t use!
78. Tackle light bulbs and batteries
If you have a drawer or bin of light bulbs and one for batteries, it’s time to clean them out!
79. Go through gift cars/reward cards/gas cards
If you have gift cards piling up or gas cards, go through them and remove any that are already used.
80. Declutter junk drawer
Finally, as part of your spring cleaning, declutter that junk drawer. I know you have one!
Guidelines for Disinfecting
While you know it’s important to clean your home, not many realize the importance of disinfecting your home as well.
Disinfecting your house is an essential part of keeping yourself and your family healthy, especially with COVID-19.
To be save make sure to check the government guidelines for a disinfected home.
Here are a few guidelines for disinfecting your house as part of your regular cleaning routine.
- Use a product that is effective against the germs and viruses that are present in your home. I use this to fight germs in my home that’s EPA approved.
- When using a disinfectant, be sure to read the directions carefully and follow them exactly.
- Disinfect surfaces that are touched often, such as door knobs, light switches, countertops, and doorknobs. You should also disinfect any surface that may have been contaminated with food or bodily fluids, such as cutting boards and diaper changing tables.
- You don’t need to go overboard when disinfecting your house. A little bit of disinfectant goes a long way, so you don’t need to use a lot of it.
- To disinfect your sheets and bedding, use your hottest temperature and add1/2 cup bleach to the wash cyle.
- During flu season, disinfect your home more frequently than in the summer or warmer months.
In addition, to what I use to fight germs on door knobs and on counters, I use the Dupray steam cleaner.
It does a fantastic job keeping my bathroom clean and smelling great!
I use the nozzle to steam clean the grout and around the sink faucet and around the toilet.
Household Cleaning
Give yourself a clap on the back for coming to the near end of my guide! I hope you have a working cleaning schedule planned out! If not, make sure to grab my FREE General Cleaning Checklist!
But, to give you some inspiration, here are five housecleaning tips for each room of the house. Note: some of these have already been mentioned, but you can copy or take a screenshot of this last section if you just need a quick reference!
Bathroom Cleaning
87. Clean the sink and countertop
Disinfect the sink by spraying it with a disinfectant or bleach solution. Wipe down the countertop with a disinfectant or bleach solution, too.
88. Clean the toilet
Remove the toilet seat and clean it with a disinfectant or bleach solution. Scrub the toilet bowl with a toilet brush. Flush the toilet to rinse away any cleaner.
89. Clean the bathtub or shower
Spray the tub or shower with a disinfectant or bleach solution. Scrub it with a sponge or brush. Rinse away the cleaner with water.
90. Mop the floor
Start in the farthest corner of the room and work your way out. Use a disinfectant or bleach solution to clean the floor. Rinse the floor with clean water when you’re finished.
91. Wipe down the walls
Use a damp sponge or cloth to wipe down the walls. Start at the top of the wall and work your way down.
Kitchen Cleaning
92. Clean your refrigerator
Do this regularly to avoid build-up of bacteria and food residue.
93. Wipe down your counters
And your stovetop after each use to avoid bacteria buildup.
94. Clean your kitchen sink
And your and faucet regularly to avoid the growth of mold and bacteria.
95. Vacuum and mop your kitchen floor
Do this regularly to avoid dirt and bacteria buildup.
96. Empty your trash can
Do this regularly to avoid the build-up of garbage and bacteria.
Living Room Cleaning
97. Dust all surfaces weekly
98. Vacuum
Hit your floors and furniture at least once a week.
99. Wipe down
Be sure to wipe all surfaces with a damp cloth at least once a week.
100. Clean the windows and mirrors
At least once a month.
101. Sweep and mop the floor
At least once a month.
Ensuite Cleaning
102. Clean your bathroom regularly to avoid build-up
103. Use a toilet brush to clean your toilet
104. Wipe down your shower
Do this after each use to prevent soap scum build-up
105. Scrub your bathtub and shower regularly
106. Hang wet towels up to dry after each use
Keep the mold and mildew smell out of your room
Ultimate General Cleaning Guide
There ya go!
Whether you are spring cleaning, deep cleaning or just housecleaning, make sure to pick up my FREE printable and have fun cleaning!
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