Ultimate House Cleaning Checklist: Guide to a Spotless Home

Cleaning can come with a multitude of challenges.

Having the right products, knowing how to clean particular objects, and finding enough time throughout the week to complete your never-ending to-do list.

To complete a deep clean of your house every day is a far-fetched goal, however, creating a cleaning schedule that provides you structure for tidying up and sanitising your house will make the challenge easier.

Better yet, for the corners that are out of reach or out of your expertise, hiring a professional for all the tricky spots will leave your home spotless.

This guide will take you through the best way to tackle recurring cleaning tasks and give you insight on what should be undertaken by a professional.

In what order should you clean a house?

A house can be cleaned in several ways and often depends on the tasks being ticked off.

For a daily tidy, cleaning from the front to the back of the house may be the most helpful because you can pick up rubbish and stray objects.

For a deep clean or weekend getting into the nitty gritty of your home, it may be best to start with the problem areas or areas that require the most attention.

For many homes, the kitchen and bathroom tend to procure the most mess and should be tackled first to ensure cleanliness and hygiene are at their best.

In terms of the types of tasks to complete and their order, take a look at the table below:

Daily cleaning tasks

Your daily cleaning checklist should focus more on tidying the house than using elbow grease to clean your bathroom tiles.

If there are pets or children in the house, it is even more important that a tidy house is a priority.

Daily cleaning tasks can include:

• Making all the beds in the house
• Empty and load the dishwasher with the day’s dirty dishes
• Take out the rubbish
• Do a morning and afternoon sweep of floors and countertops for toys, loose papers and stray objects
• Wipe down kitchen counters, tables, sinks, and any other regularly used surfaces

Bedroom cleaning checklist

Your bedroom is your safe haven from the outside world- ensuring it stays well-kept and hygienic is essential.

As the saying goes, ‘Tidy room, tidy mind’.

Although you do not have to clean your bedroom every day, making sure the bed is made and the shutters are pulled back will keep it feeling homey and organised.

Your bedroom cleaning checklist could include:

• Opening windows or shutters to let in air and light
• Clearing bedside tables, desks and vanity counters
• Making the bed
• Placing all dirty clothing and laundry into a laundry basket
• Empty any full bins

Weekly and monthly cleaning tasks

A house cleaning schedule should also cover tasks that do not need to be performed daily.

Weekly and monthly cleaning is just as necessary as your day-to-day tidying, as this is where all the sanitising, sterilising and proper ‘cleaning’ will occur.

From weekly dusting to wiping down surfaces to mopping your house monthly, here are the tasks for more regular deep cleaning:

Weekly tasks

• Dust hard surfaces, including benches, countertops, kitchen cabinets and any decor objects (e.g. picture frames)
• Vacuum carpets and floors
• Mop floors that are tiled or wooden floorboards
• Wipe down and disinfect countertops, tables, appliances, mirrors and sinks
• Clean toilets, wash down showers and scrub shower tiles
• Change and wash blankets, sheets and bath towels
• Check the fridge and pantry for expired food

Monthly cleaning checklist

• Vacuum upholstered furniture
• Disinfect bins
• Pour rinse aid into dishwasher
• Dust baseboards, ceiling fans and vents
• Scrub stovetop and clean out oven- this includes stove drip pans and stove grates
• Wipe down light fixtures and light switches
• Clean window sills, cupboard doors and less regularly used hard surfaces
• Wipe door knobs, door handles and door frames
• Scrub shower and bathtub, making sure to remove any soap scum
• Vacuum and mop floor
• Deep clean the toilet, including any toilet appliances (e.g. plunger, toilet paper holder)

How to tackle hygiene in the bathroom and kitchen

One of the most challenging parts of a cleaning routine is ensuring hygiene is at its best in all areas. For most individuals, the bathroom and kitchen are usually problem areas for keeping sanitary.

Bathroom counters, toilets and even kitchen sinks hold a surprising amount of germs that can contribute to a lowered immune system and regular sickness.

Use the right cleaning products

The right cleaning appliances will help ensure your bathroom and kitchen stay hygienic throughout the month.

Using a microfiber cloth over a paper towel when sanitising bathroom counters and kitchen cabinets ensures that all dirt and germs are removed properly.

Conducting a check on your cleaning supplies and ensuring they are not expired or too old for use is always recommended every couple of months.

This makes sure that your cleaning supplies are still viable for properly sanitising and will not harm any surfaces they contact. Expired cleaning products can also become hazardous as many contain potent chemicals.

Prioritise sanitary over aesthetics

When choosing decor and items for your kitchen and bathroom, it’s always a good idea to consider their level of sanitary.

While having a fuzzy bathroom mat may seem like a good idea, textured rugs and mats can carry additional amounts of germs and may need to be washed more often.

Even choosing cleaning products that are more functional than aesthetic will be better in the long run- instead of choosing a bright feather duster to dust with, using scraps of old clothes will be easier to put straight into the washing machine.

Annual cleaning

It is recommended that your house cleaning checklist has a section dedicated to tasks that can be undertaken annually or on a very sporadic basis.

These tasks mainly involve cleaning that does not need to be done unless there is a specific accident or spillage occurring.

However, performing this cleaning annually ensures that every part of your house is spotless from top to bottom.

You could tick off this cleaning checklist before the new year so everything is fresh by January 1st!

Your annual house cleaning schedule could include:

• Deep clean carpets
• Clean window screens
• Replace old light bulbs
• Wipe down walls and remove marks
• Pull out fridge and large pieces of furniture to clean behind and underneath
• Disinfect mop bucket, mop head and other cleaning products

When to hire a professional

A clean house can be hard to come by in this day and age. Good housekeeping can require an immense amount of free time that many individuals just do not have.

From working full-time to trying to fit social events into your busy schedule, cleaning can easily be left on the back burner, especially when it comes to the more significant tasks that don’t need to be done as often.

Of course, a professional cleaning service is needed for those tasks that require specific equipment, such as deep cleaning carpets or even cleaning upholstery on furniture.

But if you’re struggling to keep up with the more regular cleaning that keeps the house sanitary and organised, hiring a cleaner is always a great option.

Whether it is for one job or a regular weekly clean, Absolute Domestics can help you stay organised and on top of your house cleaning checklist.

From dusting light fixtures to cleaning out drains and mopping footprint-covered floors, our professional cleaners will provide you with the best service possible, and you can customise it to your needs!