How to Perfectly Plan Your Deep Clean
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The annual deep clean of your home is often a task you don't want to undertake. There is simply so much to do, and time is preciously short for many of us. The key to the perfect deep clean is the perfect plan. Let's dig into how to break this giant task down into manageable micro-tasks that get the job done fast!
The Perfect Deep Clean Task Breakdown
First up, count out all of the rooms and spaces in your house. This includes bedrooms, bathrooms, closets, basements, and attics, along with the other main areas of your home like the living room, dining room, kitchen, study, etc.
Make a Master List
Write out all of the rooms on a master map list of your home. Be sure to leave room underneath each room title. That will be where you break down the important specifics for each room.
Once you have the master list outlined, take a quick walkthrough. Inventory each room by items that need attention from top to bottom. For instance, in the living room your list might look something like this:
Living room
Ceiling - Dust corners and crown molding, dust ceiling fan blades.
Walls - Wipe and wash walls, dust photo frames, dust knickknacks, wipe down shelving, wipe outlets down, dust baseboards.
Tabletops - Declutter old or out-of-season items, clean and treat.
Sitting Furniture - Move couch/seats to vacuum underneath, remove cushions and vacuum inside.
Standing Furniture - Remove display items, dust shelves, dust items, move display/shelving units, vacuum underneath.
Flooring - Treat and clean all flooring as necessary (powder carpets and vacuum/sweep and mop).
Of course, your list may differ slightly, depending on furniture and other items. Customize your list as it pertains to your spaces.
Repeat this task for every room on your master mapping list. By the time you're finished with the breakdown, you'll have a detailed overall roadmap with particular instructions.
Schedule Every Deep Clean Task
Next, grab your calendar (whether it's an app on your phone/device or simply a plain sheet of paper that you've written the dates on) and write out the tasks you want to accomplish each day.
You can devote each week to a certain room, or devote the whole month to a room, depending on your schedule and your deep clean needs.
Here's what your calendar might look like when you're done:
Weekly Deep Clean Schedule
Monday - Living room: Wipe down ceiling fans, dust corners.
Tuesday - Living room: Wipe down two walls, begin dusting photo frames.
Wednesday - Living room: Wipe down two walls, finish photo frames, declutter table tops.
Thursday - Living room: Clean nick nacks and decorative shelves, wash windows inside and out.
Friday - Living room: Move furniture and deep clean flooring underneath.
Saturday - Living room: Replace furniture and deep clean remaining floors.
Sunday - Living room: Enjoy the freshly cleaned living space and relax!
Monthly Deep Clean Schedule
Week One - Living room: Clean everything above eye-level in the room.
Week Two - Living room: Wipe walls down and wash windows, declutter.
Week Three - Living room: Clean photo frames and knickknacks.
Week Four - Living room: Clean and treat flooring area.
With this deep clean plan in place, you'll have a step by step approach to one of the biggest jobs in your household. Rather than attacking the clutter and messes haphazardly, you'll be able to see progress each and every day. The hardest part will be sticking to the plan once you've made it. Just remember, procrastination is not your friend when it comes to keeping your home clean and happy.
In addition to using this as your yearly deep clean breakdown, you can implement a similar cleaning schedule all year round to maintain that sparkling clean. Once the entire master list has been taken care of, you can start over again with the same list, or break it into various monthly tasks to keep up on the heavy traffic areas of your home.
Remember to reward yourself with breaks to enjoy the hard work you've put in!
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![Karla Emmons]()
Karla is a contributing writer for DoItYourself.com. She enjoys writing about vehicle repair topics, and has years of experience as an independent auto mechanic.![H.R. Helm]()
H.R. Helm is an accomplished DIY craftsman. He has been DIY since childhood and is now a septuagenarian. He is experienced in wood and metal construction, having designed and built several houses and metal buildings. He built every permanent building on his current homestead and did all the plumbing and electrical work. He has several years experience as a professional cabinet builder, and he is an accomplished auto repairman, having operated an auto repair business for many years. He currently has a home shop where he sharpens and rebuilds saws, repairs lawn mowers, mobility scooters, hydraulic jacks, and anything else that comes along. He also builds custom tools for metal working. Invention prototypes are another of his many accomplishments. He owned and operated a manufacturing business building Compact Utility Vehicles for homeowner use. H.R. enjoys making jams and jellies during fruit season along with cooking meals. He is committed to outdoor cooking in a Bar-B-Q pit he welded together several years ago. He maintains fruit and nut trees along with helping his wife with a vegetable garden. He farmed commercial garden produce for several years. It helps to have over 50 years of farming and ranching experience. Employment/Education Highlights ASE Certified Master Auto Technician Certified Welder Cross country truck driver -- over dimensional freight Design Engineer/Project Manager for injection molded plastic company Bus Driver/Substitute Teacher Inventor with two patents (weight training – anti-rollback for manual wheelchair) BS in Industrial Technology
