Spring Cleaning Checklist: It Doesn't Have to Be Overwhelming!

Even if a home remains neat and tidy year-round, every household needs at least one thorough deep clean annually to prevent dirt from accumulating on surfaces that receive less attention. The spring season brings with it several home maintenance tasks that can be conveniently combined with a deep clean. Urve Vanker, service manager at Krausberg Eesti OÜ, offers advice on how to conduct a deep clean efficiently and stress-free. 

"Even if there is no visible dirt or mess at first glance, studies have shown that people can perceive a difference between a clean and uncleaned room. Inhaling dust and stale air is not only a mental stressor, but can also negatively affect the health of people or animals. In living spaces, a thorough deep clean may initially seem complicated, but in reality, with some basic knowledge and skills, it is possible to achieve a professional standard at home as well," shared Krausberg Eesti service manager Urve Vanker.

How to organize a deep clean?

Most people use incorrect techniques, tools, materials and systems when doing cleaning work in home conditions, which affects both the results achieved and how burdensome and complicated the cleaning work is. Deep cleans are often undertaken on weekends, with plans to bring the entire home into top shape in one or two days, and these ambitions often fall apart after the first few hours, when fatigue or frustration sets in. According to Urve Vanker, it is wise to adapt your action plan to a realistic timeframe and your capabilities, so that home cleaning does not become a dreadful and suffocating task.

"Planning is initially at least half the work, if not more. Different systems suit different people and homes, but there are some tips from professional cleaning work that I would recommend everyone try for themselves. The first of these is setting precise expectations: when a home needs a thorough deep clean, people often get stuck in the mindset that the work is done when all rooms are perfectly clean. In a place where other life activities happen continuously, this goal is usually not realistic. A successful deep clean can also mean that over the course of a month, all rooms in the home are thoroughly gone through and cleaned, even if this did not happen simultaneously," said Urve Vanker. 

Additionally, when conducting a deep clean, it is important to maintain focus. Professional service providers do not move haphazardly from room to room while taking thousands of pointless steps, but clean rooms one by one from beginning to end. To enable this, a cleaning cart is used, which contains all the necessary items for the work, from trash bags to cloths and gloves. According to Urve Vanker, it is also useful in a home environment to focus on one room at a time and bring everything needed there immediately, to avoid exhausting running around and divided attention between rooms.

What should you focus on?

"As with everything else related to cleaning work, prevention is always the most useful tool. However, if it is already too late to prevent heavier dirt accumulation, it is wise to direct your focus first based on health and then according to personal standards. There is actually no universal rule about what level of cleanliness you should be satisfied with in your own home, as long as the condition of the living spaces is not harmful to the health of the inhabitants. Here too, overexerting yourself with expectations can have the opposite effect and dampen motivation. It is better to be honest and realistic with yourself about your preferences and expectations – if dust spots on the entrance mat don't really bother you, then there is no need to strain yourself scrubbing them," explained Urve Vanker.

Three factors have the most impact on the health of people and animals in a home environment: bacteria, mold, and dust. The main breeding grounds for bacteria are on all touch surfaces, including door handles and chair backrests. Dry cleaning alone is not sufficient against bacterial spread; touch surfaces should be wiped with a damp cloth and then thoroughly dried. According to Urve Vanker, it is important here to have a sufficient supply of cloths to distribute between rooms. A quick rinse under the tap is not enough to make a cloth clean again, and it is very important to avoid transferring bacteria, especially between the bathroom and kitchen, for example. 

"Mold is a problem that is ten times easier to prevent than to deal with afterward. A spring deep clean is a good opportunity to go through all kitchen cabinets and the refrigerator and get rid of food items that have been sitting for a long time and gone bad. At the same time, it is useful to clean and check the refrigerator door seals. Without proper sealing, excess moisture and mold can begin to accumulate in the gaps. Other potential sources of moisture tend to appear in plumbing, around various household appliances, and also around windows. It would be useful to check a couple of times a year that all pipe connections for the washing machine, dishwasher, and sink faucets have remained properly dry, and to clean the inside of both the machines and, for example, the bathroom drain pipes," shared Urve Vanker. 

Dust is arguably the most underestimated harmful factor in home cleaning – if a person does not have a direct dust allergy, they do not see the need to worry too much about its accumulation. However, prolonged and continuous exposure to dust particles can damage a person's immune system, which is why the first priority of a spring deep clean should be to find and eliminate hidden dust collections. According to Urve Vanker, neglected dust is most often found on top of tall cabinets, behind furniture, and also inside storage systems. If you move furniture away from walls to be able to clean underneath it, you should also wipe the wall behind the furniture at the same time. Additionally, you should wash hanging curtains, clean the leaves and holders of potted plants, open windows and ventilate rooms, and when cleaning, pay special attention to stovetops, ventilation fans, and grease traps.