So, you just bought your dream home?
Between packing, driving back and forth, and completing all the necessary paperwork, moving into a new home is an exciting, yet time-consuming process! As you go through your checklist of moving tasks, don’t forget one of the most important items:
Cleaning your new home!
If you aren’t sure how to give your new home a thorough cleaning, keep scrolling to see our move-in cleaning checklist.
How to Give Your New Home a Thorough Cleaning
When you purchase a new home, it’s important to clean everything before you get settled.
Unlike an apartment complex, there isn’t anyone hired to clean the home for you. So, it’s up to you to either clean the place yourself or hiring a cleaning service like Orange Crew. Since you don’t know when the last time your home has been cleaned is, you shouldn’t skip this step.
Here’s how you can give your new home a thorough cleaning:
1. Start With the Bathroom
The bathroom is the area that is the most likely to have germs from its previous owner.
Who wants to use the same toilet as a stranger, or take a bath in a tub that hasn’t been cleaned since the last owner? Here’s how you should clean your bathroom:
Sanitize the Toilet
This is probably the first thing you’ll want to do when you buy the home.
Between realtors and potential buyers coming in and out of the home, you never know who has used your toilet. Plus, the previous owners may not have cleaned the toilet as thoroughly as you’d like.
So, use a sanitizing solution to clean the toilet bowl, seat, handle, and base of your toilet. Clean the entire toilet so you can feel confident in using it safely.
Clean the Bathtub
Before you take a bath or a shower, you’ll want to give the bathtub a thorough cleaning.
Clean the tub itself, the faucet, walls of the shower, and showerhead well with a sanitizing solution. If you want to use natural cleaning products, keep free to use water and vinegar.
If you want a more thorough cleaning, use chemicals that are made for your shower.
To take your cleaning a step further, clean any cobwebs in the corners above your shower!
Clean the Sink Well
What is the first thing we do after we use the bathroom?
Hopefully, you said wash your hands! Since we touch the sink right after we use the bathroom, cleaning the sink is almost as important as cleaning the toilet.
Using a vinegar solution, disinfecting spray, or another sanitizing solution, clean the entire sink. Clean the bowl, handles, faucet, and surrounding counter area. If there’s a mirror above your sink, clean that with a window cleaner as well.
Clean out Your Drains
Cleaning out a drain isn’t necessarily a fun chore, but it’s essential when you move into a new home.
You have no idea when the last time your drain was cleaned out, so this should be a priority as soon as you move in. If there is hair or other gunk clogging your drain, you don’t want to find that out when you go to take a shower or bath.
Clean out the drain for your shower as well as your sink before you get settled in.
2. Tackle the Kitchen Next
After you’ve cleaned the bathroom, you’ll want to do a thorough cleaning of the kitchen.
Since this is where food is stored, cooked, and disposed of, all the little nooks and crannies can get really gross. Here’s your kitchen-cleaning checklist:
Oven
Cleaning out the oven isn’t only important for sanitary reasons, but safety reasons as well.
If there’s cheese, crumbs, or any other kind of food burned at the bottom of the oven, you may find this out the hard way. To avoid a fire or smoke filling your kitchen, give your oven a thorough cleaning.
Clean the bottom of the oven, the racks, and stove above the oven.
Refrigerator
Refrigerators are another spot in the kitchen that can get messy if not properly cared for.
Check your refrigerator doors, racks, and drawers for any food residue. The door may have dried sauces that have been left sitting for months at a time, or the drawer may have solidified juice from meat that was stored there.
While your seller should have cleaned this out before selling it, people don’t always think to clean out the refrigerator. So, to be safe, use a disinfectant to wipe down the inside of the fridge, as well as the handles and doors.
Cabinets
Check the inside of your cabinets for any crumbs leftover from snacks.
Also, a quick dusting may be necessary if nobody has been in the home for a while. To be safe, consider disinfecting the handles to the cabinets as well as the shelves inside the cabinets.
Sink
Check your sink for bits of food or other debris.
Check in the sink itself, on the faucet, and on the backsplash behind the sink. Sometimes leftover debris around and in the sink can go unnoticed.
If you have a garbage disposal, consider cleaning that out before you start adding more to it. If your garbage disposal is broken, this isn’t something you want to find out by making a mess with your food!
Clean the Walls and Floors for Safe Measure
While the bathroom and the kitchen are the most important spots to clean, give your floors and walls a quick clean.
Vacuum, sweep, and mop all floors. You may be surprised by the amount of dust and hair you find!
Next, use a wet rag with soap and water or vinegar to wipe down all the walls. This will remove any fingerprints or marks.
Is Your New Home Ready to Move Into?
A huge part of making a home move-in ready is the cleaning you do.
Doing a thorough cleaning of your new home is important for your health and safety as you settle in.
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