Home Cleaning Checklist: Step-by-Step Guide For Cleaning While Moving to a New Home

When you're getting ready to move to a new house, you're likely to have many important tasks on your home moving timeline. But before you can start packing up your things and planning for your big move, there is one more thing you need to do: give your place a good, deep clean. Not only will this make your life easier (and less stressful) come moving day, but it can also help you sell your home for a better price. Set yourself up for a stress-free move by sticking to this simple list of move-out cleaning essentials.

Start in the Kitchen

Start with the kitchen and always clean top to bottom. Your kitchen sees a lot of daily activity, so it is essential to declutter before listing your home. Start with the self-cleaning cycle on the oven and then get to work elsewhere while it runs.

Then begin emptying all the cabinets and cupboards and scrubbing them with soap and water. Remember to clean the inside of the fridge and oven as well! This means not only pulling all the shelves out but also pulling them out to clean the sides and floor under them. Do the cabinet face next. Once all the big pieces are clean, move on to washing dishes, wiping down countertops, and sweeping and mopping the floors.

Cleaning the Bathrooms

Bathrooms are next on the list. Nobody likes cleaning bathrooms, but it is necessary before moving out. Scrub toilets, sinks, showers, and tubs until they are sparkling clean. Be sure to pay attention to nooks and crannies where dirt and grime accumulate (like in corners and around faucets). If you have hard water build up, use cleaning vinegar at full strength in a spray bottle. Remember to wash bathmats, towels, and shower curtains as well! When everything is clean and dry, put everything back in place and give the floors a good sweep and mopping.

Cleaning the Living Room

The living room and hallways are usually the easiest ones to clean since there will not be much furniture in there if you move out. Start by removing dust and cobwebs from the sealing. Next, start checking the walls for stains, dirt, food dust, etc. Just spot-clean the walls with a cloth, soap, and water, but you will quickly notice if you need to do more. If you are doing more, use a moist cloth or flat mop. Ensure the cloth is slightly damp, and do not let water drip down the walls.

Next, you can work downwards from the walls and begin dusting all surfaces (blinds, shelves, picture frames, etc.). You can make your baseboards shine by wiping away the dust with a damp mop. Then move on to vacuuming carpeted areas and sweeping and mopping hardwood floors.

Cleaning the Bedrooms

Bedrooms are often where people tend to accumulate the most stuff over time. Before packing up boxes, take some time to go through everything in your bedroom and get rid of anything you do not need or want anymore.

Once you have decluttered, give all surfaces a good dusting and vacuum carpets if necessary. Start with the walls. If the walls are not too dirty, you can just spot-treat them, but you may need to do an entire wall wash with a flat mop and a small amount of water if they are built up. Never let the water run down a wall. Then strip the bed (including sheets, pillowcases, duvet cover, etc.) and wash all linens in hot water. Lastly, sweep and mop hardwood floors or vacuum any area rugs.

Laundry Room

Last but not least is doing laundry before you go (to avoid leaving dirty clothes behind) and dealing with any laundry appliances in your unit (like washers/dryers). If possible, try to do any remaining laundry a few days before you move out so that everything is nice and fresh for your new place! As for appliances, be sure to wipe them down inside and outside before you leave so that they are clean for the next tenants. Empty the lint trap on the dryer. Pour half a bottle of vinegar into the washer to clean it and run a rinse cycle. Some people want behind the machines done, so be careful if there is a cleaning checklist.

A Clean Old Home Makes For a Happy New Home

A thorough cleaning is essential before moving out of your house or rental unit – not only for getting your security deposit back from your landlord but also for making moving less stressful overall. Following this checklist of essential cleaning tasks, you can rest assured that your old place is sparkling clean before handing over the keys for good!