How to clean your house after relocation
Moving day is finally behind you! All the planning and stressing about the relocation is over at last, and you can take a deep breath and relax for a minute. As you see the moving truck slowly disappear down the street into the sunset, you start thinking about your new life. However, you turn around, and you see all these boxes, waiting to be taken into the house and unpacked. Meeting the neighborhood and exploring the new city will have to wait. Before that, you need to clean your house after relocation. Don’t make unpack before cleaning. It’s a beginners mistake, and will only create more work for you. Instead, take a productive approach that will allow you to save time.
Make a plan to clean your house after relocation
Everything you need is a plan — a way to organize yourself and systematically clean your house from top to bottom. The same way you had to have moving day preparations, now you have to prepare for cleaning. With this in mind, let’s look at the essential steps that will help you clean your house after relocation:
- clean from top to bottom
- clean hardly accessible parts and corners
- scrub floors
- move boxes to their designated rooms
- clean as you unpack
- make kitchen and bathroom spotless
Get cleaning supplies
Cleaning is one of the reasons why you should arrive at your new house before the movers. However, before you start cleaning, make sure that you have all the cleaning supplies. Check your neighborhood for a local store or a supermarket. You will need cleaning fluid, rags, and sponges, a good pair of rubber gloves and a mask to put over your face. Protect yourself from dust and chemical fumes.
Furthermore, smart advice is to invest in a good vacuum cleaner. Also, get a duster so you can reach the corners of your rooms.
Now when you are all set, we can get to work!
Clean your house from top to bottom
Once you have all the cleaning supplies needed, you can get to work!
When I say clean from top to bottom, I don’t just mean clean everything. I literally mean you clean the ceiling first, and work your way down. It is the best way to clean your house after relocation. If you ask why I’ll tell you!
We know that you cannot clean anything without getting something else dirty. In other words, if you wash the floor first, and then start doing the ceiling and the walls, chances are you will get the floor dirty again. Consequently, you will have to clean it twice.
To prevent this and save some time, clean everything top to bottom.
Clean the corners and hardly accessible spots
Once you move the furniture in, there is no moving it that often. For that reason, clean where your furniture will go. Most common places are behind the fridge or underneath the couch, or behind the washing machine. Also, if you have a wardrobe or a massive closet, clean where they’ll go.
For example, I own a hot tub, and I know how hard it is to move it so I could clean underneath. If this is your case as well, mop the floor thoroughly and make sure it’s dry before the hot tub movers do their job and install it. If you miss this step, mold can form pretty quickly. Then you’ll have to pay them to move the hot tub again so you could clean. There go another hundred dollars down the drain.
Scrub the floors
Now it’s time to clean the floors. First, use the vacuum cleaner. Pay particular attention to corners. Next, use a mop to wipe the floor. If needed, get on your knees and use a rag. Still, if it’s a new house, you won’t have that much cleaning.
If you have a rug or a carpet, make sure that you dust them outside. Once the carpet is in place, you can start putting the furniture in.
Use a dry cloth to wipe the surface of your furniture. However, you don’t have to make everything spotless now. Just make sure to clean any dust from it, so it doesn’t get down on your shiny floor.
I hope that you recognize the pattern that will make it easy to clean your house after relocation. Now it’s time to slowly start unpacking essentials.
Clean as you unpack
After you cleaned the floor and placed essential pieces of furniture in their place, you can start moving the boxes in. Put every box in the room where it needs to be unpacked, and it will make the unpacking process quick and easy.
When unpacking boxes, clean your stuff as you take them out. Again, you don’t have to be perfect here; you are just removing the dust.
If you have dirty clothes, prepare a bag in advance. Put all the clothes inside and take them to the bathroom.
Furthermore, as soon as you empty a box, throw it away, or store it to its designated place. Do not leave boxes lying on the floor, as you are creating more work for you later.
Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom
Kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom are the three most essential rooms in your house. It’s where you eat, sleep and take care of your hygiene. To properly clean your house after relocation, here is where you need to put in all your effort. Everything needs to be spotless.
If you think that you won’t be able to clean the entire house in one day, these rooms should be your number one priority. Everything else comes second.
Clean house for a healthy life
Use this guide to clean your house after relocation in a productive and time-saving way. You can apply this principle for cleaning anything, from the garage to the attic. Another advice is to have your family help you out. Or, call on some friends, throw a barbecue and enjoy the day!