Cleaning Activities for a Sparkling Home

Maintaining a clean home can be challenging, but there are ways to make it more manageable.

A deep cleaning session sets a solid foundation, a practical weekly routine keeps things in check, and a few clever cleaning hacks make the process smoother.

1. Weekly Cleaning Routine

One of the secrets to a consistently clean home is sticking to a regular cleaning schedule that suits your lifestyle. Some prefer a task-based approach, tackling one chore throughout the house each day—dusting on one day, vacuuming the next, and so on. Others opt for a room-by-room method, dedicating a day to each area, like the kitchen one day, bedrooms the next, and so forth.

Personally, I lean towards the room-by-room strategy. Task-based cleaning doesn’t work well for me on a weekly basis because it feels like I’m always cleaning without fully finishing anything. If you’re a fan of the room-by-room approach, check out this weekly cleaning routine and share your thoughts on how you might adjust it.

2. Spring Cleaning Checklist

A key component of a clean home is a thorough deep clean on a regular basis. Growing up, I helped my mom and grandma with a massive spring cleaning once a year. It involved opening all the windows and meticulously cleaning every inch of the house before putting everything back in place.

While that level of deep cleaning doesn’t fit my lifestyle today, I still believe in spring cleaning—just on a more manageable scale. Instead of tearing the whole house apart, I focus on one room at a time as my schedule allows. Typically, I start in March, making it a true spring cleaning. I also do a lighter version in October, right before the holiday season.

3. Deep Clean the Kitchen

The Spring Cleaning Checklist breaks down tasks for each room, allowing you to tackle them as time permits. Since it’s a comprehensive list, it doesn’t go into detail for every task. When more detailed instructions are needed, I create separate checklists for each room. This one, for example, covers the extensive process of deep cleaning the kitchen.

4. Deep Clean the Fridge

Refrigerators can become pretty grimy over time, and many people overlook the importance of cleaning the coils and maintaining the seals. Some may not even realize there’s a drip pan underneath that needs attention. This article provides a step-by-step guide for deep cleaning your refrigerator, including the often-missed areas.

5. Deep Clean the Oven

Cleaning the oven is another task that deserves its own guide. While some swear by the vinegar and baking soda method, I find it too labor-intensive and don’t care for the smell of vinegar. I’ve tried various oven cleaning hacks and finally found a process that works best for me. Check out this oven cleaning method for a more efficient way to tackle this daunting chore.

6. Window Track Cleaning Hack

Have you ever opened a window only to discover a grimy, bug-filled mess in the tracks? Dirty window tracks used to drive me crazy because they’re so hard to clean—no matter how much I wiped, the dirt in the corners and crevices remained. Then I discovered a trick that made my window tracks look brand new. Now, I incorporate this hack into my March and October cleaning routines. Give it a try and let me know if you have any other tips!