Cleaning in the New Year

Well the New Year is just around the corner and many of us make lists for their new year resolutions. One item on my list is to have my home deep cleaned. What is a deep clean you ask? I will tell you, it is a cleaning of your home that is not just what we can see but cleaning in places that are not visible to us, that  would be behind and under all furniture, inside cupboards under beds and inside our ovens and refrigerators.  It is very important for the health and beauty of your home.

Start at the top and work down, this is the first rule of cleaning and is especially important for deep cleaning, because the dirt that you get off the floor will just be replaced by the dirt that comes from dusting and cleaning above. Deep cleaning means getting into the crevices and digging deeper than the typical once over that each room gets once or twice a week.

Under the sinks-these are places where the need for deep cleaning is the greatest. Take everything out and go through it, tossing out everything you don’t use or recognize. Then get out the bleach and scrub way in the back where you don’t usually reach (make sure there is good ventilation when working with bleach.) The other place for deep cleaning is the refrigerator; where you do basically the same thing as under the kitchen sink. Take all the drawers out of the fridge and leave them to soak outside with warm water and a capful of bleach. This is a good time to pull out appliances and clean behind and under them as well. Keep the back of all appliances dust bunny free in order to minimize the risk of fire, as frayed cords and thick lint can be a recipe for disaster, even though we don’t usually think about it.

You can move out some of your things from closets, vacuum the closet carpet and reorganize your clothes in the closet. Everything from the top to bottom and in between is scrubbed until it is free of dirt and dust and shines like new. Even the most-cared-for home needs an occasional deep-cleaning.