Deep Cleaning Your House

[strawberriquen]

What does "deep cleaning" your house entail for you?

How often do you deep clean your home?

[TrickyBob]

I asked this question once of ML in a fit of cleaning;

I never finished the cleaning.

[SusanBAnthony]

Never?

In theory I guess it means cleaning behind/under furniture, cleaning out all closets and cupboards and wiping down, etc.

Wo has time for that?

[bania]

Basically wiping down everything that doesn't normally get done.

Behind large appliances
Walls
Blinds
Cabinets inside & out
Behind beds
Light fixtures

[strawberriquen]

How do you get behind large appliances and furniture to dust? I'm dying to get behind my bed, but there is no way I can move it.

[Deleted]

Never.

[SusanBAnthony]

I need a new mother or MIL.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2013 12:52:30 GMT -5 strawberriquen said:

How do you get behind large appliances and furniture to dust? I'm dying to get behind my bed, but there is no way I can move it.

I have used the extension on the vacuum stick vac and reach back as far as I can. I don't usually do any kind of deep cleaning, however.

[Deleted]

Our housekeeper does one or two "deep cleaning" tasks a month with the regular cleaning. Things like moving appliances, windows/blinds, light fixtures, cleaning out cupboards/drawers, etc. I try to come home from work early and help her so that we can tackle it quicker (the blinds/windows could take a whole day!)

To do it all at once would be so overwhelming.

The only thing I'm super anal about is cleaning out the fridge - ours is done every month or so, I HATE a "smell" in a fridge.

[Deleted]

It means I am in jammies with the radio/ps3 on full blast on my hands and knees, scrubbing floors, moving furniture, waxing our hardwood floors, vacuuming, dusting, bleaching, and sanitizing every thing. I usually deep clean one or two rooms at a time, then move on to another set the next day.

Probably... once or twice a month? I deep clean the living room and kitchen almost every week, the bathroom I give up to god until I simply can't handle the mess any more, and then every thing else is basically when I can't stand it being messy any more.

The bathroom is my mortal enemy.

[Marmee]

A crazy detail clean...usually involving toothbrushes. Hence I never finish it & rarely finish a room. My Mom was an OCD housekeeper....I did not inherit that gene.

[Marmee]

Sept 29, 2013 12:54:42 GMT -5 Que? said:

Sept 29, 2013 12:51:53 GMT -5 toledo said:

I have never done all this.

These are the things my Mom does when she's here. Poor lady can't sit still so who am I to stop her.

Ha...my Mom WAS like this but now after 2 knee replacements & back surgery she just bugs me non-stop when she's visiting to do it with her "help".  Her help consists of barking orders at me.  It brings back memories of every Saturday morning my entire childhood where I scrubbed & cleaned for hours.  Maybe I need to just put my kids to work more.  And my H complains about how bitchy I get right before she's due to visit.

[eb777888]

Pulling the trash can away from the wall when I sweep! lol.

IDK. I guess cleaning baseboards, cleaning out the fridge and pantry, drawers, windows, washing doors and scrubbing the stand up shower is about as "deep cleaning" as I get. I keep a pretty tidy house, it's almost always clean. With that being said, I'm not a big deep cleaner. I've never washed my drapes but I swear I don't think they need it. They look spotless. I rarely, if ever, do a lot of the stuff being listed. I've NEVER gotten on my knees to scrub a floor.

[pinkpinot]

How do you clean blinds? Mine are FILTHY. I can't take them down because I have no idea how to get them back up. I go over them with a washcloth and warm water but the dirty water just runs all over and when I flip the blinds "up" it drips more and I can't really clean them good in the "up" position. WHY IS IT SO HARD?? I almost asked H to take them down today so I could soak them in the bathtub.

[pinkpinot]

Deep cleaning for me usually involves skipping the blinds because I'm too dumb to figure out how to clean them...washing curtains, getting on a ladder and dusting the beams in my living room, cleaning the glass fixtures on the lights, cleaning the blades on the ceiling fan with hot soapy water, washing baseboards...throwing all of my H's clutter in his office and shutting the door.

[biogirl21]

When we move to a new apartment.

[Deleted]

I add baseboards, windows, ceiling fans, blinds, oiling the cabinets, and dusting off all of the high spider webs to my regular cleaning list.

[youbetcha]

Sept 29, 2013 16:45:29 GMT -5 @stellasmom said:

I add baseboards, windows, ceiling fans, blinds, oiling the cabinets, and dusting off all of the high spider webs to my regular cleaning list.

Until I was selling my house I never knew how awesome oiling the cabinets made them look!

[pittsmcgee]

I just did this all weekend. FML. My back feels awesome.

[bornbaker]

Washing cleaning EVERYTHING. Walls, rugs, moldings, door knobs, etc. etc.

I do a good deep clean twice a year - fall and spring.

[papie]

Sept 29, 2013 12:51:12 GMT -5 @cse1960 said:

Sept 29, 2013 12:45:55 GMT -5 Que? said:

Vacuuming all the books and crannies, pulling out furniture and appliances. Dusting the tops of shelves, the fridge etc. cleaning cupboards and purging.

I am in the process of a major cleaning effort. My H is gone til Thursday, then we go away so I have a major job everyday.

all this, and washing curtains, cleaning insides of stove, fridge, cabinets; throwing out all expired stuff, floors on hands and knees, washing windows/mirrors, flipping mattresses, changing all sheets/washing all blankets and linens and mattress pads, straightening and vacuuming closets, getting carpets cleaned, vacuuming all upholstery, underneath all area rugs and furniture, etc. 

Yep
I never do it all. But every once in a while I do one of those things. I figure it is better than nothing.

[penelope]

I do a cleaning like that every year before Thanksgiving. Holiday dinners are all at my house, so I like to do it sometime in the beginning of November. That makes prepping for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners easier.

This year though, I did it in June too. I had vacation time to take or lose, so I took it and had no plans other than to clean.

[Deleted]

Sept 29, 2013 13:03:30 GMT -5 Queen Dick, Hibernating Bear said:

Sept 29, 2013 12:52:58 GMT -5 @misoangry said:

Never.

Hey! I'm not the only one!

I'm just not that clean.  Even the cleaning person doesn't do all this.  She has better things to do, too.  LOL.

[wanderlustmom]

I am with Miso. The only one I'm fastidious about is is the inside of the refrigerator.

[Overthemoon]

I do a good deep cleaning spring and fall, and I also like to do one after Christmas once all of the decorations are put away and the tree is down. DH is usually here too to help with the kids and I always feel like the house needs some extra attention after the holiday season.

[Cioccolato]

Deep cleaning for me is scrubbing the walls, the cupboards, cleaning out the refrigerator, cleaning all the "nooks and crannies". I do this 3-4x a year. I love a clean house.

[expatpumpkin]

Sept 29, 2013 12:37:42 GMT -5 strawberriquen said:

What does "deep cleaning" your house entail for you?

How often do you deep clean your home?

Approximately $200

Not really necessary since we have regular visits by the cleaner, so maybe once a year

[cinnamoncox]

Sept 29, 2013 13:44:24 GMT -5 @smace said:

Drinking until it looks neater?

That's usually my method as well
Deep cleaning twins!!

[cinnamoncox]

Sept 29, 2013 16:19:16 GMT -5 pinkpinot said:

How do you clean blinds? Mine are FILTHY. I can't take them down because I have no idea how to get them back up. I go over them with a washcloth and warm water but the dirty water just runs all over and when I flip the blinds "up" it drips more and I can't really clean them good in the "up" position. WHY IS IT SO HARD?? I almost asked H to take them down today so I could soak them in the bathtub.

I put on those cheap stretchy knit gloves and then I wipe them with my hands with the gloves over them to dust it
Then if it needs washing I use another wet pair of gloves, but if I dry dust them often enough, I typically don't need to do anything but spot wash
Then just wash the gloves with rags and use then next time
My mom used to take them down and put them in the tub and wash them and dry then and hang back up OMG it looked like so much work I vowed to never ever do that lol