Relocating your home is a huge task that is made up of many parts. The task of moving is so big that many of those that have undergone the process agree that it is one of the most tiring and stressful things to do. There are so many tasks to handle, such as changing your information, organizing and packing your things, dealing with movers, scheduling moving trucks and services, getting your children into a new school and getting adjusted to a new home and work environment.
When all these responsibilities come to mind too might feel like you are buried in tasks and there is no way out. Even worse, once you start planning out how to get all this done in the right amount of time you remember that other things that you have to take care of and one of them is cleaning. This includes your things and your old residence since you are probably planning on renting or selling your old place and sure can’t leave it in a mess. If you have any questions on how to handle the other moving tasks check out our other articles, in this one we will be focusing on how to have you home clean and presentable for when the big day comes.
The only way to ensure that cleaning doesn’t go out of control is to keep everything in check. You should have your move planned out, your priorities established and a schedule to stick to, not just with the move but also with your cleaning.
Preparation is key
There is a famous quote that says “failing to prepare is preparation for failure”. This quote can help us in many areas of our lives and is no different when it comes to moving and cleaning. You will want to have all your cleaning supplies ready and set for cleaning, this means that you cannot pack them away and need to find a place for them where they will not be an obstacle while you are organizing and packing away your other belongings. We suggest a box in which you can place your cleaning supplies. Make sure to prepare for all sorts of cleans.
Cleaning should happen before and after the room has been cleared and organized. Cleaning and tidying before will help you greatly in knowing where everything is and is sure to make organizing a lot easier. After the place has been cleared out and you have put things away you will want to go over the room again just to make sure that the room is presentable and not in a mess from the endless amount of work that was carried out in it.
Have a plan
When you are moving from you will want to leave it behind in a good, clean and presentable state so that the next person there or the landlord will not have a problem moving in. In order to do this, it is best to have a solid plan to get things off on the right foot. You should start your organization ahead of time so that you have enough time to pack everything you need and clean up in time.
Give away or throw away
When you are getting your place ready you will want to work with as little clutter as possible. Clutter, in this case, means things that you don’t necessarily need or use anymore. So a good thing to do in this situation is separate your items into those that you don’t need anymore and those that you intend to keep and take with you. The things you don’t need can be further divided into junk that you will throw away and things that you can give to somebody else or sell. Doing this will leave you with items that you need and will help get rid of all the unnecessary things cluttering your house. Go through all the rooms of your house and repeat this process. Once you get rid of all the things that aren’t necessarily used and that you don’t really need, your entire house will have a completely new feel to it and you will have no problem cleaning up.
Clean the places that will be kept clean
When it comes to the cleaning itself you will want to start with rooms that are empty. This includes rooms that you will not be entering during the organizing and packing process and which will not be used during this time. Consider if you will be entering a place if you can remove the items out of a smaller room or even if you can organize a smaller place first and then clean it just to check a room of your list. This can give you the psychological edge and get you in the right state of mind for the rest of the cleaning.
Do some intense cleaning
When it comes to moving into a place or moving from a place always think about having a thorough cleaning done. When you are moving from your old home your objective is to have the place look as clean as it can be so that the potential buyer or the landlord are pleased with what they see. In order to do this, you should go all out and clean all parts of the house. This includes tasks that are usually done on a monthly or yearly basis, such as making all the windows shine, giving the blinds a good dusting, scrubbing down the bathtubs, showers and taps, dusting the lights, air ducts, ceiling fans ,cleaning out the fireplace if you have one, flush the drains if there are any funny smells, vacuuming furniture, clean your carpets, checking smoke alarms. As you can see these sort of cleaning jobs are endless and many of them are overlooked when people think of cleaning. These should be handled in a well-organized manner so that they do not interrupt your organizing and packing. Your priorities should be that you do not forget anything and not get confused during this stressful time, then you can focus on intensive cleaning.
Make a checklist of the rooms
This focuses more on cleaning and not decluttering.Having a checklist that you can follow will make this job way easier and will help you avoid any repeated cleaning. This checklist should help you prioritize which rooms to clean when and should be made with the organizing in mind. You will want to clean rooms after they have been decluttered and organized, only once the room is done and everything inside of it is well packed should you start with cleaning. The room should be cleaned twice, once before and after only if it is dirty. You don’t want to be working in filth.
Have a starting point
Having a point of departure and a plan is important. Once you decide where to start from the task starts to feel more doable. So when you make your plan, make sure that you know where you will start from and which rooms you will tackle after that, sticking to this system will ensure that the cleaning goes smoothly and that you will not be overwhelmed.
Dust your house
Just as we talked about intense cleaning, you should also think about doing some intense dusting. We have already mentioned dusting some things that wouldn’t come to mind, but you should also dust the normal day to day things. Make sure that all surfaces are dusted and presentable. This goes for all furniture that may be left behind and nooks and crannies that can be dusty.
Make sure furniture is clean
This is a step that shouldn’t be overlooked, no matter, if you are planning on taking your furniture with you or leaving it behind you, should make sure that it is properly cleaned and dusted. This should be done after all the drawers and compartments have been looked through and packed away, so as to assure that nothing is forgotten and that everything is spotless.
Remove cobwebs
You have probably entered a friend’s house at one point and seen cobwebs in the corners and wondered why is that even there. Then you might have looked back and remembered that you had them as well. This is because cobwebs usually creep up on us and we don’t even pay attention to them. They just slowly appear and you don’t even notice them. In order to avoid any arachnophobic buyers leaving. You might want to clean out those cobwebs before you leave the place. This is an easy job and won’t take you more than a few minutes.
Cleaning walls and floors
Cleaning the walls and floors seems like something you should do first when you consider cleaning, but it is, in fact, best left after the move is done. Once all the items are taken out you will have nothing you get in your way and you will be able to thoroughly clean the place without any distraction or problems. The floors should be handled after the walls since they are always used and can easily get dirty again once you clean them.
Final inspection
Once the moving has commenced and you are about to start the final clean you should make a quick check to make sure that you haven’t forgotten anything behind. This includes checking all the areas that you might not usually think about or places where something could be left behind. Places like small crawl spaces, garages, sheds, storage rooms, attics, basement. Going through these areas to make sure that nothing is left behind or forgotten is always a good idea.
Throw out the trash
Have you ever entered a room and noticed trash left behind or lying around somewhere, you probably didn’t like and maybe even had the urge to clean it up. This applies to others as well, you should definitely not leave any trash when you leave. Make sure that you get rid of all the trash in the place when leaving.
Hiring a professional cleaning service
If you are short on time or are already overworked and stressed out then you may want to consider hiring a professional cleaning service to handle the cleaning. Professional cleaning services will make sure that you home is completely spotless and it will only cost you some money, saving you the stress and time it would take you to do it. If money is not a problem and you don’t mind spending a few dollars on the cleaning service it is a great option.
Cleaning sounds like a tiring and exhausting job, especially when there are so many things to handle in the move. That is why we recommend you start as soon as possible so that you can take care of everything in a well timely manner and not cause yourself a lot of stress on the big move. Despite this task being very tiring and draining it will leave you with a sense of accomplishment and pride seeing your house clean and ready for anybody that comes into it.
