If you’re like most of our customers, your house has gotten a lot of use over the last year and a half. You’ve maybe even spent more time than you care to remember staring at the four walls of your house. And with everybody home for work and school, rooms got more use than ever before. 

You do your best to keep up with the day-to-day cleaning, trying to stay ahead of the constant build-up of dirty dishes in the kitchen, the tidal wave of dirty clothes in the laundry room. You’ve cleared clutter in the living room and dining room, and spot cleaned the bathrooms and all the bedrooms - including all the pet fur all over the couches and floors that seems to return before you’ve even finished vacuuming and sweeping it. But to have a house that’s really clean and healthy for you and your whole family, you need to invest some time in deep cleaning your house. 

What is a deep house cleaning? Deep cleaning includes getting into the nooks and crannies of your house to get them clean. It means cleaning windows, light fixtures, and not just vacuuming under furniture, but the underside of cushions, too!

Don’t panic. It’s not as overwhelming as it sounds! We have some tips for deep cleaning the house that will not only make the process easy, but will make it even easier to keep your house cleaner in between deep cleanings. 

Tips to Maintain Your House’s Deep Clean 

Tip #1: Pick the “deep cleaning of the house” approach that works best for you

Does the thought of such a big project make you panic? Does it stop you dead in your tracks before you’ve even gotten started? The most important tip we can give you is to break the work down in a way that works best for you. 

• The list maker approach: Go into each room and look around at the areas of it that you haven’t touched in months. Make a list and tape it to the door so you can have double the satisfaction of deep cleaning the room and crossing the areas off your list as you go.
• The focus by area approach: Each weekend, pick an area that needs a deep cleaning. The best time to clean windows is on a cloudy day, so the cleaning solution doesn’t dry on the windows. So, on a cloudy Saturday or Sunday, clean all the windows in the house. Another weekend, focus your vacuuming on the furniture. Vacuum under it, the bottom of it, the top of it, use the tool and dig deep into the crevices of your furniture. Another day, you tackle cleaning the fridge from the inside out, wiping up the spills that have happened between deep cleanings and focusing on disinfection. You get the idea.
• The outward-in approach: Deep cleaning your house can start easily with the most obvious mess in your house: clutter. It can really build up if you don’t stay on top of it. Before you go turning your couch upside down to vacuum the bottom of it, start with the clutter that’s lying all over the living room. Throw out outdated coupons and magazines, file away bills. Put away all that crafting stuff on the dining room table until you actually have time to work on it again. Or, if you’re in the middle of a project, put away the excess materials you took out before you were focused. But try not to move all of the clutter lying around into another cluttered area--like the junk drawer or the garage. Just because it’s out of sight, does not make it out of mind. It’s still there. Just deal with it so you can move on.   

Tip #2: Deep cleaning your house means getting all the spots you usually neglect 

What are the spots that you just never seem to get to? These are the areas you want to focus on when you’re organizing your deep cleaning for the house. Here are just a few suggestions to consider.

• Fans and air movers - When’s the last time you wiped down the blades of your ceiling fan or any box or standing fans? How about your humidifier? Clean the reservoir, the air intake, and the filter. The filter over your stove could probably use a degreasing too. While you’re at it, be sure to change the filter on your HVAC system (changing it more frequently can cut the dust in your home).
• Keep the cleaning appliances clean - Even your dishwasher and washing machine need some deep cleaning occasionally. Wipe down seals, the detergent reservoirs, and make sure the trap in your dishwasher is free of food debris.
• Deep clean your coffee machine - Unless your coffee machine has a filter for removing chlorine and minerals from the water you use to make coffee, chances are you’ve got some build-up. Run a little vinegar and water through the machine to clean out all those hoses you can’t reach.
• Freshen up the bathroom - Another good use for vinegar is to remove mineral build-up on your shower head. Simply submerge the holes in vinegar water for an hour and scrub away the deposits. Throw your plastic or vinyl shower curtain in the washing machine with a few towels and some detergent to get the soap and mildew build-up off.
• Make grimy grout sparkle - Make a paste of baking soda and water and scrub any grout in your house that has become discolored with time. If that isn’t enough, add some vinegar and dish detergent to the mix and add a little elbow grease. And try these tips to get rid of any mold you find.

Tip #3: Make deep cleaning your house speed cleaning

There are some pretty simple hacks that can help you make deep cleaning for the house easier over time and less overwhelming in the short-term.

• Stay stocked up - When you’ve figured out the products that work best for you, keep them on hand. Keep an eye out for sales and save a little money while you’re at it. Plus, it will help you stay motivated to get the work done when you have the time and motivation to do it.

• Keep the system running - Are the lists taped to the doors helpful reminders that you can tackle a piece of deep cleaning at a time throughout the week so it doesn’t build up? Take them down when the family visits or you have get-togethers, but keep them around! Whatever the system is that works for you, keep it going and you won’t lose an entire weekend to deep cleaning your house.

• Don’t do it alone - If you’re not the only person living in your home, there is no reason for you to be the only one deep cleaning the house. Having trouble motivating the troops? Make it fun - make it a challenge! First one to finish their task wins! Either way, especially if you’re not the only one living there, you’re not the only one creating the dirt. And if you do live alone? Reward yourself - get a massage or a pint of ice cream, or that shirt you talked yourself out of buying for yourself. You deserve it!

Tip #4: Schedule us for deep cleaning of house service 

Too busy to even think about how to develop a system for how to deep clean your home? You’ve Got Maids of Northern Virginia is your answer. We use a 52-point cleaning checklist to assure that all that extras are tended to. We go from room to room, tackling all those hard to reach, hard to clean spots that you try to forget are there. 

We offer special treatment for your kitchen, bathrooms and bedrooms, the inside of the refrigerator, ovens, and light fixtures. Every room gets vacuumed, mopped, dusted, hand-washed, and straightened from ceiling to floor. Every service includes a supervisor onsite in your home and our staff use eco-friendly cleaning products. 

We recommend a deep clean every 6-8 months. Setting up a first time cleaning? That first cleaning should be a deep cleaning. 

Wondering about the cost for deep cleaning a house? Contact us. We’ll help you find the service package that’s right for your house. We are licensed, bonded, and insured, and our staff are Maid University trained, and background checked. 

Let us focus on cleaning your home so you can focus on your life. Contact us to get a free estimate, call us at (571) 732-2199, and follow us on facebook and instagram.