If you usually have someone who cleans your home for you, quarantine might mean that you are now cleaning yourself. And if you are the one cleaning your home even in non-quarantine times, now you might notice that it needs a little more TLC. There are some ways to cut down on cleaning time to make your life easier, and tactics to make the task a bit less overwhelming. These tips apply if you are happy in your home, or if you are thinking about selling your home after coronavirus. 

Start with a Deep Clean

What is deep cleaning? Deep cleaning is working room by room, ensuring that no corner is overlooked. That includes dusting around all windows and door frames and grabbing spider webs from ceilings, and oft overlooked places like ceiling fans, crown molding, and tall windows. Starting with a deep clean means that you have a clean base to start from, and it will make it easier to keep up that fresh look. Here is a deep clean checklist:

• Vacuuming and cleaning all carpets, rugs, and window coverings
• Dusting all furniture
• Mopping floors
• Washing windows inside and out
• Cleaning kitchen counters and appliances inside and out
• Scouring your bathroom
• Swapping out lightbulbs for new ones and clearing away cobwebs

Once you’ve got the deep cleaning done, which might take you an entire day or longer, depending on the size of your home and your cleaning crew (family), you can think about how you can keep it up. 

Monthly Upkeep

If you are serious about keeping your home looking its best, you might consider a monthly version of the deep clean, that is a bit less intense. You can probably skip cleaning your ceiling fans or washing the inside and outside of your windows, and cleaning under furniture, but could see everything else on the deep clean checklist as fair game. 

Weekly Upkeep

The weekly clean is a surface clean, but it can be a way to keep everything looking fresh. Your weekly cleaning checklist might include:

• Vacuuming
• Mopping all floors
• Wiping down everything in the kitchen and bathroom
• Dusting floorboards

Daily Upkeep

Daily upkeep is an action that can become like second nature, especially when you are spending more time at home. Your daily upkeep list might include: 

• Wiping down counters in the kitchen and your stove after cooking
• Going through any piles of clutter, like papers, which may have accumulated throughout the day
• Moving items back to their homes (i.e. coffee mugs from a side table to the dishwasher or cabinets).

Why Should You Clean?

If you are spending more time at home, then cleaning will help you to feel more comfortable. If you are thinking about selling your home during Covid-19, keeping it clean has major advantages too, including financial ones. If you spend $167 on a deep clean including products or a carpet cleaner, you’ll recoup on average $1,728, for a 935% ROI, according to the real estate experts at HomeLight. You might never look forward to cleaning your home, but by breaking it down into a manageable schedule, you can stay on top of it and feel happy about the more serene environment that you are living in.