What makes a deep clean a spring clean
On the form, a spring clean and a deep clean are the same job. What sets it apart is the timing: the windows open again, the sun shows up the streaks, and the heater's been pushing dust around for months.
It doesn't have to be spring either. Pick the month that suits your household, before Christmas guests or after the school holidays.
Spring cleaning: keep the sorting, hand over the scrubbing
Only you can decide what stays. Wardrobes, the linen press, the bathroom drawer of old samples: that's your half. Do it first, because a cleaner can't get inside a cupboard that's still full.
The other half is physical. Shower grout, the range hood filter, window tracks and door frames take time and elbow grease, and that's where a business earns its keep.
A spring clean, room by room
- Kitchen: the range hood filter, cupboard fronts, and any shelves you've cleared.
- Bathroom: shower screen, grout, and the exhaust fan cover.
- Living areas: skirting boards, light switches and the heater vents.
- Bedrooms: door frames, and inside the wardrobe if you've emptied it.
- Windows: tracks and sills, plus inside glass if you add it.
- Extras to tick: the oven, carpet steam cleaning, wall marks.
Spring cleaning the bathroom after winter
Damp months can leave mould around the ceiling and the shower. Run the exhaust fan or open a window when you shower, and fix any leak behind it, because mould needs moisture. A little mild detergent or diluted vinegar handles a small patch. If large areas keep growing back, that's one for a mould remediation professional.
Spring cleaners and you: who does what
Worth doing yourself
- Sort wardrobes, cupboards and the linen press.
- Wash curtains and doonas, or send them out.
- Take down anything breakable from high shelves.
- If you're up a ladder for the high dusting, keep it on dry, firm, level ground, with 3 points of contact.
Where a cleaning business earns its keep
- Grout and shower screens with months of build-up.
- Range hood filters and the greasy tiles behind them.
- Tracks, sills, frames and switches across the whole home.
- Floors, last of all.
Sort first, then book the spring cleaners
Do the sorting first, then book the clean for once the cupboards are clear and the bags have gone to the op shop. List the three jobs you've been avoiding longest, and ask the business to start there.