Give your house a deep cleaning at least once a year! But you don’t need conventional, toxin-filled cleaners to get the job done. Here are tips for getting started with natural deep cleaning.
Guest post by Jenni Mullinix
Whether you do it once a year or more often, setting aside time for deep cleaning your home is an important part of the cleaning duties that come with being a homemaker. Why? Because as imperfect–and sometimes overwhelmed–homemakers, we can’t get it all done in our everyday routines. Am I right? In light of this, I would like to share with you some tips for deep cleaning your home naturally.
When to Deep Clean
This is entirely up to you, but at least once a year is ideal. I like to deep clean in the spring and again in the fall. I personally prefer fall cleaning over spring cleaning, but both have their advantages. Find what works best for your family and situation.
What to Use
The three most basic items I like to use for natural cleaning can usually be found in your pantry or fridge: baking soda, lemons (or lemon juice) and vinegar. You can clean just about anything with these grocery staples! Super washing soda is another great all-purpose natural cleaner.
If you don’t mind adding a few other ingredients, there are also several natural cleaning recipes you can use. I personally use homemade cleaning solutions on a regular basis. I love that I can control the ingredients and can save money at the same time. (FYI- I share the recipes to some of my favorites in my free eBook, Clean Enough.) If making your own cleaning products isn’t your cup of tea and you don’t mind spending a little extra money, there are now plenty of natural cleaners that you purchase just about anywhere.
Note from Erin: I love using essential oils for cleaning, and I also purchasing natural cleaners at a discounted price from Grove Collaborative!
How does it work? Simply fill out your email address, and then fill out a very short questionnaire. Grove will then put together a sample basket for you based on your preferences.
Delete the things you don’t want from your cart, but keep the FREE goodies (usually with a $20 purchase)! Click here to claim it! Read my honest review of Grove Co. here.
What to Clean
Now that you have your cleaning supplies the deep cleaning can begin! But where to start? This will depend on your living arrangements and personal preference. Obviously you will want to focus on tasks that are not in your daily and weekly cleaning routines. I usually like to focus my energy on the following:
- Dust – Even if you dust on a regular basis, there are always plenty of things that don’t get cleaned very often. This is the perfect time to take down window treatments and wash them, take a rag to the ceiling fans, light fixtures, door frames, floorboards, and dust other places that often get overlooked. Make sure you change your air filters, too!
- Dirt – Dirt gets tracked into our house every day and if you have children, there are even more ways for our houses to become dirty! This might be the time you want to shampoo the carpets, strip and wax the wood floors, clean out the fridge, and scrub fingerprints off the walls and windows.
- Disinfect – While disinfecting is not a cosmetic deep cleaning task, I believe it is vital to keeping sickness at bay, especially during the winter months. This would be a good time to focus on doorknobs, drawer handles, light switches, toys, trash cans, and maybe even the washer and dryer. Basically you want to disinfect places and items that are used and/or handled often but not cleaned on a regular basis.
If you are one of those people that likes detailed to-do lists, then you may find using one of these checklists to be helpful:
- 4 Deep Cleaning Schedules (Bathrooms, Kitchen, Main Living Areas & Bedrooms)
- Fall Cleaning Checklist
- Your Deep Spring Cleaning Game Plan
- Spring Cleaning Checklist
- The “Mother of All” Fall Cleaning Checklist
For more cleaning tips and recipes, check out these posts from The Humbled Homemaker archives!
Are you ready to tackle the task of deep cleaning your home naturally yet? When you are, I hope these ideas and resources will come in handy.
I would love to read some of your deep cleaning tricks and tips! Won’t you share one in a comment?
**********
Overwhelmed with housework? If so, you may find my free eBook, Clean Enough, to be a valuable resource! The book is packed full of practical advice, step-by-step instructions, natural cleaning recipe printables and more! It will encourage you in your high calling as a homemaker and help you become a less-stressed housewife.
This book is FREE when you subscribe to my email newsletter. Enjoy!
**********
Jenni Mullinix is happily married to her husband and enjoys being a stay-at-home mama. She is fascinated with all things domestic and is the author of Clean Enough: Simple Solutions for the Overwhelmed Homemaker. In her free time, she enjoys deep conversations, drinking lattes, and diving into a good book. As a writer, Jenni is passionate about inspiring women to live for the glory of God in every season of life. She strives to encourage women to cultivate cross-centered hearts and homes on her blog, and would love to connect with you on Facebook and Twitter.
Bonnie
Your site has helped me so much with getting and staying healthy…my new favorite is water with essential lavender for a home spray since we have 3dogs. There is nothing like a clean house to be proud of…whether others see what you have done or not, you know.
Penny
Thank you for sharing these recipes. Here is an advice for people who don’t have free time to make cleaners of their own.Beware of products claiming to be natural or eco friendly, especially if they still look and smell like regular cleaning products. Just because they say natural or eco doesn’t mean they actually are – usually its just a neat marketing trick. Always check the ingredients and make sure you understand what each ingredient is.
Maria
Thanks for sharing all your great green cleaning tips. Nice!
Nicole
About the vodka in some recipes. Can a “cheap” brand be sufficient? I also have some Peach Vodka in the freezer I am never going to drink. Can that be used or with the flavoring make things sticky or something. It is Absolute 🙂
Scarlett Walton
There is no problem to use a cheap brand. The alcohol in the vodka is a spirits and it disinfects when you apply it on a surface. The expensive alcohol is better for drinking because it is not that harmful for your body.
Liz Herring
Thanks for the great tips! I’ll put my kids to work immediately 🙂
Nour
Great article on deep cleaning. Mostly I am using professional deep cleaning companies in Dubai as its a bit dusty here. Now I will try these tips and let’s see if I can manage on myself.
Keep up the good work and keep sharing:)
Desert Safari Dubai
Thanks for sharing this best stuff with us! Keep sharing! I am new in the blog writing.All types blogs and posts are not helpful for the readers.
Desert Safari Dubai