The New Home Deep Clean: What to Clean When You Move

A new house or apartment presents so many possibilities. Bare walls, an uncluttered space, and a bare canvas upon which to make yourself a home. But before you get started on the fun parts of moving to a new place, you have to take care of the basics. Namely, the new home deep clean.

Whether you’re renting or buying, move in cleaning (or pre-move in cleaning, if you’ve got some lee-way with your timing) is a big necessity. The person or people who lived there before you, no matter how well-intentioned, inevitably left behind some dirt, grime, and dust that you’ll want to take care of before you really settle in. Unless you’ve just moved in to brand new construction, that blank slate isn’t quite as blank as it looks.

Cleaning a house before you move in is the ideal way to go, since you won’t have the added difficulty of needing to work around a bunch of furniture and boxes. But if you have to wait until after you move that’s fine – just don’t skip the clean entirely. The same goes for if a cleaning crew came through prior to you getting the keys. This is one corner you just don’t want to cut.

There are quite a few steps to move in cleaning, but you should be able to get your place looking as shiny and new as possible in just a day or two with some elbow grease and maybe another pair of helping hands (thanks, mom!). Here’s are some tips to get you going.

Clean high before you clean low

If you’re cleaning post-move, do the fridge first

Do the rest of the kitchen

Onto the bathrooms

Tackle the rest of the space

Finish with the floors

And you’re done! That wasn’t so bad, right?