Green Ways to Deep Clean Your Gross Home

The summertime usually keeps us pretty busy, what with holidays, day-trips, or entertaining the kids. Now that autumn has arrived, it’s high time to give your house a deep-clean! Your home may be pretty tidy as it is, but it’s essential to have those times whereby you sanitise everything thoroughly. A deep clean goes way beyond the tasks of a regular clean to reach those hidden areas of tough grime and dirt. Some find cleaning therapeutic, while others just find it a chore! Wherever you may be on the scale, let’s dive into a handy room-by-room guide. 

Get decluttering 

The first thing that you’ll want to do is to declutter your home. If you don’t have a good old declutter first, it just makes it much more challenging to have a deep clean. Decluttering isn’t generally a process that you’ll finish in one day. Depending on the size of your home, you’ll probably need to space out the job across a few declutter sessions! Take each room at a time and go through all of your belongings. Anything that you don’t use or want can either be recycled, sold or given to a charity shop. We all tend to hold onto belongings that we have little use for, and this can create a chaotic and messy atmosphere. Decluttering allows you to free up some space and put that space to better use. Once you’ve rid yourself of the clutter in each room, you’ll be ready to get cleaning! A tidier home equals an easier to clean home. 

The Kitchen 

The oven 

 A deep clean needs to prioritise getting the oven nice and sparkling! When we do our quick-cleans, we tend to miss out the oven. It’s important not to neglect it for too long because the longer that dirt builds up, the tougher it will be to get off that grime. Keeping the oven clean is a matter of hygiene so you’ll want to do a thorough enough job. 

Traditionally, conventional oven cleaners have been used to work their magic! In more recent years, many people are opting for greener and less chemical based cleaning solutions. If you’re looking for a homemade oven cleaning solution, why not try a natural oven cleaner made from cornstarch and white vinegar? Simply stir a cup of vinegar and a tablespoon of cornstarch together. Next heat up the mixture until it thickens up. Once you’ve allowed the mixture to cool, apply it all over your oven and leave it to do its thing for around fifteen to twenty minutes. 

The fridge 

While your homemade solution is soaking in your oven, you can be taking the items out of your fridge, preparing for a clean. Give everything a good scrub and let the water dry before putting the food back inside. You can use a mixture of lemon juice and water to cleanse everything plus get rid of any nasty odours that have built up in your fridge. 

Mop the floors 

Once you’ve hoovered or swept up all the dirt, give your floor a thorough mopping. Make sure that you get behind every corner possible, whether it’s those hard to reach areas around the fridge or behind your kitchen bin. When it comes to cleaning the kitchen you’ll probably have your favourite products that you use. If not, products by Ecocover can be an excellent choice as green cleaning products. Ecocover offer a range of handy cleaning solutions from multi-purpose sprays to oven and hob cleaners. These products are made with mostly plant-based ingredients; they are both effective and biodegradable. 

With a little elbow grease, you’ll get all your surfaces looking amazing! Generally speaking, our kitchens take the longest time to give a deep clean. If you have high cupboards in your kitchen, remember to dust and wipe the tops. The tops of cupboards often get neglected because they are out of sight. Some really nasty grime and germs can build up here over time (you really won’t want this in your kitchen)! Once you’ve finished your kitchen, adding a bunch of flowers for decoration is a lovely finishing touch. 

The Bathroom 

Your bathroom requires a deeper clean more often than the other rooms. When you’re doing a deep clean, you’ll definitely want to take your shower curtain down to wash it. If you’re looking for a green bathroom cleaner ‘Simple Green’ offers a cleaner that works wonders! Baking soda and vinegar can also be an excellent natural solution to clean your bathroom. 

 A deep clean requires doing all those jobs you’d rather not do (but just have too!) Clear out the grimy build-ups from the plug holes, give the toilet a super scrub and polish the shower screen until it sparkles! If your toilet has stains from rust, you’ll need to invest in a strong limescale solution to help rid you of this. 

Use a small toothbrush to remove any limescale build-ups in your bathroom. Again, the company ‘Simple Green’ sell a pretty great limescale remover. You can also apply a thick layer of vinegar to the areas of limescale. For the best results leave the areas to soak with vinegar for an hour and then return and wipe them clean. You can also use some vinegar for your shower head; remove the showerhead and leave it to soak overnight. If you have chrome taps, you could try olive oil to polish and make them really shine! 

The Living Room 

With your living room, much of the cleaning is about dusting and vacuuming. With dusting, always start from the top and work your way down. Get your ladder, dust your ceilings, ceiling fans and higher shelves too. Dust and polish all your surfaces and get some carpet cleaner for any little stains. For your living room carpets, you must have a powerful vacuum cleaner to help you out! If you don’t have a good vacuum cleaner, it’s a good idea to take a look at some of those black friday vacuum cleaner deals! When you’re vacuuming, you’ll want to prioritise the hard to reach areas like underneath the sofas and other furniture. Dust and dirt builds up over time in those hidden spaces. A deep clean is a chance to get everything all perfect again. 

 Don’t forget to put all your cushions in the wash (paying attention to the washing instructions). When your living room is all nice and clean perhaps you’ll want to choose a few new accessories for it? Autumn is the perfect time for some new interior design touches for your home. Why not choose some orange and brown tones for a theme that’s right on season. Every new season is a chance to change- up the colours in our homes. Autumn is associated with some beautiful colours, so why not get good and creative? 

The Bedroom 

Bedrooms are often the places where we neglect our dusting; so dust from ceiling to floor first. You’ll want to wash all your fabrics in the bedroom, from the duvets to the cushions and curtains too. It’s a good idea to clean your mattress with a sprinkle of fabric cleaner and then by vacuuming it. Don’t forget to move any items that are stored underneath the bed and vacuum under here too. Perhaps you have some wooden furniture in your bedroom? If so you’ll probably want to give this a good old polish. Olive oil can be an excellent go-to to get your wooden items looking nice and shiny!

Wardrobes can get a little stuffy and dusty over time. It’s a great plan to take out all of your clothes and wash the ones that you haven’t worn for a while. When you leave clothes inside a wardrobe for too long they can build up a bit of a musty odor. Dust thoroughly inside your wardrobe to get rid of any dirt and hang some natural air fresheners inside. Get rid of any clothes that you don’t want and that are just taking up space. 

When you’ve finished, you can light a candle to make everything smell lovely. Go for candles made of soy or vegetable wax for a greener and less toxic choice. You can still find these in some super lovely scents. Often we tend to neglect a deep clean of our bedrooms, focusing rather on the kitchen and bathroom. Now’s your chance to give your bedroom the thorough clean that it deserves!

With a deep clean, it’s all about taking the time that’s required. You won’t want to miss any corner; don’t be afraid to really get into those crevices. Always wear your gloves to protect your skin from any nasty germs (and from your cleaning products). Generally speaking, you might want to split a deep clean over a few days depending on how much time you have. Sometimes the process can feel like a bit of a chore, but rest assured you’ll be glad once you have the results! 

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