January Deep Cleaning

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It’s a new year, and what better way to start than with less stress and a plan for handling all those deep cleaning job around the home.

If you haven’t already, read my post on Deep Cleaning Schedule for Your Whole Home. There I lay out a month-by-month schedule to spread out the deep cleaning jobs over a year, instead of stressing yourself out over trying to get it all done in a few months during the spring.

So now the fun begins! It is Month 1 of your journey to a nice clean, organized home!

This month is pretty simple and not too time-consuming. You can do knock it all out on one Saturday during the month, or do a little here and there while your little one naps.

When I deep clean my house I like to go from top to bottom. That way, when the dust and dirt fall from the top, I’ll still be going back and cleaning it up off the bottom.

Here are January’s Deep Cleaning Jobs:

Dust Ceilings
Clean Switch Plates and Outlets
Dust Ceiling Fans
Clean Vents
Replace Air Filters

What You’ll Need:

Multipurpose Cleaner
Microfiber Cloth

I use a homemade multipurpose cleaner – here’s my recipe. I love it because it is made up of 4 simple, safe, and non-toxic ingredients: Borax, Washing Soda, Liquid Castile Soap, and essential oils. My favorites are lemon and lavender essential oil. Lemon is a natural disinfectant, and I love the way they both make the house smell when using them.

If I run out of supplies to make my own cleaner or just want to try something different, here are some others I like:

Branch Basics – I recently got their starter set, and I love it! You can basically clean everything in your home with their concentrate and refillable bottles. AND it’s super safe, non-toxic, and effective!
Seventh Generation All Purpose Cleaner – You can get this and many other safe cleaning products through one of my favorite companies, Grove Collaborative. It is an awesome company that sends you a box of your favorite products for household cleaning, paper and storage, personal care, baby and kids, and pets. You can sign up for their VIP service to receive free shipping and free gifts with qualifying orders.

Receive a Grove Glass Sustainability Concentrates Set for FREE with your 1st purchase of $30+

What to Do:

1. Dust the Ceilings

I use my broom (vacuum it out to get out any gunk before using) and sweep over the entire surface of the ceiling in each room of my house. You can also use a feather duster with a long handle if you have one. Focus on the corners and sweep out any cobwebs or dust you see.

2. Clean the Switch Plates and Outlets

Spray a little bit of your multipurpose cleaner onto your microfiber cloth and dust the entire surface area of the switch plates and outlets.

3. Clean the Ceiling Fans

For this job, you’ll need a step stool or a chair to stand on. I spray the cleaner onto my cloth and wipe the glass light fixture and the metal part in the middle of the fan.

Then I spray the multipurpose cleaner directly onto the blades of the fan and wipe it good to get all the dust off. Depending on how dusty your fan is, you may need to rinse your cloth out between blades or grab a new microfiber cloth. Wipe the top first, sides, and bottom of each blade.

4. Clean the Vents

Spray the multipurpose cleaner onto the floor registers and wipe to get all the dust/dirt off.

Then take the floor register out and clean the underside and between the grates.

Take your vacuum cleaner and use the hose attachment to vacuum as far down as the hose will go.

Place the floor register back where it goes and admire the sparkling clean job you did! Repeat with the rest of the floor registers in your house.

Then, clean the HVAC returns. This can be a very messy job, and it can be hard to clean the vents if yours are on the ceiling like mine are. So I recommend taking the vents out of and heading to your laundry room, garage, or even outside to clean them.

Take a dustpan brush and sweep back and forth across each section to get the majority of the dust off the vent.

Once the majority of the dust is off, spray the vent with your multipurpose cleaner. Then go back and scrub to get the rest of the dust and dirt off.

This little foam paint edger works really well for getting in all the cracks. You will need to rinse it out frequently. Then use a microfiber cloth and wipe away all the excess water or dust.

Then, flip the vent over and do the same thing on the back side. Repeat for any other returns in your house.

Hook the vent back onto the return. Then use your little foam paint brush or microfiber cloth and multipurpose spray to clean all the gunk off around the inside edge of the return.

5. Replace the Air Filters:

While you’re cleaning the vents, this is a great time to replace the air filters if needed. Look and see if your air filters are dirty. If so- replace them!

We change our air filters about every 3 months. How often you change them depends on a few things:

if you have pets,
how many people live in your house, and
if anyone in your house has allergies.

The more of those things you have, the more often you’ll want to replace your air filters.

We do not spend a lot of money on the best allergy-reducing air filters. We were told by our heating and air contractor that those expensive filters are so thick, the air condition system has to work harder to pull the air out. And that causes your electric bill to go up! So, instead of spending more money on the best air filters and on a higher electric bill, we buy less-expensive air filters and replace them more often.

Finally, close up the vent and use your cloth to wipe up any excess water or dust.

6. Vacuum Up Afterwards:

After cleaning the ceilings, fans, and vents, you will definitely need to vacuum up all the dust that dropped to the floor.

Did you know that your carpet is another filter in your home? Dust settles in your carpet, keeping it from being airborne. If you wear shoes in your house, think of all the things you are dragging into your house. You might use a public bathroom and then come home and drag who knows what into your home. ICK!!!

It is so important to vacuum your house at least once a week. When you sign up to receive my e-mails, you will receive my free Weekly Cleaning Schedule. In it, I recommend cleaning the floors on Fridays, which is what I do. Of course, if the boys spill food or if they or my dog drag in extra dirt into the house, then I’ll vacuum more as needed.

It is also important to get your carpets steam cleaned. Here is a great article on why your carpet should be professionally cleaned.

On my Deep Cleaning Schedule, I recommend getting your carpets cleaned in June and December. But of course, you can get them cleaned whenever is best for you.

That’s it for your January deep cleaning! How did it go for you? What multipurpose cleaner do you like the best?

Watch this video to see how I do my January deep cleaning and gain some motivation for doing this deep cleaning in your own home!