In addition to the more well-known “spring cleaning”, it is good not to neglect the autumn ones, in order to spend a pleasant winter at home.
To keep a clean home, you know, the ideal is to work a daily basis.
In addition to this, there are those periods of the year dedicated to deeper cleaning, such as spring cleaning, but also autumn cleaning.
The importance of autumn cleaning
While spring cleaning (also known as “Easter cleaning”) aims to “freshen up” the house for the arrival of the summer season, autumn cleaning is ideal for preparing the house for winter. During the colder months we spend much more time at home, we live it more, so it would be advisable to prepare to live your home to the fullest. We can make it more welcoming not only by choosing to change the aesthetic side, such as carpets or cushions, but above all by eliminating, for example, the dust deposited on the tallest furniture, to which we may pay little attention during daily cleaning. The advice is to take advantage of the last sunny days, not only to have more light (especially natural) but also to face the cleaning with the right amount of good humor.
Organizing cleaning
Whether you live in a studio apartment or in a larger house, cleaning your home thoroughly is a significant commitment, especially when you decide to devote yourself to the deeper cleaning of specific rooms.
Once you have identified the needs, detergents in hand, try to divide the various areas of the house to be cleaned. You can do it mentally but no one forbids you to write a real list or follow a scheme, so as to understand what are the priorities and what are the things that can be neglected (but only temporarily!).
How to best clean your living room
One of the most lived-in rooms in the house is undoubtedly the living room. Whether it’s a living room, a living room with a dining room or a living room with an entrance, it is certainly one of the meeting points of home.
Friends, family, moments of relaxation, the time we spend in this room is certainly remarkable, but just as many are the places where dust is deposited.
For this reason, it deserves special attention. The first thing to do is certainly to proceed with a thorough cleaning of the sofa, washing the covers if removable or cleaning it with special products if it is not made of fabric.
Vacuuming hard-to-reach spaces will certainly be easier if the cushions have been removed. Then you can move on to cleaning curtains and carpets: excluding curtains that require special attention, a nice cycle suitable in the washing machine and then hanging them up again still damp will bring them back to new giving a pleasant smell of cleanliness to the room. Even the windows, now, will want their part. There are hundreds of dedicated products for them, while for window sills and shutters/shutters you can proceed with water and baking soda. In this case, the sun helps: in addition to revealing any residues and halos, it will allow everything to dry as soon as possible.
As for carpets, you can proceed with a beater in the first place or if you have a dedicated vacuum cleaner, act directly with that. In case of stains, you can act with special products to be used dry or with a mixture of water and baking soda to rub.
If you have bookcases or tall furniture with a fair number of objects, away with everything! Clear each shelf, clean the cabinet thoroughly from top to bottom and store books and objects well dusted and/or washed.
Removing dust from bedrooms
The same precautions can also be adopted for the bedroom.
In addition to what is recommended for the living room, for the bedroom there is also a good cleaning of wardrobes and clothes, perhaps even taking the opportunity to remove some clothes that you no longer wear. If you have to make the change of season, a good wash of all the clothes to be placed later in the boxes is a must.
Empty the wardrobe completely so as to clean the shelves well and then store the garments for the colder season.
To sleep at your best, you need to remove dust: move the bed, the wardrobes that allow it and vacuum any fabric parts. Then finish with a vacuum cleaner and then wash the floor, so as to remove all the dust deposited.
How to keep your kitchen and bathroom clean
Another very important place in the house that requires daily cleaning, even if not always thorough, is the kitchen.
This can be the perfect time of year to thoroughly clean your appliances and pantry.
You can devote yourself to the shelves by removing everything, rearranging and checking expiration dates and cleaning with a cloth damp with water, vinegar and lemon, sanitizing and scenting.
As far as household appliances are concerned, always water and vinegar as excellent allies. Again, if the layout of your kitchen allows it, move the fridge or hob so that you can also devote yourself to cleaning the most hidden areas.
The bathroom requires more cleaning than the kitchen.
Leaving aside routine daily cleaning, it is a good habit to clean the washing machine from time to time. You can do this by passing a damp cloth through the rubber sheath in the basket, to remove residues that settle and cleaning the filter with vinegar. Another tip is to run an empty cycle with water and vinegar or with the appropriate products on the market for cleaning the washing machine.
If it’s time to remove limescale stains, vinegar and baking soda come to your rescue: just dissolve them in water and they will help you clean and sanitize. Always remember to dry well! being the most humid area of the house, small molds could form.
