How Often Should I Clean my House?

Everyone has their own cleaning schedule, but now and then you might ask yourself: “I wonder how much I’m actually supposed to dust/wipe out the washing machine/clean the oven.” Especially when you don’t always know how much difference it really makes.

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A one-size fits all answer doesn’t exist when it comes to cleaning your home. However, we’ve found out how often the experts think we should carry out those day-to-day and once-in-a-while cleaning tasks. Take a look at these to find out how to keep your home hygienic and in good condition for many years to come.

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Kitchen Cleaning

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Many take a “clean as you go” approach to keeping their kitchen clean. This can work well in terms of getting through the washing up and wiping down surfaces. However, it can mean the more irregular tasks can fall through the cracks.

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A big one is cleaning your oven. While this may not seem like a pressing issue, dirty ovens are often less efficient, have a shorter lifespan, and can even become a fire hazard. 

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To keep yours in good working order, you should consider giving your oven a deep clean at least every 3 months, and preferably every month. Wiping any residue on the open door or stovetop once per week can make this job easier.

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Since your kitchen is where food is prepared, keeping germs at bay is vital and daily cleaning may be needed when it comes to sanitising surfaces. Experts also recommend sweeping the floor whenever there’s any kind of debris, as crumbs or spillages can attract pests.

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About once a week, you should think about giving the kitchen floor a thorough mop, disinfecting the sink, and wiping inside regularly used appliances like microwaves. This is also a good time to run your dishwasher through a cleaning cycle if you have one, put dishtowels in the wash, and clean up any spills which have accumulated in your fridge.

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Monthly, specialists recommend giving your fridge a deep clean and sanitising your bins (assuming there’s no burst bin bag situations beforehand).

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Lounge and Soft Furnishings

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To keep your upholstery in the best condition, it’s recommended that you get it deep cleaned twice a year, or more often if you have pets or children. As well as extending the life of your sofa or armchair, this will stop allergens, dust, and bacteria from building up deep in the fibres of your furniture. 

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If you own a lightweight hoover, it can also help to run this over any upholstery whenever you vacuum your carpets. You may also be able to use this on long, heavy curtains to banish dust. If you don’t have the right kind of vacuum, you could alternatively beat the dust off your curtains by hand before hoovering the room.

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About once a year, experts believe you should invest in a more thorough curtain clean, as they can be one of the worst offenders for harbouring dust and allergens, which can trigger conditions such as asthma. You can take the curtains down and take them to a professional cleaner, or hire a company to deep clean them in situ for a more convenient service. 

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Bedrooms

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There is some contention between experts about whether beds should ideally be changed every week or every two weeks. At the end of the day, this may depend on factors like how much those using the bed usually sweat overnight, whether or not they wear PJs, if they shower before sleep, and if a pet ever sleeps in the bed. 

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Mattress cleaning may not be something you think about unless there’s an obvious stain or the bed is going to a new owner. However, many experts believe you should deep clean regularly used mattresses about twice a year. 

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We spend around a third of our time in bed and that’s probably not time you want to spend with the 10,000 dust mites and pints of body fluid that the average mattress harbours. Especially with older mattresses, mattresses can also become a home for harmful bacteria.

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There are old wives tricks to freshen up your bed, such as baking soda, but to actually remove nasties such as dead skin, an extraction machine is a better idea. You can buy domestic versions or hire a professional who already has this equipment.

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Bathroom Cleaning

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Weekly cleaning is suggested for tasks such as cleaning the toilet and quickly wiping down the sink and surfaces to avoid grime building up. Make sure to use gloves and ventilate properly if you’re using potentially harmful substances such as bleach.

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About once a week if not more regularly, you should also put bath towels and floor mats on a hot wash. These are soft furnishings which are frequently in a damp, warm environment and come into plenty of contact with your bare skin, so they can become a minefield of bacteria without regular washes.

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If you have a shower screen rather than a curtain, it’s recommended to squeegee excess water off this and any surrounding walls after each use to make general cleaning easier. You should give this a more thorough wipe down to get rid of any hard water marks when you clean the bath, shower, and mop the bathroom floors every 2 weeks.

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About every month, or after any sickness, you should consider a deep clean to disinfect all surfaces, including the bathroom sink. Experts also suggest cleaning any shower curtains and removing limescale from the shower head at least once per month.

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All-House Tasks

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Dusting surfaces such as desks, mantlepieces, and shelves should ideally take place about once a week. This can be done easily with a damp microfibre cloth topped up with a spritz of cleaning solution. 

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Less high-traffic areas such as guest rooms can be left for every other week, and high, out-of-sight places like light fixtures only need to be dusted about 3 times a year. Make sure to dust your highest surfaces at the start of a cleaning session, to avoid dust floating down onto the objects you just cleaned.

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Experts recommend hoovering your whole house at least once a week. However, you should do it more often if you have pets or spot bits in your carpet. In addition, a professional clean once or twice a year can remove the dirt which had gone deep into the surface of your carpets and sanitise them to get rid of any lurking bacteria. 

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