🍋 Summer Refresh - A Guide to Deep Cleaning Your Home

Hi, lovely friends! ☺️

It's currently July and summer is finally in full swing! With so many people traveling and vacationing this month, we have a great opportunity to extend hospitality to our loved ones.

Two months ago, when we closed on our home, I came into this new season with a godly resolve to keep our home "open" and to extend charity, kindness, and hospitality to others by offering a lifegiving home. There are many ways to create an atmosphere of peace, rest, and tranquility in our homes, but the power of a tidy home should not be underestimated.

Now, I'm not saying that your home needs to be perfect and spotless for your guests to feel welcomed and at rest. {Like I mentioned above, we've been in our new home for only two months and I already needed to deep clean it. Things don't stay 'fresh and new' very long, especially with a toddler who likes to touch the walls with sticky/dirty fingers.} However, when time is taken to care for a home and prepare for its guests, there are less distractions and stumbling blocks for them to enter into rest. They'll intuitively come through your doors and breathe a sigh of relief. They will unconsciously feel at ease and able to enjoy your company.

Since I recently deep cleaned my home, I thought it might be beneficial to recap my cleaning process while it's fresh on my mind and make a "How-to Guide" for giving your home a summer refresh.

In this post, I'm going to list each household area I focus on during the cleaning process (i.e. blinds, doors, windows, and so forth), but please note that I clean each of these areas as I move from room to room. To clarify, I don't dust every set of blinds in my home all at once. That would be so tediously exhausting. Instead, I dust all of the blinds in the living room while completing all of the other cleaning tasks for that room (vacuuming, cleaning baseboards, etc.) before moving onto the next room. I found this process works for me, but feel free to find your own process if it doesn't work for you.

Some important tips to consider before beginning...

1. Reusable Microfiber Cloths - I try to clean my home in the most non-toxic way possible. I have found microfiber cloths to be an indispensable cleaning tool. I wet them with water and use them damp to dust blinds, wipe down ceiling fans, doors, cabinets, surfaces, and baseboards. I attach a damp cloth to a Swiffer head to mop our vinyl plank & tile floors. You don't need a bunch of chemicals to clean well. However, I do use a glass cleaner and a plant-based multi-purpose cleaning spray on certain surfaces that need disinfecting, as well as toilet bowl cleaner. Dish detergent also works well for cleaning things like sinks and bathtubs. You can use a pack of microfiber cloths and rinse and reuse as you move from room to room.

   • designate specific cloths for the bathroom (if you choose to use one to clean the toilet, make sure to never use it anywhere else in your bathroom for sanitary reasons)

   • designate specific ones for flooring (see note above)

2. Move from Top to Bottom - Start at the ceiling and work your way down. I usually start with vacuuming/dusting the vents and air intakes located in the ceiling. Next, I vacuum/dust where the ceiling meets with the walls all around the room. If there's a ceiling fan and/or light fixtures, I'll wipe them down next. After that, I dust the top of the blinds' frames and the various door entries. Then, I wipe down light switches, doors, cabinet doors, blinds, window sills, outlets, and furniture surfaces. I clean the windows, any mirrors, the appliances, and other household commodities (sinks, toilets, showers, countertops). I wipe down the walls (if scuffed or stained) and baseboards. Lastly, I vacuum and mop the floors.

3. Look for any areas that aren't routinely cleaned - A few areas like this in my home include vacuuming the inside of our shoe cabinet where dirt and sand from our shoes fall to the bottom of the drawers; vacuuming out kitchen drawers where crumbs fall into certain crevices like our silverware holder; vacuuming out the oven drawer where I store cookie trays, and so forth.

4. Make note of any areas that need more organization - It's easy to see where organization is needed when you're deep cleaning. Maybe it's a junk drawer that's overflowing or a closet. You can make a list and then organize it at a later time.

5. Pull out some touch-up paint, a Mr. Clean eraser, or Scrub Daddy's Power Paste to eliminate pesky scuffs or stains on your walls - This may seem excessive, but clean and scuff-free walls will bring you so much satisfaction. The effort is definitely worth it!

Please don't feel overwhelmed when looking at the checklist. It seems like a lot, but it moves smoothly once you get going. If it's too much at once, split it up over two weekends or you can do some here and there throughout the week. I chose to get it done as quickly as possible, so I cleaned for two days in a row for about 6 hours at a time. Clean at your own pace and give yourself grace as you do it!

Okay, here is the checklist for your home's summer refresh: {feel free to download the free printable pictured below by clicking on it!}

Dust -

• Fire detectors

• Vents

• Air-intakes

• Along the edges of where the ceiling meets the walls

• Ceiling Fans

• Light Fixtures

• Lamps

• Tops of door frames and blinds

• Blinds

• Window Sills

• Thermometers (mounted on walls)

• Shelves

• Tops of Framed Photos on Walls

• Decor

• Electronics (Computer Screens, Printers, TVs, etc.)

• Furniture

Wipe Down -

• Doors and handles

• Fronts of Drawers & Cabinets (as well as handles)

• Kitchen Backsplash

• Light Switches

• Electrical Outlets

• Baseboards

• Appliances (Fridge/Freezer (the inside and outside), Coffee Pot, Microwave (the inside and outside), Stove/Range/Oven, Dishwasher)

• Countertops

• Table & Chairs

• Railings (if you have stairs in your home)

Clean -

• Toilets

• Bathtubs

• Showers

• Shower's Glass Doors (I highly recommend applying Rain-X, specifically designed for glass shower doors, after removing any hard water or soap scum stains)

• Sinks & Faucets

• Grout Lines (don't forget around the base of the toilet)

• Mirrors

• Windows

Vacuum -

• Inside of drawers

• Rugs

• Couches/Chairs/Sofa

• Carpet

• Floors

Wash -

• Bedding

• Hand towels (in Kitchen and Bathrooms)

• Rugs (if possible)

• Throw Blankets/Throw Pillow Covers/Slip Covers

• Catch up on any dirty laundry

Miscellaneous -

• Change Air Filter (located in Air Handler)

• Run the Oven Self-Clean Cycle

• Change the Dishwasher's Filter

• Touch up walls/baseboards

• Make any necessary repairs that have been put off

That's all I can think of right now. Am I forgetting something important? 🤔

If so, I'd love to hear in the comment section below. I'm curious, what part of deep cleaning brings you the most satisfaction? Which part do you dread the most? I'm most satisfied with clean, scuff-free walls and I dread dusting blinds (we have so many windows lol).

I hope this post has been helpful and you feel equipped to refresh your lifegiving home in the most efficient way possible. May you feel confident this summer to welcome your guests!

Happy cleaning, friends! 🍋🌼🏡🫧

-Kate