Spring cleaning tips?

[GoodScout]

I would LOVE to see someone's Spring Cleaning checklist. We're building ours, and can't wait to see what I've forgotten.

 

[Morticia]

I would LOVE to see someone's Spring Cleaning checklist. We're building ours, and can't wait to see what I've forgotten..

I would LOVE to see someone's Spring Cleaning checklist. We're building ours, and can't wait to see what I've forgotten.

Start at the top, work your way down. We use the washable dry floor mop to 'wash' the walls. Amazing how much dust builds up on the walls. Clean the light switches - all the way down inside where all the dust hides. Completely strip the beds and remove mattress & box spring from frame - wipe down rails. Flip mattress, replace. Wash pillows. Wipe down inside dresser drawers. Get inside the radiators with the vacuum attachment. Wipe down the backs of pictures and mirrors.
Good grief I'm getting tired just thinking about it. This doesn't happen until we hire summer help. This is their first job - the deep clean.

 

[Arks]

List started. Keep 'em coming! I'm negotiating to hire cleaning help for the first time, and this is perfect timing for me.
I'm needing a set of lists for them.

• What to do each time you flip a room
• What to do once a week
• What to do once a month
• What to do once a quarter
• What to do once a year

My place is still pretty new, and 3 brand new suites opening this summer, so it's still fairly easy to keep looking great. But I know if I don't get on a good schedule like this, things will start going down hill.

 

[Morticia]

List started. Keep 'em coming! I'm negotiating to hire cleaning help for the first time, and this is perfect timing for me.
I'm needing a set of lists for them.

• What to do each time you flip a room
• What to do once a week
• What to do once a month
• What to do once a quarter
• What to do once a year

My place is still pretty new, and 3 brand new suites opening this summer, so it's still fairly easy to keep looking great. But I know if I don't get on a good schedule like this, things will start going down hill..

Because you are not going to be doing the cleaning yourself once you hire people, you have to ingrain in them that they want the place to be how they would like it if they stayed. ie- everything works! Make sure they test everything everyday. Run all the water, turn on all the lights, etc. Run a dummy run thru the keurig to clean out the nozzle. Stuff like that.
You should issue notepads or give them your cell number to call immediately when they find scratches, dings, paint that needs touching up, loose toilets (holy cow if this one doesn't make me nuts at a hotel!).
You have ceiling fans (so I've seen in the photos, wink wink) so they should have those long handled fan blade cleaners.

 

[Arks]

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air.

 

[Morticia]

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air..

Especially when it's humid. Oy. What a mess.
Tops of lightbulbs, too.
We've stayed at the same place twice and both times you could see exactly where the housekeeper bothered to dust. And vacuum. Both times I've come home and taken my housekeeper into a room to show her where the dust bunnies build up. I've mostly been lucky that we didn't find too much. But, everyone gets bored and in a groove and things start to slide.
I'm amazed by the fuzz from the red blankets that I find under the bed. How can they still be shedding that much? They've been washed a dozen times or more.

 

[gillumhouse]

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air..

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air.

We tried to help you dust those fan blades......

 

[Arks]

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air..

Especially when it's humid. Oy. What a mess.
Tops of lightbulbs, too.
We've stayed at the same place twice and both times you could see exactly where the housekeeper bothered to dust. And vacuum. Both times I've come home and taken my housekeeper into a room to show her where the dust bunnies build up. I've mostly been lucky that we didn't find too much. But, everyone gets bored and in a groove and things start to slide.
I'm amazed by the fuzz from the red blankets that I find under the bed. How can they still be shedding that much? They've been washed a dozen times or more.
.

I'm amazed by the fuzz from the red blankets that I find under the bed. How can they still be shedding that much? They've been washed a dozen times or more.

And the towels! They all look the same, but I thrown away enough dryer lent (felt, really) each year to make another dozen towels. I can't imagine how the towels are still giving off that much fiber on each dryer load.

 

[Arks]

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air..

Thanks. More good stuff for the list(s). It's really amazing how much dust can build up on fan blades. I never would have dreamed how it builds up most on the leading edge of the blades! It's like the blade is harvesting it right out of the air.

We tried to help you dust those fan blades......
.

We tried to help you dust those fan blades......

And that may be the last time they were dusted. I really need to get this list ready for the paid staff. They will be busy!

 

[user 26]

Yes, don't leave it until the Spring.
Ours is well under way, I shampooed the carpet in the breakfast room today, took all the furniture out, not just the visible bits. That was the last room, whole house is done.
We painted the kitchen this week and gave that a deep clean, DH has been doing the same in the utility room today.
Need to reprint all my guest information next, I re-do all of it each year..

Need to reprint all my guest information next, I re-do all of it each year.

Hint: Print the name of the file on the room information (footer or somewhere) - and save with the date in it. So you can go back easily and get "guest room info-Jan 2014" and update and reprint. I know this is basic, but some of us never learn and spend time spinning our wheels to locate file names etc. And we forget to delete the old ones. If you amend it add a B, or (2) at the end of the file name.
.

Need to reprint all my guest information next, I re-do all of it each year.

Hint: Print the name of the file on the room information (footer or somewhere) - and save with the date in it. So you can go back easily and get "guest room info-Jan 2014" and update and reprint. I know this is basic, but some of us never learn and spend time spinning our wheels to locate file names etc. And we forget to delete the old ones. If you amend it add a B, or (2) at the end of the file name.

I can NEVER find the right file! I have no idea where some of them went!
Here's a new-ish option - print a (oh what the hell are they called???) one of those square code thingys in the guest room books that takes the guest to your website to what's probably a more up to date bit of info. What the hell are those square code thingys called? Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most.
.

you can generate them here http://goqr.me

Need to reprint all my guest information next, I re-do all of it each year.

Hint: Print the name of the file on the room information (footer or somewhere) - and save with the date in it. So you can go back easily and get "guest room info-Jan 2014" and update and reprint. I know this is basic, but some of us never learn and spend time spinning our wheels to locate file names etc. And we forget to delete the old ones. If you amend it add a B, or (2) at the end of the file name.

I can NEVER find the right file! I have no idea where some of them went!
Here's a new-ish option - print a (oh what the hell are they called???) one of those square code thingys in the guest room books that takes the guest to your website to what's probably a more up to date bit of info. What the hell are those square code thingys called? Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most.

 

[charlie may]

Yes, don't leave it until the Spring.
Ours is well under way, I shampooed the carpet in the breakfast room today, took all the furniture out, not just the visible bits. That was the last room, whole house is done.
We painted the kitchen this week and gave that a deep clean, DH has been doing the same in the utility room today.
Need to reprint all my guest information next, I re-do all of it each year..

Deep cleaning kitchen and find one of the "pine" cleaners invaluable for dissolving greasy build up.
.

After all these years trying to get grease off of things in the kitchen--a friend mentioned plain old household ammonia in a spray bottle with a microfiber cloth.. Duh, can't believe how well it works.. I had previously used Fantastic to get grease off walls and counters, and fingerprints in doorways or light switches. But it took a lot of elbow grease (pun intended).

 

[Samster]

Tackle one room at a time. Work from high to low, especially in historic homes that have high ceilings. That way you can get the places that you might miss on a regular basis, like the tops of window/door trim or picture moulding. Pull everything away from the walls to really get in all the corners and double check the back of all the furniture. Make sure to get the heating registers.
In bathrooms, this is a good time to make sure that the fans/fan lights are free of any debris or little bugs. Same with any ceiling fixtures.
Good time to really get after all the woodwork too.

 

[Arks]

I must admire anybody doing a deep spring cleaning.
When I get the spare time to do it, I'm really really wanting to do something else...or nothing at all!!!
(Two of those exclamation points are for Joey Bloggs, who loves them so.)

 

[Samster]

I must admire anybody doing a deep spring cleaning.
When I get the spare time to do it, I'm really really wanting to do something else...or nothing at all!!!
(Two of those exclamation points are for Joey Bloggs, who loves them so.).

You have to be a real clean freak to enjoy deep cleaning rooms in the early Spring!
I agree...I'd rather be outside in the garden or doing just about anything else, but it went with the territory when I had an inn.

I'm going through a big clean and touching everything up now in anticipation of putting my house on the market and don't have a hard deadline like I did when I had the biz, so I'm more easily distracted...