Brightly lit corners of all streets, guilt-free sweet binges, and festive vibes all around. Tell us – what’s not loved about Diwali. The most awaited festival of India, Diwali is just around, but along with it comes the stress of house cleaning to make it Diwali Ready.
Cleanliness is as important as décor, as it keeps your health better! According to Hindu mythology, Goddess Lakshmi only enters a home that is clean and well light. So, get ready and clean your house to welcome the goddess of wealth and prosperity into your house and your family.
Start House Cleaning for Diwali as Early as Possible
Diwali cleaning is not for the Diwali festival alone. It holds more meaning than that. Diwali comes during the last leg of the monsoon. Hence a round of cleaning is a must after the monsoons.
It is not just about cleaning some parts of the house, but cleaning the entire house, right from the living room to the bedroom and pooja room to the wardrobe. Cleaning the entire house means a lot of work. Proper planning and division of work will make it easier to clean the house. While the bathroom and store can be cleaned in half a day, a kitchen may need more time. You can keep aside a day each for bedrooms and living areas, and then keep aside another day for final finishing, which is some overall cleaning.
Also, remember to keep your supplies ready. If you are a DIY fan, keep your natural ingredients ready to make cleaning solution. If you are more comfortable purchasing your cleaners and disinfectants, keep them stocked. Also, stock up on garbage bags, cleaning clothes, etc.
Diwali Cleaning Tips
Gharpedia is here to advise you on where to start and how to end without straining yourself. To make your Diwali cleaning task easy, we have given you some cool tips. Let’s have a look.
01. Decluttering Your Space
The first step is to remove the clutter and unwanted items from the entire home. The moment you start screening the objects, you can find that there are various items that you do not use in your house, but still, they have been there for years. You can either donate them or throw them away in the trash. Do not just focus on decluttering the wardrobes. Look into the drawers and declutter all the old medicines, cosmetics, etc. Removing clutter is a major part of house cleaning.
02. Wardrobe Cleaning for Diwali
Every house has a wardrobe. So, first, remove the dust from the wardrobe, then wipe it with clean, dry or wet clothes. Then change the paper or cloth if you lay it on the shelves of a wardrobe. Fold all the clothes properly and arrange them in good order. If you have old clothes and do not want to use them in the future, you can simply donate them to needy people.
Similarly, you can clean the boxes on the bed. Remember not to use detergent or other cleaners to clean boxes and wardrobes.
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03. Loft Cleaning for Diwali
Usually, every house has a loft above the lintel level. Remove the dust from the loft. Wipe it with a clean cloth. Clean all the objects that are put in the loft and dispose of what you do not need. Place useful items carefully.
04. Furniture Cleaning for Diwali
The first step in furniture cleaning is removing the dust from the furniture using a duster cloth. Make a mixture of a weak solution of dishwashing soap. Dip a soft cloth in the solution and then wipe the entire piece. Use a damp cloth. You can use mineral spirit or paint thinners like turpentine to clean wooden furniture. A vacuum cleaner is the best option for furniture cleaning. Also, clean the bookshelves to save your furniture from termites.
05. Diwali Kitchen Cleaning
Culinary delights make the kitchen very greasy and oily. So, break the kitchen cleaning work into a smaller and easily manageable task to clean the areas efficiently.
- Start by cleaning the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Wipe the drawer and cabinet with clean clothes, warm water, or any other cleaner.
- Clean the extra kitchenware, dishes and bowls not used every day.
- Similarly, you can clean the kitchen platform, exhaust fan, floors, etc. with just warm water and detergent.
- What many people often forget to do is declutter their kitchen. Start off in those corner cabinets where you have stocked all the plastic bags and food containers. Dispose of them if you find them of no use.
- Then turn to your refrigerator and clear off the supplies that have crossed their expiry date. It can be sauces, flavouring agents, oils or powders; check and chuck them off!
- If there are open stone shelves, clean them with baking soda and lemon. Baking soda with lemon will help to remove greasy and oily stains from these shelves.
Baking soda also help you in other house cleaning core. If you want to know more about it, please refer the following article:
06. Home Appliances Cleaning for Diwali!
- Use cleaners like Collin to clean home appliances such as televisions, music players, refrigerators, washing machines etc. Cleaning these appliances is easy if you do it the right way.
- First, remove dust with a duster cloth from the appliances. Then, wipe these appliances with a clean, and dry cloth. Following this, clean the appliances using cleaners and scrub with a smooth cotton cloth to avoid scratches.
- If you find strong or greasy stains on the microwave or refrigerator, remove them easily using a mixture of baking soda and lemon or vinegar.
- It is ideal to clean your ceiling fan blades without getting the dust and grime all over your floors and furniture. Don’t forget to clean your light bulbs, as it also increases the illumination, which ultimately saves energy and, hence your light bill.
07. Floor Cleaning in Diwali
Clean the floors effectively with floor cleaners or detergent. You can also use vacuum cleaners, sweepers, brooms, and fibre clothes to clean the floors.
08. Bathroom Cleaning in Diwali
- The first step in bathroom cleaning is to remove unnecessary items. Then, clean the bathroom shelves with liquid cleaner or detergent.
- Make a solution of equal parts of water and white vinegar to clean the soap dish and faucets.
- To clean the shower head, fill a plastic bag with white vinegar. Attach the bag over the showerhead with a rubber band. Put it on for one hour, then remove the bag of vinegar and turn on the shower to flush away the vinegar and sediment. Polish with a soft cloth.
- For cleaning the bathroom floors, you can use the bathroom cleaners that are available on the market. To remove mildew from tile grout, spray white vinegar on the grout and let it sit for ten minutes. Then, rub it with an old toothbrush and rinse it with water.
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09. Diwali Cleaning for Window Sills, Curtains & Book Shelves
Last but not least, don’t forget to wash your curtains and bedsheets. In rural areas, many people dry their beds/mattresses in sunlight. Also, spare some time to remove all the removable upholstery and forward it for dry washing. If it is washable at home, give it a try. Nowadays, a lot of professional cleaning services are available. You can bank on them to clean your sofas. Do remember to clean your window sills and channels too.
10. House Exterior: The Most Important Part of Diwali Cleaning!
The house interiors now may look brand new, but if the exteriors look ugly and shoddy, the first impression will be bad. If your exterior walls need repair, don’t ignore them. Also, if you are thinking of painting your exterior walls, do it without hesitation if you have a budget to get it done.
Don’t forget to read our detailed article on exterior house cleaning:
11. Charity Begins at Home
Without sounding insensitive, let us agree that during the festive season, we do end up getting several gifts that we either do not like or have many of those commodities already at home. Just think about it. During Diwali, we get dozens of packs of sweets and dry fruits. We have no control over what our friends will send us or what our employer will gift us for Diwali. Very often, we find the same idol of Lord Ganesh or Goddess Lakshmi, the same wall clock ticking, or some artefact packed in that, we will never use. Instead of keeping them all, we can always give away the things that we already own or do not need. The best thing to do is to gift it to your domestic help, society’s watchman, or people who help us in our day-to-day lives. They will feel appreciated that way.
Here’s a video to sum up all the points mentioned above:
Closing Thoughts
Diwali home cleaning can be a stressful chore. Hence, the cleverest choice to make is to avoid cluttering the house throughout the year so that you can breathe easily during the festive season. Also, use these above-mentioned cleaning tips to thoroughly clean your home and bring it into the festive spirit! Make the most of this festive season.
Once you finish Diwali cleaning, it’s time to decorate your home. You can use Diyas and lights for the decor of the house, as they expel darkness from your house, signalling happiness and prosperity. You can also add fresh flowers, as they give positive vibes to your home and draw Rangoli on the floors. There are many materials and ideas for Rangoli to make your Diwali special.
And last, if we have missed out on any tips, do write about them in the comment box below! Gharpedia wishes you a safe and happy Diwali!
We have also created an infographic, which compiles this article and is easy for you to save. Please click on the link below:
https://gharpedia.com/infographic/diwali-cleaning-tips/
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