Along with unpacking each and every box and removing and their contents, you also have to place everything where it belongs and fix and arrange all of your furniture and accessories in an organized way so that your house looks presentable. After all of this is done, the absolute last thing that you want to do is have to go through your house and then clean everything you just organized and set up, moving things and rearranging them a second time through.
Nobody likes to do things twice, and since you’re going to want to unpack all of your belongings in a clean home with that fresh, new home feeling, you should probably get it out of the way first. Besides, it’s always a good idea to go through the home after you move in and make sure that no dirt or debris was left behind by the previous owners in their haste when they were moving out. That way, you can get all the leftover moving debris cleaned up and out of the way before you get settled, lessening the chance that you will damage your belongings or furniture, or even potentially injure yourself.
When is the best time to clean?
It’s probably a good idea to go through your new home and clean everything before you begin unpacking and organizing your belongings. It will make your life easier once you get to the unpacking and arranging portion of your move and it will also make you feel better about your new home, once you see how clean and sparkly it can be with a good amount of vacuuming, dusting and mopping.
Another benefit of cleaning before you unpack: Instead of waiting until your furniture is arranged and then having to lift up the couch to get to that hard to reach spot on the floor, you can clean every inch of the house fully and completely before you begin to arrange the furniture, to make sure that everything is clean – not only the spots unobstructed by furniture and belongings.
What you’ll need for a good cleaning
Before you start cleaning though, make sure you have everything you’re going to need, including the right cleaners for every job you need to do, as well as the appropriate cleaning supplies like dusters, mops, brooms and rags. Also, remember to start from the top and work your way down. Follow the laws of gravity and you’ll be guaranteed not to miss anything as you work your way towards the floor. Repeat this process for all of the rooms you clean.
Finally, make sure that when you clean you start with a simple dry cleaning, like dusting, vacuuming and sweeping, to get rid of all of the surface dust and dirt. Then, once you are finished with that step, you can culminate with the wet cleaning process which includes wiping, using surface cleaners and mopping. This is the best order to go in, because you’ll want to leave the floors and other surfaces to dry completely when you are done cleaning them.
When you’re done, your home will have that “new home” feel and it will be in perfect condition for you to begin unpacking and arranging your furniture. After all, when you buy a new car, you wouldn’t want to receive it with the interior covered in dust and debris, would you? That would take away from the new car experience. So you certainly wouldn’t want to move into a house and get settled before making sure that every inch was as clean as could be.