Moving house can be a terribly tiresome business. From the fact that you have to find a new place to move in to the fact that you have to pack and unpack every single item you own, everything can feel terribly exhausting.
Of course, hiring house removals services can save you from a lot of the trouble, but in the end there will still be a lot of things you will have to handle yourself, without the help of your movers and without the help of your man and van.
Cleaning the house you leave behind is one of those things. Regardless of whether you have sold your house or if you are leaving behind a rental house or apartment, making sure that it is properly cleaned is more than good manners – it is sometimes stipulated in the contract even (especially for rental apartments and houses!).
How do you do it? How do you clean your house before the removals company is done with their part of the job and before your landlord/the new owner of the house comes to receive the keys? We have picked up some great tips so make sure to read on and find out more.
• Create a timeline. Leaving this entire “removal business” in the hands of chance and doing it chaotically is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Instead of rushing into anything and instead of madly trying to pack everything in due time, try to create a timeline and to stick with it. Start 6 months before you have to empty the apartment or house and move your timeline step by step, noting each of the things you have to do at a particular time (from hiring the removal van to dealing with the paperwork).
• A couple of weeks before the actual moving day, start sorting out your things. You will most probably discover a lot of things you have not been using in a very long while. Don’t toss them in the garbage! Instead, donate them to someone who might actually need them.
• This stands the same in the case of any kind of perishable food you may have in your refrigerator as well. Instead of tossing them in the trash bin, give them to someone who will make good use of them. Keep only pasta, canned goods, very expensive items and things that don’t spoil quickly.
• Make sure you clean the place both before and after everything is packed and removed. Some of the areas in your current home will need a lot of attention to detail and you may want to start with those (before actually moving). Cleaning the oven, the toilet as well as any other appliance or piece of furniture your landlord may have left in the apartment – all these things can be time consuming and you should definitely deal with them properly.
• Once you are all moved out, start cleaning the rest of the house. This will most likely include the floors and the windows as well. There’s no point in trying to clean those before moving because they will most likely get dirty in just a matter of a few hours throughout the removals process.
• Don’t forget to clean the draperies and/or blinds as well. You really want your landlord or the new owner of the house o like the way you have left everything behind.
• Remember that you don’t need expensive cleaning products. Sometimes, a bottle of white vinegar and some baking soda can go a very long way and they can really work like magic!
