"Deep clean twice a year" is the usual advice, and it is not wrong so much as unhelpfully vague. Different jobs decay at different rates. Here is a schedule that reflects how homes here actually get dirty.
Every three months
- Oven and range hood filter
- Inside the fridge, shelf by shelf
- Shower glass, grout and silicone
- Behind and under the bed, sofa and other movable furniture
- Window interiors and sills
- Washing machine drum, drawer and door seal
Twice a year
- Inside all kitchen cupboards and drawers
- Curtains washed, blinds cleaned slat by slat
- Light fittings, lampshades and ceiling fans
- Skirting boards and door frames throughout
- Mattresses vacuumed and rotated
- Carpets steam-cleaned
Once a year
- Behind the fridge, stove and washer
- Upholstery deep-cleaned
- Wardrobes and storage emptied and wiped out
- Walls washed, especially in the kitchen and stairwells
- Dryer vent and bathroom extractor fans
What our climate changes
Metro Vancouver's wet season shifts a few of these forward. Entryways and hallway carpets take a beating from October to April and are worth doing more often than the schedule above suggests. Bathroom mould also grows faster in a damp, poorly ventilated winter, so quarterly grout attention is closer to a minimum than a target. Our water is fairly hard in parts of the region too, which means limescale on shower glass and taps returns quicker than newcomers expect.
A simpler way to hold the schedule
Rather than trying to remember all of it, pick one deep-clean task per week and rotate through the quarterly list. Twenty focused minutes a week covers most of it, and the twice-yearly items become a much smaller job when the quarterly ones have not been skipped.
