A new year feels like a fresh start, meaning there's never a better time to clean our homes from top to bottom. Forget spring cleaning, we're all about new year cleaning because what could be better than starting the year as we mean to go on, wiping all those cleaning jobs off the to-do list – a clean slate for 2022.
We've compiled a list of 43 easy-to-do jobs for every room in the house. Follow our suggestions, armed with the best cleaning products out there, to make your surfaces sparkle and your home shine.
43 cleaning jobs to do this month
We'll start in the kitchen...
1. Clean inside and outside your kitchen cupboards
It's one of those jobs we all put off, right? Spend this time now to completely empty each and every cupboard. Washing the inside down with soapy water or diluted Zoflora.
2. Organise kitchen cupboards
Washing is the first job, re-stacking and reorganising the contents of the cupboards counts as a job in itself. Check the sell-by dates on all your food produce before you put them back. Depending how big your kitchen is, these jobs could be best split over a few days?
3. Wipe on top of kitchen units
No one sees the top but we all know the dust and dirt that hides there. Because it's hidden its never a priority to clean, until now.
4. Deep clean the oven
I can't be the only person who's been planning to do this for ages and never gotten around to it?
Seize the day, read: How to clean an oven and hob – including the oven rack and glass door
5. Sort and soap the cutlery draw
Take all the cutlery out and wash the drawer separator. If this is a removable design you can give the empty draw a quick wipe clean too. Putting all your clean cutlery back in place will feel all the more pleasing.
6. Empty and clean the fridge
Remove all items from the shelves and compartments. Take these out and give them a good clean, before restocking. Take it too new levels by adopting a 'Cribs' style orderly way of displaying the contents. Why not?
7. Defrost the freezer
Admittedly our freezers have never been so full, but now is the perfect time to get the job done.
Read more: Experts reveal the best ways to organise a freezer and store food to last
8. Clean the kitchen drainer
It's often overlooked for cleaning, yet it's used on the daily. Once empty give it a soak to ensure there's no build up on it, and give the draining board beneath a quick wipe with disinfectant too.
9. Wash out the bins
Disinfect all household bins. From the general household waste bin to the recycling, kitchen bins and food bins – give them all a thorough clean. We often find help to pop them in the shower cubicle or bath to do a thorough job.
10. Clean the washing machine
Take a break from your weekly clothes cycle and clean the actual machine. See how to clean a washing machine to banish mould, bad odours and residues for good.
11. Clean the dishwasher
Forget the dishes for one afternoon and give the machine a clean. We even know how to clean a dishwasher with vinegar, tweezers and other surprise cleaning methods
12. Wipe down the microwave
Forget just a quick wipe, it's time to give this kitchen gadget a good going over! See how to clean a microwave with lemon, washing-up liquid, baking soda and more
13. Descale the kettle
Keep your kettle in good health to ensure a decent cuppa each and every morning. Discover how to clean a kettle with easy-to-implement methods
Now, let's move on to the bathroom... oh, and don't forget any cloakrooms or en suites!
14. Clean the grout
We have enough time to do more than a quick spray, we know homeowners who are doing this so thoroughly – they're using a toothbrush! Read our top tips: How to clean grout in tiles to get wall and floor tiles looking as good as new.
15. Deep clean pedestal bins
Rather than the weekly swish around with bleach remove the inside section as normal but clean the remainder also – the pedal, the inside of the lid, the base.
16. Bathe beauty brushes
You can't buy specialist solutions to do the job, but in times of need standard soap and water will suffice. Simply wet the brush head and wipe with soap, repeat until the water runs cleans when rinsed.
17. Clear-out bathroom cabinets
We wouldn't mind betting there are lotions and potions well past their sell-by-dates – taking up valuable cabinet space. It's time to do a stock check. While you're cleaning any spills etc be mindful of what you put back into the cabinet once it's clean.
18. Clean windows
How often do we clean bathroom windows properly? They mist up more frequently than other windows so it's about time they had a good clean.
19. Tackle the bathroom taps
We clean our bathrooms often but there will also be jobs that we could spend longer on. Limescale on taps is up there. Try this nifty trick: Remove limescale in minutes with ingenious 2p coin hack – loved by cleaning gurus
20. Remove the shower head
Another deep clean task to finally tick of the list. Remove and soak the shower head to ensure it's thoroughly clean
21. Banish limescale in loos
Still got limescale? No matter how much limescale removing cleaner you use? The pumice stone £1.49 toilet cleaning hack will change your life (trust us, we've tried it!)
22. Wash shower curtains
If your shower curtain got a bit of a whiff of stagnant water, quite possibly a trim of mildew? Pop it straight into the washing machine, solely by itself to ensure it's cleaned more efficiently. Always check the care and cleaning labels first.
Next, the living room!
23. Vacuum your sofas
Give the furniture a blitz with a vacuum cleaner. Remove the cushions, where possible, and really get into the cracks beneath the cushions. It's amazing how much can accumulate there.
24. Dust picture frames
While you might give pictures a tickle with a duster every now and then, why not use this time to take them down and clean them thoroughly.
25. Vacuum picture ledges
Becoming very fashionable in recent years, a picture ledge is a fabulous way to creature feature walls. But what else they are fabulous at is collecting dust. Remove pictures and give the ledge a vacuum to remove the dust in the most effective way. Rearranging your pictures afterwards is also a fun job to do.
26. Wash door frames
Gently with a splash of soapy water, give the door frames a spritz to remove any unwanted mucky marks.
27. Clean the TV
We'll be watching it more than ever, so ensure the best picture by giving it a good clean.
Tori Miller, AO.com’s small appliances expert, suggest, ‘grab your least favourite old t-shirt and spray it down with a natural cleaning solution such as bicarbonate of soda mixed with water, using the t-shirt to scrub away any unwanted dust or unseen germs on your TV and stand’
28. Dust book spines
Bookcases or shelves may look great, especially when colour coded, but they are a dust trap. Take the time to remove all your books, thoroughly dust them off, along the front and spine of each book.
29. Vacuum under the furniture
Taking a look under your furniture may shock you! It’s surprising how much dirt, dust and even crumbs can settle here. Get the vacuum under to remove the main culprits, then a mop if a hard flooring to give it a finishing sparkle.
30. Clean the windows
The window cleaner may do the outside frequently but what's the bet we don't do the inside half as often. Here's how to clean windows to get sparkling windows inside and out without streaking.
31. Wipe clean house plants
While they are hugely beneficial to our wellness at home, house plants can harbour lots of dust. Give them a gentle wipe with a damp cloth to remove the dust, or even a quick shower in the bath.
32. Dust the skirt boards, dado rails and picture ledges
Move the furniture out and dust the skirting boards off properly. Do the same for dado rails and picture ledges.
33. Wash the curtains
Where you can, take the curtains down and pop them on a gentle cycle in the washing machine. This will remove the dust and give them a new lease of life, not to mention a fresh new fragrance.
34. High-shine the lights
Whether that's giving them a proper dusting, rather the weekly once over, or vacuuming away the cobwebs. Better still taking them down where possible, such as with chandeliers, and washing them to restore their pristine shine!
Let's head up the bedrooms!
35. Vacuum the mattress
When changing the bedsheets (weekly) vacuum the mattress, lift it up and ensure you get all the dust lurking underneath too For more read: How to clean a mattress – for a sweeter night's sleep.
36. Clean the blinds
Whether roller blinds or Venetian take them down and give them a thorough clean.
37. Dust off your hangers
While we have the time let's all live our best wardrobe life! Colour coded and all neatly hung. While you're at it take each item off and give your hangers an individual dust off, that way the look will be even more effective.
38. Polish dressing tables
Take everything off the dressing table, sideboards or shelf and give the surface a thorough wipe over – soapy water will do the trick, or a splash of Zoflora to make sure it's disinfected proper.
Once clean take time rearranging the items you're putting back – are there beauty and hair products you NEVER use that would be better binned? Now is the time to sort the essentials.
Finally, the hallway...
39. Sanitise the door handle
This has never been more important, than now. Ensure the front door handle is thoroughly cleaned inside and out after each use. This is a job you can do throughout the whole house, but the front door especially.
40. Clean doorbells and door knockers
Same applies here, it's of upmost important right now to ensure anything anyone else is likely to touch is given a good clean.
41. Wash the door and the windows
Give the door, front and back a deep-clean. Wash the inside of the windows too to get them gleaming.
42. Shake out the doormat
Give this longstanding accessory a much-needed shake off – removing all the footfall dirt that stops here. A good doormat
43. Wash radiators
Give each radiator in your home a dust followed by a wipe with a wet cloth to clean them properly.
Top tip - why not do so with a fabric softer and water mix? That way they will give off a delightful fragrance as well as heat! Our guide to how to clean a radiator has even more expert tips for this often neglected spot.
Is there anything you feel we've missed? We welcome you to share your cleaning tips with us below.
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