Diwali house cleaning needn’t be a chore. Here’s your Diwali safai checklist as you gear up for the festive season. It’s that time of the year ...
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Diwali house cleaning needn’t be a chore. Here’s your Diwali safai checklist as you gear up for the festive season.
It’s that time of the year when our rooms and homes get the deep cleaning they deserve. Diwali cleaning is not just an annual activity but rather part of Diwali tradition. You clean and decorate your home, get it festive-ready, and start the celebrations
To be sure, it is important to have a clean home all year round. However, Diwali cleaning is special because of the belief that the goddess Laxmi dwells in clean spaces.
Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, is said to enter homes at sundown. Her entry is marked by the lighting of the lamps or lights in modern times. This is also why you see people saying a silent prayer when a light is turned on in the evening.
While Diwali celebrates the return of Lord Rama back to Ayodhya after defeating his nemesis, Ravana, the festival also marks the opening of new account books with an entire day dedicated to the goddess of wealth.
No matter the culture, a deep cleaning of homes precedes all major festivals and Diwali is no exception. However, the association of the goddess Laxmi with the cleaning makes Diwali cleaning an even more special activity.
As crucial as Diwali cleaning may be to the festivities, it can also be anxiety-inducing. But don’t worry, we have you covered. Here are our tried-and-tested tips for Diwali house cleaning.
We lead busy lives. And just as we make time in our schedules for work meetings, we could do well by doing the same for Diwali house cleaning.
Depending on your pace and your interest in cleaning up your home, you could set aside a single day or a few hours across multiple days for Diwali home cleaning.
Whether you’re planning to do your Diwali safai in a single day or across a few days, make sure to take a focused approach to it. Take up one room or one area at a time, finish up there, and only then move on to the next one.
While this might seem like a common-sense way to clean your home, you’ll be surprised at how often this plan can go awry. Imagine starting out by cleaning your bedroom, to discover that there are things there that belong in another room. And when you go over to leave them there, you realise that’s a mess too. Before you know it, none of the rooms are cleaned, and you’ve spent your day having achieved nothing.
The first step to an effective Diwali cleaning is to declutter. You cannot clean a space that is already cluttered. So, start with old utensils, newspapers, expired medicines, electronic waste, etc. Stack them up in different piles depending on how you plan to dispose of them – people you’d like to give them away to, things to be discarded, etc. So, when it’s time, you can get rid of them from your home easily.
The best way to do Diwali house cleaning is to start cleaning from top to bottom. Which is to say, start by cleaning out the cobwebs, the ceiling fans, the walls, and the furniture, before you move on to cleaning the carpets or the floor.
This is a good strategy because as you clean from top to bottom, the dust falls on the floor, which you can finally sweep off at the very end.
Once you’ve finished decluttering, dust off the walls and remove the cobwebs. Use a microfibre cloth to clean all surfaces – from ceilings and fans to shelves, tables, windowsills, and furniture.
Dry dusting is the first step to deep cleaning, as you cannot take a wet cloth to dusty surfaces. Use a vacuum cleaner to clean out hard-to-reach spots and dust-prone spaces.
These are the three most used surfaces in any home and the ones that attract the most dirt, dust, pet hair, and food crumbs. Before you get down to wet cleaning or shampooing, vacuum your mattresses, sofa set, and carpets. If you’re keen on deep cleaning your sofa, know that not all sofas are the same. Fabric sofas have a different cleaning process than leather ones. Find out here <Link to sofa cleaning piece>.
Now that you’re done with the dusting and vacuuming, start wiping down all surfaces with a damp cloth. Use a disinfectant liquid mixed with warm water and follow the same order as you did for dusting – top to bottom. Don’t forget to disinfect high-touch areas like doorknobs, light switches, etc.
Carpets, sofas and mattresses deserve special TLC, and you could consider hiring professional help from Urban Company to clean them.
The kitchen is at the heart of your home, whether or not you are personally interested in cooking. Over time, all kitchens, however little they’re used, attract grease and grime. So, when you’re doing your Diwali cleaning, pay special attention to your kitchen.
Start by cleaning the stove, oven, microwave, refrigerator, and all kitchen appliances. Be prepared to spend some time with the exhaust fan and chimney, as they tend to collect a lot of grease. Don’t forget to clean the sink and drain too.
Alternatively, you could consider hiring professional help from Urban Company to clean them.
Surely, you clean your bathroom every day (or every week) but make sure to deep clean and disinfect it during your Diwali cleaning. Scrub the toilet, sink and bath area. Pay attention to tiles and grout lines. Replace shower curtains, if necessary, and don’t forget to clean the mirrors and any glass surfaces.
You could also consider hiring professional help from Urban Company to clean them.
Clean your windows inside and out; use a glass cleaner for the best results. Curtains tend to be the least cleaned pieces of fabric in your home. So, make sure to vacuum and wet clean them, send them over to the laundry, or replace them altogether.
Bedspreads and bedsheets also don’t tend to get cleaned very frequently. Make sure you have a fresh set out in time for Diwali.
If you haven’t already covered this, dust and clean your light fixtures and chandeliers. Replace any bulbs that are not working. Cleaner light fixtures will make your home brighter and isn’t that what you want for Diwali?
After you’re done with all of this, tackle the floors. Sweep and mop hard floors, and if you have hardwood floors, consider polishing them for an extra shine.
So, there you have it, your ultimate Diwali cleaning checklist. If that seems like a lot, hire professional help from Urban Company. We’ll have you sorted in no time.
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