A spring cleaning checklist is simply a room-by-room plan for the deep-clean jobs you skip during a normal weekly tidy — the oven, the skirtings, the windows, behind the furniture, the carpets. Once a year it's worth working through the whole house properly, and the secret to actually finishing is order: declutter first, work top to bottom, and do one room start to finish before you move on. Below is the complete spring cleaning checklist, room by room, plus the spots everyone forgets and an honest take on which big jobs are worth handing to a professional.
Your spring cleaning checklist at a glance
Here's the whole house on one page. Work through it room by room, top to bottom, and tick off each area before moving to the next so you're never re-dirtying something you've already cleaned.
The two rules that make spring cleaning go fast: declutter before you clean (you can't clean a surface that's covered in stuff), and work top to bottom (dust and grime fall, so clean ceilings, fans and shelves before floors). Everything below follows that order.
Before you start: declutter and gather your kit
Spend the first hour setting yourself up, not cleaning. Clear the clutter, gather your supplies into a caddy so you're not stopping mid-job to hunt for a cloth, and open the windows — fresh air makes a surprising difference and helps everything dry.
- Declutter first — bin, donate, or put away. Clear surfaces, then clean them.
- Gather your kit — all-purpose spray, glass cleaner, descaler, an oven cleaner, microfibre cloths, a scrubbing brush, gloves, a vacuum and a mop.
- Open the windows — air it out while you work.
- Start at the top of the house and the top of each room — so falling dust lands on surfaces you haven't done yet.
Kitchen spring cleaning checklist
The kitchen is the biggest spring-clean job, because it's where the once-a-year tasks pile up. Work from the top cupboards down to the floor.
- Clean the oven, racks and rangehood — degrease the rangehood filter and tackle baked-on grease in the oven (the single job most people hand off).
- Empty and wipe inside the fridge and freezer; pull it out and clean behind and underneath.
- Wipe cupboard doors, handles and inside the cupboards; check for out-of-date food in the pantry.
- Degrease the splashback and tiles behind the stove.
- Descale the kettle, run a cleaning cycle on the dishwasher and clear its filter.
- Wipe down the microwave, inside and out.
- Empty, wash and deodorise the bin.
- Vacuum and mop the floor, including the edges and under the kickboards.
Bathroom & laundry spring cleaning checklist
Bathrooms are about grime you can't shift in a quick weekly wipe — grout, mould and mineral build-up. Give them time and let products sit.
- Scrub grout and re-clean silicone; treat any mould on seals and ceilings (don't bleach coloured grout — it'll patch).
- Descale the showerhead and taps — soak rather than scrub the mineral build-up off.
- Clean the exhaust fan cover (it's usually thick with dust).
- Clean behind and around the base of the toilet, not just the bowl.
- Wash tile floors into the corners and along the skirtings.
- Laundry: pull out the machine and clean behind it, wipe the door seal and detergent drawer, and clear the lint filter in the dryer.
Bedrooms & living areas spring cleaning checklist
Living spaces are mostly about the things you walk past every day without cleaning — fabrics, skirtings, light fittings, and the floor under the furniture.
- Wash and rotate bedding, including pillows and mattress protectors; vacuum and flip the mattress.
- Sort wardrobes and drawers — a good spot to declutter clothes as you go.
- Dust skirtings, architraves, picture rails and door frames top to bottom.
- Clean light fittings, lampshades and ceiling fans (fan blades hold a surprising amount of dust).
- Spot-clean walls, switches and marks around doorways.
- Move the furniture and vacuum behind and underneath it.
- Give the carpets a proper clean — a once-a-year deep clean lifts the dirt a vacuum can't. If you'd rather not hire a machine, a professional carpet clean does it in one visit.
- Clean the windows inside and out, including the tracks and sills. For a streak-free finish on hard-to-reach glass, a professional window clean is worth it.
The spots everyone forgets
These are the items that separate a real spring clean from a tidy-up — and the ones we most often find skipped. Add them to your list:
- Skirting boards and the tops of door frames
- Light switches, power points and door handles
- The rangehood filter and the dishwasher filter
- The washing machine door seal and detergent drawer
- Behind and underneath the fridge and the couch
- Window tracks, sills and flyscreens
- Ceiling and bathroom exhaust vents
- Remote controls, keyboards and phone screens
- The bin itself — not just the bag
How to get through it without burning out
A full-house spring clean is a weekend, not an afternoon — so plan it like one. The renters and homeowners who finish are the ones who work in a fixed order and split it across a couple of days rather than trying to blitz everything at once.
- Top to bottom, always — ceilings, fans and shelves first, floors last, so falling dust doesn't undo your work.
- Dry before wet — dust and vacuum first, then wipe and mop; wiping over dust just makes mud.
- One room start to finish — it's more motivating to fully complete a room than to half-do the whole house.
- Split it over days — kitchen and bathrooms one day, bedrooms and living areas the next. Carpets and windows can be their own job.
- Be realistic — an average three-bedroom home is a solid day or two of work done properly. Booking the big jobs out is often what gets it finished at all.
When a professional deep clean is worth it
Spring cleaning and a professional deep clean are the same idea — the once-a-year, top-to-bottom scrub — just done by you or done for you. A deep clean is worth booking when the jobs you dread (the oven, the carpets, the windows, the grout) have built up beyond a quick fix, or when you simply don't have a free weekend to give it. Plenty of people do the decluttering and the everyday rooms themselves and hand off the big jobs — that's usually the best of both.
If you'd rather keep on top of it year-round instead of facing one big spring blitz, a regular residential clean keeps the deep-clean jobs from ever piling up in the first place.
Frequently asked questions
What should be included in a spring cleaning checklist?
A spring cleaning checklist should cover the deep-clean jobs you skip in a normal week, room by room: in the kitchen, the oven, rangehood and behind the appliances; in bathrooms, grout, mould and the showerhead; in bedrooms and living areas, bedding, skirtings, light fittings, carpets and windows; plus the spots everyone forgets — skirting boards, door tops, vents, filters and behind the fridge. Work top to bottom, one room at a time.
How often should you deep clean your house?
Most homes benefit from a full deep clean once or twice a year — a spring clean is the classic once-a-year version — on top of regular weekly cleaning. High-traffic homes, homes with pets, or anyone with allergies may want to deep clean key areas (carpets, kitchens, bathrooms) more often.
What's the difference between spring cleaning and a deep clean?
They're essentially the same job. "Spring cleaning" is the seasonal, do-it-yourself version of a deep clean — the thorough, top-to-bottom clean of the jobs a weekly tidy skips. A professional "deep clean" is that same scope done by cleaners with commercial equipment, which is why the big annual jobs (oven, carpets, windows) are the ones most worth booking out.
What order should you clean a house in?
Top to bottom and dry before wet. Start at the highest points (ceilings, fans, shelves) and work down to the floors, so falling dust lands on surfaces you haven't cleaned yet; dust and vacuum before you wipe and mop. Then do one room start to finish before moving to the next.
How long does spring cleaning take?
A full spring clean of an average three-bedroom home is a solid day or two done properly — longer if the carpets and windows are included. The realistic way to do it is to split it across a couple of days by room, or to hand the biggest jobs to a professional so it actually gets finished.
Hand off the big jobs and enjoy a fresh start
You don't have to do all of it yourself. Declutter, do the everyday rooms, and let a professional take the jobs that eat your weekend — the oven, the carpets, the windows, the full top-to-bottom scrub. Book a professional deep clean for the once-a-year reset, or set up a regular residential clean to keep on top of it year-round. Either way, get a free, no-obligation quote here and start spring with a genuinely fresh home.
Written by the Grime Reapers team.