Hi and welcome back to Memphis Maids! Today we have an article that you will find very useful this week: cleaning your home after Halloween.
First of all, we hope you had a lot of fun this Halloween! This is certainly a huge event in our country, and Memphis is not an exception.
But now it’s time to get back to our regular routine and clean up the mess after a fun Halloween party. And Halloween parties in particular tend to be messy and with a lot of decoration and garbage to get rid of once it’s done. This is overwhelming and you don’t know where to start or how to clean your home as fast as possible.
Of course, you can check our standard cleaning or deep cleaning service in Memphis if you want a pair of extra hands to clean your home.
But you can also try cleaning and tidying up your home if you have the time and energy.
Without further ado, let’s read some tips for cleaning your home after Halloween!
Get Rid of the Mess First
Getting rid of the largest items is the first step for cleaning your home after Halloween (or any other day).
For this task, you will need gloves, and two or more garbage bags. A two-compartment trash can is ideal here.
This allows you to sort into organics (food wraps, food crumbs), and everything else. If you don’t have one, you can improvise one with two cardboard boxes, for example.
Related: Decluttering Tips to Start the New Year
You can add an additional box or bag to store your Halloween items back into place.
Once move things out of the way, you can focus on using actual cleaning products and techniques.
Pro tip: this task should be quite easy and straightforward. If you don’t want to waste too much time on it, set a timer! A 20-minute timer should be more than enough to tidy up. In fact, we have a 20-minute daily checklist to clean your entire home!
Vacuum and Wipe Your Furniture and Other Surfaces
Now it’s time to remove smaller crumbs and any dust and dirt that’s sitting on top of your furniture and other surfaces.
Always start from top to bottom, and use either a microfiber cloth (for flat, solid surfaces) or a vacuum cleaner (to reach difficult areas and/or for fabrics and other soft, flexible surfaces).
Keep several microfiber cloths: one to pick up any liquid spills (e.g. beer or wine), one for applying your cleaning product and one for wiping surfaces dry. Everything that is damp should be rinsed each time after you use them with water and just a tiny bit of soap, and then rinsed with clean water.
As far as cleaning agents go, a 1:1 water and white vinegar is often the most recommended product by professional cleaners.
This is because vinegar doesn’t leave any residue, it removes dirt and odor, and it’s safe to use on most surfaces.
Related: How to Clean Your Home Using Vinegar
This part of the process is (most likely) going to take you the longest out of the entire cleaning.
You might want to skip floors for now. It’s always a good idea to save floors for last in case any other cleaning task leaves a mess on your floor.
As you did with your previous task, you can set a timer. This time, it will take you longer, but you can divide your time into two or three sets of 20 minutes, with a 10-minute rest between them.
This should be enough if you want to clean your house quickly.
Related: 7 Essential Cleaning Supplies In Your Household
Finish Your Halloween House Cleaning With Your Floors
Now that most of your surfaces and furniture have been cleaned, it’s time to take care of your floors. Depending on your type of floors, you might have to sweep, vacuum and/or mop them.
If you have sensitive floors (granite, marble or hardwood, for example) you should use specialized cleaners and very little water. Other floors get along nicely with soapy water, or a 1-part vinegar, 20-part water mix, for example.
Adding a few drops of essential oil to ceramic floors will give you a big plus because of their fragrance. However, keep in mind they might not be safe to use if you have pets, so you might want to check first with your vet. You can also use eco-friendly, non-toxic deodorizers.
If you want to perform a deep cleaning instead, check our Spring Cleaning Checklist!
Conclusion
That’s it! Our 3 essential tips for cleaning your home after Halloween. We created this short guide considering it’s the middle of the week and you probably want to clean your house as quickly as possible.
Again, if you had a huge Halloween party and/or you’re not in the best mood for cleaning, remember to check Memphis Maids’ cleaning service so you can focus your time and energy on more meaningful tasks, or spending quality time with your family.
We’ll be back soon with more cleaning tips!
P.S.: Thanksgiving is coming really soon! Don’t forget to check our Thanksgiving Cleaning Guide!