Must Have Cleaning Essentials
Cleaning is cleaning. You can’t avoid it, if you have regular rent inspections, you need to keep on top of it.
With the right bits and bobs and you can just crack on with the job. Leave buying these must have cleaning essentials until you are ready to move in – you don’t want to double up on stuff that may already be in your new space and it’s less stuff to pack.
- Brooms – Get one for indoor and one for outdoors. Using an outdoor broom inside is just going to drag more dirt in;
- Dustpan and Broom – For little jobs and reaching into corners;
- Cobweb brush – these brushes usually have strong bristles and long poles do you can get to hard to get areas;
- Mop & Bucket – necessary for the kitchen & bathroom or any tiled area;
- All-purpose Bucket – use for general cleaning or after a big night;
- Vacuum Cleaner* – It’s worth checking if the vacuum cleaner belongs to the house or if someone moves out the cleaner goes with them. Good vacuum cleaners are expensive, cheap vacuum cleaners suck (or don’t) and are a pain;
- Microfibre Cloths – great for dusting, much better than a duster which just moves the dust around;
- Bins – For the kitchen, get one with sections to keep the food scraps and recycling separate. For the bedroom and bathroom, the paper bags from Woolworths are great to stick in the corner – no plastic!;
- Toilet Brush – Use it and replace it as often as needed, no further discussion required;
- Plunger – Don’t wait until you need a plunger before you buy a plunger. Buy two one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen;
- Shower squeegee – if you have glass shower doors, you need to keep them soap scum free. Use it after every shower to avoid build-up which is a pain to remove; and
- Small scrubbing brushes – get a couple for small jobs or hard to reach corners.
Luckily you only need to buy most of these items once and, if you are moving into a share house check that most of the stuff is there and find out how you pay for replacing cleaning supplies.
If you prefer not to use chemicals check out some fantastic home made cleaners at The Organised Housewife.