Diwali is around the corner, and we all are gearing up for the big festival with full zeal and enthusiasm. Before we even begin to think about our home decor with stunning lights and lamps, divine diyas, flower decor, and festive food preparation, we need to start cleaning our home to welcome Goddess Lakshmi. A systematic plan and approach towards cleaning will not only save time but also lead to an efficient way of revamping our homes. Some cleaning tips will be common to the entire house and some will be room specific.
A Few Requisites For Diwali Cleaning
The following items will be very useful to you while cleaning your home for any occasion.
1. Broom2. Microfibre towel
3. Cleanser
4. Dish soap
5. Old toothbrush
6. Sponge Scrubber
7. Vinegar
8. Baking Soda
Top 11 Diwali Cleaning Tips and Ideas For Home
Here, we bring to you some simple Diwali cleaning tips at home that can prove to be very effective for you.
1. Declutter
First thing first! Start with decluttering your home, eradicating anything that hasn’t been used for the last few years, the chances are very bleak that those things will be ever used by you in the near future too. Remove your old clothes, newspaper, old electronic items, handbags, footwear, expired medicines, unnecessary papers, story books, or toys that your kids have outgrown, and donate these to an NGO or someone in need, creating a win-win situation for you and the receiver. Let your kid imbibe the values of cleaning as well as sharing at an early age. Decluttering itself will get your half things done, as now you just need to arrange the necessary items in a systematic way. You feel relaxed, lighter, and happier!
2. Broom it up!
While cleaning your home, always follow the thumb rule - Start from top to bottom, as dust accumulated on top will fall down on the wall shelves and the floor. Take your broom and start removing the cobwebs, and dust accumulated on the ceiling, ceiling fans, as well as the walls of your home. Clean those chandeliers, wall sconces, pendant lights, and recessed lights with a microfibre towel. If required, damp it in soapy water and do the cleaning.
3. The Entrance
Now, comes the entrance of your house. If you have a shoe rack outside your house, remove all the footwear, and eradicate those which are broken or you aren’t going to wear them again, and then dust the shoe rack from the inside out. Clean the main door of your home with a damp cloth, you will be surprised to see the dust that gets accumulated even in a short period of time. Proper cleaning is required, before you think of ornamenting your entrance door with beautiful torans and windchimes!
4. The Pooja Room
Pooja room is a divine space in your house that needs special cleaning, specially during Diwali. Take your microfibre towel and clean the walls, the shelves, and the drawers properly. Take out all your religious books and other pooja essentials. Wash your pooja essentials such as beautiful urlis, stunning silverware, copper or brass diyas, pooja thali, pooja spoon and more with lemon and baking soda. You can also use vinegar instead of lemon. You can even apply toothpaste to clean your silverware and bring back the lost shine. Once cleaned and thoroughly washed, let your pooja essentials dry under indirect sunlight and keep them back properly on pooja rooms and altar to grace them during your festival.
In general, for scrubbing the walls and tiles of your home, you can use a concentration of water and vinegar in the same amount and you will be surprised to see the sparkling effect!
5. The Kitchen
Apart from the pooja room, even the kitchen is a very sacred place, which needs thorough cleaning before celebrating Diwali. All your Diwali delicacies and festive sweets and savories will be made in the kitchen, so let’s discuss how to clean your kitchen during Diwali.
Let’s start with the loft. If you have lofts in your kitchen, take out the items stored in them. Eradicate anything that is not required or hasn’t been used for a long time. Clean the loft with the microfibre towel, or a damp one if required. Let it dry, then keep the required kitchen items in them. The same concentration of vinegar and baking soda can be used to scrub the stubborn stains on the kitchen tiles, slab as well as flooring. Then, start cleaning the kitchen floating shelves, and cupboards at the bottom one by one, removing the utensils, cleaning them, and keeping them back again in an organized manner. It's time to clean the flooring of the kitchen with a mild detergent, and a sponge scrubber to let it sparkle like never before.
It is important to clean your home appliances such as the microwave, oven, refrigerator, chimney as well as the mixer grinder using a damp cloth to remove the stubborn grease and oil.
6. The Living Room
The living room is the place where you will be welcoming your friends and relatives during the festive season of Diwali. It’s time to wash your curtains, draperies, sofa covers, cushion covers, sofa throws and tablecloth and the table runner. Most of them can be easily washed at home in your washing machine. Also, you can vacuum clean your sofas to remove the dirt accumulated especially at the corners over a long period of time. Wipe out the rods of the curtains before hanging the curtains after washing them. Also, clean your sliding windows, the mosquito mesh and the windowsills of your home to remove the dust and dirt. Window panes can be easily cleaned using a solution of vinegar and water in the same proportion. Remove your figurines and wall art, clean the floating shelves, the artifacts, showpieces and the wall art, and place them back or bring home new ones, if you so wish.
7. Rugs and Carpets
Rugs and carpets add a lot of beauty to your home decor. However, they also need to be cleaned before Diwali. You can vacuum clean your rugs and carpets to remove the dust and dirt accumulated over a period of time. As far as your door mats are concerned, either they can be hand-washed or machine-washed, as per the instructions mentioned. These rugs and carpets will take a long time to dry. So, place them on your standing cloth hanger and let them dry in direct sunlight for a day or two, till they are completely dried. You can not only see a major transformation in your statement rugs after cleaning them but you will realize that they are free from any unpleasant odor.
8. The Dining Area
The dining area is a place where family and friends unite, eat together, laugh and share their stories with each other. So, it is important to clean your dining space just before your Diwali celebration. Wipe the dining table and the chairs with a damp cloth, and clean your crockery unit by removing your precious dinnerware, drinkware and bowls. You can wash your crockery or wipe it with a clean cloth to remove the dust. See if you need a new tablecloth, mats and a runner to add the desired charm and sparkle for the forthcoming festival!
9. The Bedrooms and Wardrobes
Now coming to bedrooms, remove your clothes and other items from your wardrobes. Clean the wardrobe shelves and the drawers with the microfibre cloth. Use the mild soap solution to rub any stains and let it dry. Start keeping your clothes and accessories inside one by one. You can make use of smart organizers to categorize and keep safe your items. Also, open your bed boxes, if you have any, Remove your unused or hardly used clothes, crockery and other items from your bed boxes, and clean the bed boxes with a damp cloth. Once dry, place the required items back systematically. Don’t forget to use naphthalene balls or camphor balls for keeping the mites away.
10. The Bathrooms
Make sure your bathroom fittings and fixtures are working fine. Replace them if necessary and clean the existing ones with vinegar and baking soda to get back the old shine. Update your first aid box, and remove expired medicines. Add a new bathroom freshener. Clean the tiles and the flooring of the bathroom with mild detergent and cleanser. Wash the shower curtain if you have one.
11. The Garden
Don’t ignore your garden or balcony as this is the outdoor space where you will be installing the Diwali lights and decorating your earthen diyas. Trim your plants, and remove the weeds and dried leaves. Clean the grass, the balcony door and the racks for keeping your pots and planters. You can even replace the old pots with new ones to give a fresh look to your garden.
Get professional help, if required:
While preparing your home for Diwali, the intention is not that you need to do everything yourself. If required, do take help, maybe professional help and follow a systematic approach to get your home cleaned before Diwali and to welcome Goddess Lakshmi with full devotion and fervour!
To Summarise
We hope the above Diwali cleaning tips at home will make your cleaning easier as well as more effective this year! If you are looking for exclusive home essentials and decor items for your abode, this Diwali, visit us at vaaree.com and come across a spectrum of splendid home decor products ranging from pooja essentials, showpieces, planters and pots, idols, dinnerware, bed sheets, cushion covers and much more at very affordable prices, just for you!
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