Deep Cleaning Vs Regular Cleaning – (You Need Both)

Housework has always been one of my favorite things, and this means that I regularly clean and deep clean. So recently, I decided that I wanted to write an entire post explaining the differences between deep cleaning vs regular cleaning; plus, how (and when) you should use both.

Let’s start by defining…

The difference between deep cleaning and regular cleaning…

The most basic difference between “regular” cleaning and deep cleaning is how often you need to do each. Regular cleaning entails chores that you do on a daily, or even weekly, basis. Whereas you only need to perform tasks associated with deep cleaning on a monthly, and sometimes yearly, basis.

And by using this filter, you can easily identify which chores would be considered deep cleaning vs regular cleaning. For instance… a chore like making the bed is obviously just general cleaning, and a task like decluttering the garage would be deep cleaning.

But another major difference between deep and “regular” cleaning is the difficulty. The term “deep cleaning” usually insinuates that the task is more difficult and time consuming, and regular cleaning is faster/easier to do.

So… now that we have the definitions out of the way, let’s talk about each of these types individually! Including what these types of chores look like, and how often you should perform them…

A list of regular chores…

• Make the bed every day
• Tidy living areas every day (put things away after you use them, throw away trash, etc)
• Wash dishes whenever necessary
• Wipe down the counters in the bathrooms at least once a week, and the counters in the kitchen after every use
• Do the laundry and take out trash as needed
• Take care of the floors (sweeping, mopping, vacuuming) at least once a week

A list of deep cleaning tasks…

Note – Depending on how thoroughly you want to clean, a list of potential deep-cleaning tasks could go on and on… But I’m only going to share a small amount in this post, to give you some ideas!

• Wash the windows two to three times per year
• Clean your appliances inside and out, about once every three months
• Wash your curtains (every three to six months), blankets (anywhere from two weeks to three months, depending on how often they’re used), and comforters (once every one to two months)
• Wash your doors, walls, and baseboards (about once a month, although you could go for longer if your home doesn’t accumulate dust often)
• And sweep out the chimney once a year

Obviously, this is just scratching the surface of what you could whilst deep cleaning; but I think it’s enough to give you a picture of what I mean.

Tips for how to keep track of both…

Now, both deep cleaning and regular cleaning can be hard to keep up with. With regular cleaning, that’s because you need to perform the tasks so regularly. And with deep cleaning, it’s because (since you do it so rarely) it’s easy to forget that you even need to!

So I wanted to quickly share some tips for how you can keep up with each type of housework…

Keeping Track of Everyday Cleaning

The best way to keep track of everyday chores is to create a weekly cleaning schedule. In this schedule, you’ll need to account for each and every chore; and assign them to various days of the week. (Or just one day on the weekend if you prefer to tackle it all at once.)

Then, depending on your preferences, you could… Print it out and stick it on the fridge, set reminders on your phone for each chore so that you get a ping on the day it needs to be completed, or store it beside a daily planner so that you can more easily access it when you’re creating your to-do lists.

Keeping Track of Deep Cleaning Tasks

And when it comes to those chores that you don’t need to complete often, it’s even more important that you find ways to remind yourself they need to be done.

For yearly tasks, this could be that you make a tradition out of it! Maybe you do a deep clean with the whole family once a year, on the same day every time. Then everyone knows when the last time that task was completed and the next time it needs to be done.

With quarterly, monthly, or even bi-weekly tasks… you could once again take advantage of digital reminders. Or if that’s not your style, you could write down the next time you need to complete the task on your calendar ahead of time.

How to get the whole family involved with both deep cleaning and everyday chores…

Lastly, regardless of the differences between deep cleaning vs regular cleaning… one fact remains the same. You shouldn’t be doing it all on your own! So I want to dedicate this section to some tips that you can use to get the whole family involved…

• Assign each member of the family their own tasks and/or specific rooms they need to tidy. This keeps things more organized, as everyone knows what their responsibilities are. Kids can tackle their age-appropriate chores; and your partner can help with the big stuff.
• Make it a fun event or game! I used to set a timer every night when my children were younger, and we’d see how fast we could tidy the house together. My girls loved it when we finally beat a new record! And when we deep cleaned, we used to play pretend as a professional cleaning crew called “Clean Check”.
• Create a reward system to keep everyone motivated. For everyday chores, the reward system could be an allowance. But for deep cleaning days, you could plan something special for after it’s all over. Like a movie night, going to get ice cream, etc…

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed learning about the difference between deep cleaning and everyday chores; and maybe even found some valuable tips on how to execute both.

And if you did enjoy this post, please consider checking out some of my other content as well… Thanks for reading!