It’s here. Spring time. That means spring cleaning. It’s another reminder that you are probably not doing all the cleaning throughout the year that you should be. Where do you even start? Never fear! We have some key apartment cleaning tips that can help you focus in on five of the most important areas of your apartment home.

This past week, in honor of National Cleaning Week, we released a video series that highlighted easy ways to clean your granite counters, stainless steel appliances, rainfall showers, and more. You can watch each video and a summary of our apartment cleaning tips below.

Apartment Cleaning Tips: Granite Counters

If you have read over the Resident Handbook, you would know that we have to be very particular about how certain surfaces are cleaned in your apartment.

Granite countertops are one of those important areas. To get them clean, you cannot use anything too harsh like bleach, as those types of chemicals can damage the surface.

But, it’s actually quite simple to clean your granite counters once you know which products to use.

Our housekeeper recommends using Windex Multi-Surface Disinfectant® or Windex Multi-Surface with Vinegar®. Just spray a few squirts of either product on your countertop, take a paper towel, and wipe it up. It will not damage your counters.

If you have food or anything that is sticking to the countertop, spray some directly on that spot and scrub it until it releases.

An important thing to remember is to never cut anything directly on your countertops or put anything hot directly on them. Always place a cutting board or towel on the counter to protect the granite.

Natural Counter Cleaning Alternative

If you prefer to clean using more natural solutions, you will not find a better combination than vinegar and baking soda. It can be used on almost any surface in your apartment.

To create this combination, just take a little bit of the vinegar, pour it into a bowl, bucket, etc. and slowly add the baking soda. It will immediately begin to fizz. As the fizzing slows, add more baking soda until it becomes a paste.

Beware: It does have a very strong scent. You can cut the vinegar smell with lemon juice or any other kind of essential oil.

Apartment Cleaning Tips: Stainless Steel Appliances

Just like with the granite counters, your stainless-steel appliances must be cleaned in a very particular way to avoid damaging the surface.

Any product marked as a “stainless steel cleaner” can be used to clean the outside of your appliances. If it’s a spray, put a towel on the floor first to avoid getting the product on the floors. Not only will that damage the floors, but you could also slip. Be careful!

What’s most important when cleaning your stainless-steel appliances is making sure you buff out the cleaning product in a motion that goes with the grain of the steel. So, as you apply it, you can wipe and buff any areas that are smudged or dirty in a circular motion. But, as you finish, make sure you smooth it out in the direction of the steel grain.

How to Clean Your Oven

Once we go inside your stainless-steel appliances, ovens are clearly the most difficult to clean. But, our housekeeper has plenty of tips to help you reach all the nooks and crannies.

Step One – The Stovetop

The heating elements and drip pans of each burner can be detached and cleaned. You can use a simple oven cleaner like Easy-Off®.

Once you remove those pieces, you can also prop up the stovetop by simply lifting it until the supports pop out. Once that is propped up, you can clean the surface underneath your burners using an oven cleaner. Our housekeeper recommends using a sponge like the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to wipe up the oven cleaner once it has been sitting on a spot for five minutes.

Once you’re finished with this, you just push the stovetop back down.

Step Two – The Oven Storage Drawer

Did you know the bottom drawer underneath your oven can be completely removed? Pulling that out saves you from pulling your entire oven out in order to clean underneath it. Once you pull the drawer out, sweep or vacuum the floor and give the drawer a good wipeout.

Step Three – Inside the Oven

Start by removing the oven racks.

Then, go in and look for spots that need to be cleaned. Spray each with your oven cleaner, let it sit for five minutes, and wipe up the debris with a sponge. If you have deep or stubborn spots, you might have to repeat this process a couple times.

Our housekeeper does not like the “oven clean” setting on the actual oven. For deeply-stained ovens, it will cause the debris inside to smoke, which can set off the fire alarm in your apartment. This is why regular apartment cleaning is so important!

There are certain products you can use in conjunction with the oven clean setting, but they are not preferred.

So, if you do not clean your oven often, just repeat the oven cleaning process with an oven cleaner until the debris is gone.

Apartment Cleaning Tips: Dusting

Dusting may be simple and straightforward, but there are several key areas that most people neglect in their apartments.

You need to start by making sure you have the right apartment cleaning products for dusting. An extendable duster, microfiber towels, and a wood-friendly surface cleaner will be best.

Ceiling Fans

If you start with your ceiling fan, you need to sweep the top and bottom of the fan blades as well as the center mechanism with a duster. Then, take a product like Pledge® MultiSurface Cleaner and wipe the surfaces again. That product is very gentle on many surfaces, so you can use it on wood, granite, glass, etc. Just make sure you spray it onto a towel, not directly on the surface, when you go to dust something.

Never use something with an antibacterial in it because that will damage the wood of your ceiling fan and other surfaces.

Blinds

First, close your blinds. Spray your multi-surface cleaner on a towel and go blind-by-blind wiping away the dust.

If you have some spots where you’ve spilled something, or something is stuck to the surface, squirt some multi-surface cleaner directly on spot. Then, make sure you support the back of the blind as you rub the product into the spot with your towel. Unless it is stained, that should get your blind clean!

Baseboards

Don’t forget your baseboards! Again, don’t spray directly a product on the baseboard, just a little on your dusting towel. Just give it one little swipe as you go along your baseboard, and that usually takes the dust right off.

Apartment Cleaning Tips: Floors

The main thing you need to avoid when cleaning your floors is getting them too wet.

Our housekeeper prefers using a microfiber mop or a Swiffer®, as opposed to a traditional wet mop. Wet mopping will leave far too much water on your floors, which will damage them.

If you use a microfiber mop, try a simple cleaning solution of vinegar, water, and dishwashing soap. You can use a recycled spray bottle or purchase a new one to make the solution.

First, pour in two or three capfuls of vinegar. Then, squeeze something like Dawn® Ultra Dishwashing Liquid into the vinegar. Fill the rest of the bottle with water, shake it up, and you are ready to clean.

To clean the floors, spray a few squirts of the solution directly on the surface to get the floor moist, but not too wet. Then, take your microfiber mop and mop up the solution in the direction of the grain.

You will see that this solution, or a Swiffer® product, will take approximately 60 seconds to dry afterward. This means it will not soak through the surface of the floor and cause damage. You can also use the exact same thing on the tile floors in your bathroom.

Carpet Cleaning

Carpets are easy: Just make sure that you vacuum them regularly. If you do use a spot cleaner on your carpet, make sure it does contain bleach in it because it will stain the carpeting.

If you have any more questions about your floors, just check your Resident Handbook. It gives you an outline of when to have them professionally cleaned.

Apartment Cleaning Tips: Bathrooms

There is a lot o tackle in your bathroom, so let’s get started.

Bathtubs

If your bathtub is not that grimy, then spraying it with a Scrubbing Bubbles® product will usually work. If you have some stubborn spots or mildew, then you can also use a Tilex® product. But, if you clean your bathtub weekly, then it’s not going to have a lot of build-up.

All you have to do is spray the bathtub with your preferred product, let it sit, and wipe it up with a damp sponge. Because you have a large soaking tub, don’t forget to clean ledges, too! They like to collect dust, and nobody likes a dusty bath.

Another thing to pay attention to is the counter surface surrounding your bathtub. It gets neglected often, but it collects a lot of dust. So, spray it down with a multi-surface cleaner and wipe it up.

Showers

Before we start, on your showers, we have one essential tip: Clean your shower regularly. That’s going to help you out in the long run, because shower easily get moldy with soap scum build-up. Those things are very hard to clean if they’ve been sitting there for a long time.

So, if your shower is not that bad, use the Scrubbing Bubbles and Tilex.

Step One – Water

Start by getting the shower wet with hot water. You might even let the water run for a few minutes and let the shower steam up. That will loosen some of the soap scum and make it easier to wipe it away afterwards

Step Two – Spray

After you have your shower nice and wet, start with the Scrubbing Bubbles®. Just lightly spray it everywhere, paying close attention to the bottom edges and the tile backsplash. Then, let it sit for five minutes or so.

Then, bring out the Tilex® and spray that right on top. Start spraying at the bottom and work your way towards the top so the product isn’t falling on you, and you’re not inhaling it.

Let that sit for about five more minutes. Then, turn the rainfall showerhead on and close all the bathroom doors. Turn the vent off. Turn the shower on, and let it steam up for about ten minutes or so. Again, that’s will help loosen up the soap scum even more, especially now with the chemicals sitting on top.

Step Three – Scrub

After about ten minutes, come in and turn off the water. That’s when you can scrub it all away.

Using this process, you might have to repeat it a few different times. But, once you spray the products and let them sit, when you come back, you need to scrub the surfaces with brushes. Make sure you have a grout brush and a regular scrubbing brush. Take a wet towel or sponge to wipe away any residue afterwards

If you don’t clean your shower often, you will notice that build-ups will not go to easily. So, if you have that kind of issue, you can use a degreaser. You can even use it on the shower glass if you have significant soap scum build-up there.

Showerheads

Don’t forget your showerheads! Often, we have maintenance requests come in asking us to de-clog a showerhead. That’s usually because they just have mold or soap scum on them! So, it’s very important to keep them clean as well.

All you should do is spray Tilex® on the showerhead, let it sit for about five minutes, and wipe it off with a wet towel or paper towel. Most often, if your showerhead is clogged, all you have to do is clean it and it will work perfectly fine after that.

Sinks

The way your bathroom sinks are designed, there is an area that sits under the counter surface. It tends to collect mold and soap scum, which can get nasty if you neglect it.

To get this area clean, take the Tilex® and spray around the top of your sink, let that sit for minute, and take a scrubbing brush to it.

Don’t forget the bottom of your faucet where the water comes out. It can get moldy, too. So, just spray a little Tilex® on a brush and scrub the underside of your faucet.

Those are all our apartment cleaning tips! For more detailed advice, just read over your Resident Handbook.

If you have a more specific issue regarding your apartment, please contact the office staff or submit a service request via your resident portal.