Moving is undoubtedly a massive amount of work even if you hire some of it out. Amidst the chaos of packed boxes, packing and moving in there is the extensive cleaning that needs to be done on both ends of the move. The house or apartment you are moving from needs to be cleaned top to bottom before it changes ownership. For the most part this means surface clean, no garbage or debris laying around, and everything neat and tidy. If it is not the real estate agent can be held liable on a house or apartment that is sold or on a rental property it could mean you lose your security deposit.
If the house or apartment has been reasonably maintained, the final cleaning shouldn't be much of a problem. Simply dust down the walls, wash any marks on the walls off using a Mr. Clean Magic eraser, clean the windows, dust the wall, vacuum the floors and shine any chrome like faucets or mirrors. That way the new homeowner/tenant is greeted to a clean house or apartment to which they can clean further to their specifications.
Moving into a new house or apartment means you will be cleaning, period. You can hire some of it out or do it yourself but it still needs to be done. The amount of work required will of course depend on the move-in condition of the premises. The problem with this is you more than likely will have to deal with some cleansers you normally would not use. We tend to use as natural of a cleaning process as possible (eg. steam, vinegar, baking soda, Mr. Clean Magic erasers, soap, Simple Green, Murphy's oil soap, household ammonia). Our new house was left somewhat surface clean in that the surfaces were wiped down but definitely not what I would consider clean and the previous owners admitted they hadn't had the time to clean the house better.
I was surprised at the amount of cleaning I have had to do. The house was neat and tidy when we viewed it but quite frankly the previous owners either didn't know how to clean or were too lazy to do so. We were lucky in that we took possession on September 1 but most of our furniture did not arrive until September 6 so that gave us five days for cleaning and moving smaller items. The cleaning continues though. I've spent more time on my hands and knees cleaning as well as getting into nooks and crannies for cleaning than I really wanted but it has to be done. While I resorted to my tried and true, eco-friendly cleaning methods, I had to buy a special cleaner.polisher and sealer for the marble floor in the kitchen, another special cleaner for the laminate flooring and pinesol to clean the grout on four floors plus the countertop. I bought a large container of TSP for the walls as that will be needed for painting anyway. I've had every cleaning device imaginable (eg. handheld steam cleaner, steam mop, dust mop, wet mop, and etc.) in use almost daily. The vacuum cleaner and electric broom have been huge assets for getting dust and dirt up and out of the house. We even had the house powerwashed because it was quite obvious the previous owners had never washed the exteriour. I'm looking forward to getting the major cleaning behind us! Once everything is cleaned, maintaining it along with spring and fall cleaning is a cinch.
Garden Gnome
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