Have you ever started cleaning a room, found a misplaced item, went to return the item to its rightful place in another room, then started cleaning that room, then found another misplaced item,repeated the same steps, until an hour goes by and all you’ve accomplished is halfway cleaning a bunch of things? Or is that just me? If you just start cleaning without a set plan, you will never get anything done. When you run an AirBNB or vacation rental, time is super important. You could have back to back guests and can’t afford wasting time cleaning a bunch of things halfway! This is why you need to have a set plan. Not sure where to start? Here is what we suggest after you gather up all of your cleaning supplies:
1. Kitchen
Do the dishes first so they have time to dry. Plus they need to be out of the way so you can clean the sink and counters. Make sure to clean the faucets, stove, table/chairs, and any other furniture you may have in the area like side tables, tv stand, etc. Always clean left to right and up to down. Check the fridge, microwave, and oven to make sure they are good to go. If you offer a coffee pot or hot water kettle, it would be a good idea to clean and descale them at least once a month (you can use vinegar for this!
2. Sweep
Sweep the living room and mop the kitchen. There will be high traffic areas in the unit and you want to pay close attention to those. Vacuum the rugs or area rug if it’s needed. You can also use a vacuum to clean your couch and chairs. A hand vacuum can be a great small tool to have for this. Use it in the bathroom to pick up any stray hairs. Plus, you can leave it out for your guests. Sometimes they want to clean their own messes!
3. Bathroom
Start with your toilet bowl. This way, the bowl cleaner will have time to set while you take care of the rest of the bathroom. Wipe down the sink, shower, counters, and mirror. Then take care of toilet, wiping down the lid, seat, top of the tank, the handle, and the bottoms/sides of the toilet (they can collect dust pretty quickly). Make sure to take care of the floors in here too. Once that’s done, get rid of the water spots on your faucets. While water spots aren’t dirty, they certainly don’t look great and your guests will definitely notice. A microfiber cloth works great for this. You can also use a vinegar and water spray to get any hard to remove spots nice and clean.
4. Laundry
Change the sheets and towels. Make sure to add new towels. With your curtains, make sure they get a deep clean twice a year. This means taking them down to get them cleaned as they can hold on to smells!
5. Various little tasks
Take out the trash and put in a new bag, put away those sparkly clean dishes, arrange the pillows, and double check everything to make sure it looks clean. Don’t forget to check the supplies you leave for your guests! If you need to restock, now is the time.
If you stick to your plan, you should be able to turnaround a unit pretty quickly. If all of this sounds overwhelming to you, give us a call! We would love to help you get your AirBNB unit squeaky green clean!
XOXO,
Your Squeaky Green Team