Do I Have to Clean Before I Move into a New Place??
Some thoughts on moving, cleaning, life, and limitations
Hi Jolie!
I was at happy to see you on Substack! I've been reading you since The Hairpin and you are one of my favorite people on the Internet. I am going to dig into your BHG back catalog now.
My question: My husband and I are moving into a new house after renting an apartment and I'm wondering how much I really need to clean before we move all our stuff in. I've cleaned before moving in before (mostly just mopping) but for context, I'd only really have one day to do it and I also just had a baby so my time and energy is not what it used to be. Thoughts?
What a wonderful and exciting time for you and your family — a new house and a new baby! But also wow, yes that makes for a lot of work, and not a lot of time to recharge to keep the old energy levels up.
I have some ideas but first I have to tell you why I decided to run this question today — a year ago, I got on a plane from New York to Los Angeles, and never went back. It's been great! Every day that I wake up in LA is a triumph. When I moved into Lillypad West, I did something insane that I highly recommend if you're able to: I went through every single item as I unpacked, and washed or laundered it before I put it away. This forced me to be incredibly intentional about every single thing in my home and, while I ran a pretty tight ship in the OG Lillypad (it was 325 sq ft, so), I ended up getting rid of so much unnecessary stuff.
This is a tangential to what LW is asking about but it speaks to a bigger point I want to make, here.
Now, let me tell you about why I moved to LA and what that has to do with the question at hand. Ten days before Thanksgiving in 2021, I tore my ACL and assorted other parts holding my knee together. It sucked! Once I recovered the ability to walk again, I had to contend with the fact that I was no longer going to be able to manage in the 6th floor walk-up I'd been living in for almost 15 years. I was also ready for a big change, and a move to LA felt like exactly what was called for.
But back to that knee and the point of all this rambling! During the months when I was on crutches I was so helpless that I was forced to accept a whole new set of limits. I couldn't carry a cup of coffee. I was tucking sandwiches into my sports bra to transport lunch back to my bed, because I also couldn't sit at my kitchen table. (I did, however, figure out a way to make my bed every morning which was essential because imagine me having to sit in an unmade bed for months on end!) Along with my knee, all of my routines, all of my standards of personal cleanliness, my entire God damned life fell apart.
And you know what? It was fine.
It wasn't great! But it was fine and the point of all of this is that there are seasons of our life where we must change our ways in order to make it through. When I couldn't walk, I also couldn't clean. And when I moved, I did have the time and the mental energy and the emotional space for the massive task of laying my hands on every single thing I own, considering its place in my new life, and washing, cleaning, repairing, or tossing. There may never be another time in my life when I do something like that!
Now let's finally — finally! — get to the matter at hand, which is: Do I need to clean my home before I move into it? No, you absolutely do not! Is it ideal to clean before you move into a new place? Yes! Will the world end if you don't? It sure won't!
Did I need to handle and clean every single item I own when I moved into Lillypad West? No, of course I didn't! Do many of you think I'm absolutely bananas for doing so? Yes, of course you do, and you're right to think so! Would anyone in their right mind say anything about the fact that I didn't run a vacuum in the OG Lillypad for four months while I was on crutches? Also no! (Okay real talk I hired a ladysitter who vacuumed for me while I was indisposed lol.) You gotta just take life as it comes, and sometimes you gotta let things fall apart.
I do have two practical suggestions for this LW, and I'm curious if you guys have other advice to offer, so please share your tips, thoughts, hopes, fears, dreams in the comments.
Suggestion #1: Hire a Cleaning Service for a One-Time Clean
With a new baby and only a day or so to clean before move-in, your best bet is to hire a cleaning service for a one-time cleaning job. Merry Maids has a move-in/move-out cleaning service, and you can also find similar services on sites like Thumbtack or TaskRabbit. The cost for these types of cleaning services will vary based on the size and location of your home but you can expect to pay in the ballpark of $250-$500.
Suggestion #2: Spot Clean as You Unpack
Moving is expensive, so if hiring a cleaning service isn't in your budget, I have another suggestion that might work: Clean as you unpack.
That might look like wiping kitchen cabinets out with a cloth and all-purpose spray before putting your dishes away. It could be giving the bathroom a 10-minute clean before unpacking your shampoos and toilet papers. It could involve vacuuming the bedroom floors before you make the bed up for the first time.
Okay, what other ideas do you have for LW that I'm not thinking of?? Also sidebar: LW also asked for my thoughts on robot vacs and hoooooo boy do I ever have thoughts on robot vacs but I'm going to do that as a separate thing because there's a lot (a lot a lot a lot) to say about them.
We did suggestion #1 when we bought a house. Worth it, although it did also tempt me into a monthly cleaning service to just take the edge off (also worth it, tbh.)
Another idea, depending on the amount of social support available: enlisting friends to help. I’m too old and crabby to help anyone pack or move anymore, barring a massive emergency. But if you called me up and said “can you spend a couple hours with me this week wiping down the kitchen before we officially move in?” I’m there, and I’m bringing wine.
Finally, this is a great place for triage. Give the kitchen and the bathroom the whole enchilada (or just more enchilada), then maybe the other rooms get a quick sweep/vac and wipe. Or, have the cleaning service in for just those top priority rooms. Or, ask a friend to help with just the big ones. You get it!
Chances are the place is pretty clean already since most sellers want it to show well and deep cleaning is recommended—I know our house had never been cleaner than when we moved out since I cleaned like a maniac so the new owners would not think we were gross, dirty people.
Just do a good inspection—look at edges, corners, baseboards, inside of drawers/cupboards/fridge and if those things are clean, you don’t need to re-clean them. If they are nasty then it’s waaaay easier to deep clean before your stuff moves in—prioritize the insides of drawers, cupboards, closets, etc. and bedroom floors (you can probably just ask seller’s agent if the carpets were cleaned professionally when they got the house ready for market and if not, have it done before you move the furniture in). The other stuff (windows, etc.) can wait until you are settled.