The Ultimate Guide To Cleaning Your Apartment Before Moving – And Keeping Your Security Deposit

If you’ve ever done any apartment moving in Hallendale Beach at all, you know how difficult it is to clean up before you move. Usually, cleaning your apartment is not foremost on your mind – you’ve got to think about apartment moving services, finding a new place, signing new leases, packing up all of your stuff, staying focused at work, and so on.

All of these distractions often mean that cleaning your apartment before you move out is the one of the last things you’ll do – so you might not do a great job of it.

And if you’ve gone through apartment moves before, you know your landlord or property manager will do everything they can to hold onto your security deposit – a dirty apartment is just the excuse they need.

So if you’re concerned about cleaning your apartment thoroughly to keep your security deposit, read on. We’ve put together some helpful tips that can help you clean your apartment thoroughly, and help you get back as much of your deposit as possible.

Step 1 – Plan Ahead

This is the first step to your security deposit back. You may not want to, but you need to take some time – preferably at least a day – near the end of your lease to do a thorough cleaning.

Often, the best day for this will be the day before you move out, because you can ensure that your newly sparking apartment won’t be dirtied up again by you or any of your roommates before it’s inspected.

Step 2 – Clean Room By Room

Let’s start with the things you should be doing in every room. If you do these steps first, you’ll be able to focus on individual tasks that are more room-dependent.

All Rooms Checklist

• Take all screws, nails, and thumbtacks out of your walls. Putty over the holes smoothly. Patch larger holes in walls, if any.
• Dust mantelpieces, ledges, and shelving.
• Dust ceiling fixtures including lights, ceiling fans, and smoke alarms.
• Replace light bulbs, if necessary.
• Dust and clean your light switches and power outlets with a clean, dry rag.
• Clean your walls with damp rags or paper towels – and don’t forget the baseboards.
• Vacuum and remove carpet stains, if any – consider a professional cleaner if it makes financial sense. Remove throw rugs and mop tiled floors or wood floors.
• Remove all cobwebs

These steps should be taken in every room you clean.

Next, let’s look at the bathroom. Yep, it’s probably gross – but guess what room is most often written off on security deposits? You guessed it.

Bathroom Checklist

• Clean soap scum, mildew, and other films off of the tiles in your bathroom, shower, or tub with a bleach solution or specialized bathroom cleaner.
• Bleach grout, if necessary.
• Clean out every drawer in the bathroom – that means taking your stuff out, removing all liners (if any) and wiping them down to remove hair, dust, and other debris.
• Clean your toilet (thoroughly) with a specialized toilet cleaner, and then wipe down the sink, the countertop, and the mirror with a specialized bathroom cleaner.
• Utilize Drano or other products to unclog drains.
• Wipe down your exhaust fan with a damp rag to eliminate external dust.
• Sweep and mop the floors.

Next up – the kitchen.

Kitchen Checklist

• Remove dishes from cabinets and wipe the doors. Remove liners and wipe down.
• Disinfect and clean your countertops – and be very thorough.
• Clean the sink and the faucet with a metal cleaner for good polish and shine.
• Unclog drains with chemical solutions like Drano, if necessary.
• Remove all food from the fridge. Perishables you wish to keep must be kept cold in a cooler – all others should be thrown out.
• Scrub the fridge – inside and out. Remove shelves and wash individually before replacing. Disconnect the fridge if desired – but have a towel in place to catch drippings from the warming fridge.
• Clean your oven. You can begin by using the “clean” function if present, but that’s not enough. After your oven cools, attack large patches of food or burned-on debris with steel wool. Remove shelving, drip pans, and burners, if present. Clean thoroughly with steel wool and metal cleaner.
• Clean the dishwasher – you can run a cycle with no dishes to help take care of bad smells and do most of the work. Simply run over the interior and hardware with a damp cloth using a bleach solution or a vinegar/water solution.
• Sweep behind all appliances.

That’s pretty much it. Living rooms and bedrooms don’t really need special attention – just make sure you’ve cleaned behind/underneath any furniture that your apartment movers will take away.

Step 3 – Say Goodbye!

After all that cleaning, you probably won’t be too broken up about leaving behind your bare apartment. So get out, get to your new place, and get on with your life.

If you’re in the Hallandale Beach, FL area, short on time and can’t handle moving all of your stuff out on your own – and cleaning your apartment – consider hiring local moving services like Orange Movers.

Our apartment moving services are second-to-none in the Hallandale Beach area, and our professionals can help you prioritize cleaning your home by taking care of moving bulky furniture, heavy boxes, and other unwieldy items. Check out our website to learn more about our services in Hallandale Beach.

And look at it this way – with the money you save by guaranteeing you get your security deposit back, you can pay our local movers – but still save a bit of cash for a rainy day.