This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

Cleaning Tips To Make Moving Less Stressful

In a word -- painful.
Pre-planning is key to avoid being a sad chihuahua.
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Pre-planning is key to avoid being a sad chihuahua.

If ever there was a non-dentist scenario to illustrate pulling teeth, it would, without a doubt, be moving house.

Even before the actual moving part, you've had to a) sacrifice your Saturday mornings at inspections b) most likely deal with strangers coming through your own home, and the cherry on top c) come to terms with the precise amount of crap you've accumulated in the last however many years.

The bad news is that mostly, those bits are inevitable. But the good news? Once you've locked in a new home and the moving part begins there are a bunch of tricks to ensure a smooth transition.

"The importance of organisation is often overlooked when it comes to moving," Roxanna Pelka, cleaning expert from Helpling told The Huffington Post Australia.

And the key to solid organisation? Planning.

Ahead, an eight-step guide to planning a move that won't result in punching yourself, or someone else in the face.

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1. Make a plan

"Whether moving out or in, you need to think about the rooms and plan, for example, which rooms to start with, the size, the level of 'dirtiness' and so on. Then, estimate the hours or minutes you want to spend in each room and the sequence. Start with the bedroom and kitchen, as you will need to use them right away," Pelka said.

2. Top to bottom

"Always start cleaning from the top to the bottom, never the opposite or you will get the bottom dirty while you clean the top. Never start in the middle of the room, start with one corner and go around to ensure that you won't miss anything," Pelka said.

3. Label the boxes

"Always consider what you want in each room so you won't mix items from one room in another rooms' boxes," Pelka said. This will help you enormously during the unpacking stage and will mean you're not jumping from room to room.

4. Clean thoroughly

"If you don't clean every corner upon moving in, it's likely that you'll postpone the cleaning forever. Plus, after you set all your furniture in place, it will be twice as hard to manoeuvre around the corners and clean the hard to reach areas," Pelka said.

5. Ensure there is enough space

"Upon moving in, the obvious tip would be to make sure that you have enough space to clean the room, if it's full of boxes the cleaning will be demanding and ineffective," Pelka said.

6. Once one room is clean, unpack that room

"Always finish cleaning a room before moving on to the next one, so you can see the results of your work and be more motivated to continue. I'd even go further and suggest to unpack and organise the room as soon as you are done with cleaning, so you have a better overview and less boxes," Pelka said.

7. Pay attention to the corners

"Clean well in the corners of a room that will eventually be covered by furniture, as you'll find you will only clean them from time to time," Pelka said.

8. Don't forget...

Doors knobs, window handles, switches and faucets. These spots are highly contaminated as everyone touches them all the time, but they are quite often overlooked in cleaning. Also, between the tiles are often forgotten, too.

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