Cincinnati winters are rough. Salt tracked in on every pair of boots, windows fogged for months, the furnace running nonstop and pushing dust through every vent. By the time March rolls around, your home has quietly collected a winter’s worth of grime in places you probably haven’t looked at since October.
Spring cleaning here isn’t just a feel-good ritual. It’s necessary. Here’s a room-by-room checklist to get your home back to fresh, including the Cincinnati-specific tasks most people forget every year.
Kitchen
The kitchen takes the biggest beating all winter. Between holiday cooking, comfort-food season and the oven running overtime, grease and grime build up fast, especially in spots you don’t see every day.
- Clean inside the oven and the oven racks
- Pull out the refrigerator and clean the coils
- Degrease the range hood filter
- Wipe all cabinet faces and handles
- Clean behind and under appliances
- Wipe down the walls near the stove
Bathrooms
Bathrooms stay humid all winter with the windows closed, so mildew and grime build up in grout lines, exhaust fans and the corners you don’t scrub regularly.
- Scrub grout on floors and shower walls
- Clean the exhaust fan and vent cover
- Scrub behind and around the toilet base
- Clean under the sink cabinet
- Wipe shower door tracks and runners
Bedrooms
You spend a third of your life in this room. After months of closed windows and running heat, dust settles on fan blades, collects under the bed, and the mattress could use a turn.
- Flip or rotate the mattress
- Wash pillows and the duvet cover
- Wipe ceiling fan blades
- Clean thoroughly under the bed
- Wash interior windows and sills
Living areas
Baseboards, door frames and light fixtures are dust magnets that rarely get touched in everyday cleaning. Spring is the time to get them all.
- Dust all baseboards and door frames
- Clean light fixtures and lampshades
- Wipe window sills and tracks
- Vacuum under and behind furniture
- Clean upholstered furniture and cushions
Seasonal Cincinnati tasks most people forget
These are the ones specific to living here. Other checklists won’t include them, but anyone who’s survived a Cincinnati winter knows they matter.
- Wipe salt residue off entryway floors and mats
- Clean porch or deck furniture before first use
- Check window screens for winter damage
- Clean the garage entry door and floor
The bottom line
A proper spring clean is a big job if you tackle it yourself, and that’s assuming you have the supplies, the energy and a free weekend with nothing better to do.
You can hand a good share of this list to us instead. A First Time Clean gets into the dust and buildup a winter leaves behind, and several of the bigger jobs above can be added to any visit:
| Add-on | Price |
|---|---|
| Inside the oven | $20 |
| Inside the fridge | $20 empty / $50 full |
| Inside cabinets | $20 |
| Walls | $60 |
| Interior windows | $60 |
| Blinds | $10 each |
Some items, like flipping the mattress, washing bedding, checking screens or cleaning porch furniture, are still yours. You see your full price, add-ons included, before you book.
After that, a recurring plan keeps things maintained so you never need a marathon cleaning session again. Every-two-weeks service takes 15% off and every-four-weeks takes 10% off, starting from the second visit; see recurring cleaning and our pricing. For a sense of what to do daily, weekly and seasonally, read how often you should clean your home.
