No one likes to clean, especially if you’ve just moved into your new apartment and want to explore your neighborhood. But you can make it easier by arming yourself with the right cleaning supplies and tools, which will have your apartment looking spic and span in no time. Then, when you make friends with people in your neighborhood, you’ll have no qualms about inviting them over to check out your new space and have a drink. Here is a list of the 17 essential cleaning supplies you’ll need for your new home.
Cleaners
- All-purpose grease cleaner: One of the most stubborn messes is grease, so having a cleaner made for the task will save you a lot of headaches.
- Wood cleaner: This helps polish wood furniture and keep dust away from ceiling fans, vents and more
- Mild abrasive bathroom cleaner with bleach: You need something strong for cleaning the shower, tub, toilet, sink and grout
- Glass cleaner: There’s only so much you can handle streaks on your windows, and it can be hard to find cleaners that leave the windows completely clear. You can make your own by mixing 2 to 3 tablespoons of white vinegar with 3 cups water
- Dishwashing liquid: A drop of this and a cup of water creates an instant spot cleaner for carpets and upholstered furniture – along with the obvious use for cleaning dishes.
- Baking soda: Mix it with lemon juice for a scrub or sprinkle it on carpets before you vacuum to absorb odors, among many other tricks you can learn.
- White vinegar: You can make a lot of good cleaning solutions by mixing vinegar with something else. Having some around is almost always useful.
- Isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide: Similar to vinegar, these are often mixed with other things to make good cleaning solutions.
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- A caddy: Having this will make it much easier to carry your cleaning supplies around the house. It also helps you avoid having to run back and forth to get what you forgot.
- Broom, dustpan, and mop: These are crucial for cleaning up anything on hardwood or tile floors.
- Microfiber sweeper: If you have pets, this will do wonders for getting pet hair off of your floors.
- Vacuum cleaner: These are crucial if you have carpets, but even hardwood and tile floors can use a good vacuuming from time to time.
- Rubber gloves: You really don’t want to get the mess all over your hands and forearms. This is especially useful when using bleach or other chemicals that can harm your skin.
Kitchen
- Scrub brush: One of many tools to help get stubborn grease and other substances off your dishes. This can also handle a lot of cleaning and brushing tasks in other areas as well.
- Dish cloth: Even if you use a dishwasher to dry your dishes, you’ll want something to dry dishes in a pinch.
- Scrubbing pads and steel wool: These are needed when you have particularly strong grease that a standard brush or sponge won’t do anything to.
- Cloth and paper towels: You have to clean up spills with something.
- Plastic scraper: One of many tools made for getting really stubborn grease off of your pots and pans.
- Sponges: These are essential for doing dishes. Just make sure to have a lot of them – they quickly become infested with a lot of bacteria, so replacing them consistently is vital.
- Antibacterial wipes: There’s a lot of bacteria in raw food. After you cook or do the dishes, wipe down the countertops to keep the bacteria from building up.
Read more: Green Tips for Natural Kitchen Cleaning
Bathroom
- Toilet brush: It should be obvious that toilets are a mess, so get a brush made specifically for cleaning them.
- Toothbrush: No, not yours. Get one with hard, rigid bristles to make it easier to scrub stains out of grout.
- Grout brush: Sometimes, the toothbrush just won’t cut it and you need something made just for the task.
Read more: Bathroom Hacks without Chemicals
Living room
- Lint roller: These aren’t just for your clothes. Running them over your couch and other fabric surfaces will get a lot of hard to deal with lint out of the way.
- Duster: Something with a long handle will let you get the top of furniture that you’d otherwise miss most of the time. Either feather or microfiber will work well for most situations.
There’s always more that you can buy, but these essentials will cover the most common situations, and even some of the more uncommon ones.
Related: How to Clean Your Cleaning Tools
