Winter cleaning checklist
About 8 minutes to read. Published . By the House & Hedge team.
Winter keeps the work indoors, and it brings its own problems: closed windows, dry air that people try to fix with a humidifier, and wet boots on the floor. NOAA defines meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere as December, January and February. The seasons are reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, so winter there is June, July and August. The list is the same in both, and it is mostly indoor work that can be done in any weather within those months.
Each job links to the full guide. This page places it in the sequence and says what the winter pass is for.
1. Clean the oven after the holidays
The oven has had the hardest use of the year, so clean it once the cooking is over. The oven guide says to wipe spills as soon as the oven is cool enough to touch and to do a manual clean every two or three months, or every month if you bake or roast often. A manual clean is a baking soda paste left on the greasy areas for at least 15 minutes, up to overnight for heavy soil, then wiped away.
If your oven has a self-clean cycle, follow the manual: take out the racks, wipe up loose food and move any pet bird out of the kitchen first. The method for both is in how to clean an oven, and when to use the self-clean cycle.
2. Clean out the fridge
After a season of leftovers the fridge is full of things pushed to the back. The refrigerator guide says to check for forgotten food every week, to wipe the drawers and the door shelves once a month and to look at the seal, and to do a full clean once or twice a year. If you did the full clean in spring, the winter job is the shelves and drawers, not the coils.
Keep the food cold while you work. Perishable food should not sit above about 40 degrees Fahrenheit for more than two hours. The method is in how to clean a very dirty refrigerator.
3. Descale the kettle and the coffee maker
Scale builds up wherever hot water goes. The descaling guide suggests a kettle and a drip coffee maker every one to three months, more often if the water is very hard. White crust on the element, a kettle that takes longer to boil and flat-tasting coffee are the signs that descaling is overdue.
Check the manual first. An espresso or pod machine needs the descaler the maker names, and plain vinegar should not go into a machine whose manual does not allow it. The method and the choice between vinegar and citric acid are in how to descale a coffee maker and an electric kettle.
4. Clean the humidifier
A humidifier holds standing water. The EPA’s guidance on home humidifiers says that microorganisms often grow in humidifiers equipped with tanks of standing water, which is why it sets a cleaning routine. For a portable unit it says to empty the tank, wipe all surfaces dry and refill with water daily, to clean it every third day, and to use water with a low mineral content, such as distilled water, to avoid releasing minerals into the air.
The EPA’s suggestion when the maker gives no cleaning advice is to clean every surface that touches water with a 3 percent solution of hydrogen peroxide and rinse the tank thoroughly with several changes of tap water. It also says not to humidify above 50 percent relative humidity, and not to let carpets, drapes or tablecloths become damp. For a console unit, follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
One caution applies here. Some makers call for vinegar to remove mineral scale. The New Jersey Department of Health says that hydrogen peroxide and vinegar together form peracetic acid, which can irritate the eyes, skin and lungs. Use one, rinse the tank thoroughly with water, and only then use the other. The pairings to avoid are in what never to mix when cleaning.
5. Check the bathroom for mold
Closed windows and hot showers keep the bathroom damp. The EPA advises keeping indoor humidity below 60 percent if possible, ideally between 30 and 50 percent, and running the bathroom fan or opening a window when showering. Its advice for mold on hard surfaces is to scrub it off with detergent and water and dry completely. It says that if the moldy area is less than about 10 square feet, in most cases you can handle the job yourself.
The EPA also says that bleach is not recommended as a routine practice during mold cleanup. The grout guide explains why bleach often lightens the stain without reaching the mold in porous grout, and what to use instead: how to remove black mold from shower grout and caulk. The risks of bleach are in things you should never clean with bleach.
6. Set up the entryway
Winter brings sand, grit and meltwater in on every pair of boots. The Natural Stone Institute says that fine dust and sand act like an abrasive underfoot, and that walk-off matting helps keep the debris that scratches floors to a minimum. A mat outside to scrape the boots and a mat inside to catch the rest does that job. A tray for wet boots keeps the meltwater off the floor.
For hardwood, the National Wood Flooring Association says to clean spills immediately with a dry or slightly damp cloth, to use a cleaner made specifically for the finish, and not to use wet mops or steam mops, which it says will damage the finish and the wood over long periods of time. Wipe up puddles the same day. The methods are in how to clean hardwood floors without damaging the finish and how to clean tile floors and grout.
7. Check the dryer’s outdoor vent
In places that get snow, look at the outdoor end of the dryer vent. The National Fire Protection Association says to check the outdoor vent flap to make sure it is not covered by snow, and to make sure the exhaust vent pipe is not restricted and the flap will open when the dryer is working. The yearly clean of the pipe is in how to clean a dryer lint screen and the vent.
A rhythm for the cold months
Several of these jobs repeat, and the intervals come from the sources and guides named above.
- Every day: empty, dry and refill a portable humidifier.
- Every third day: clean the portable humidifier, as the EPA advises.
- Every week: look for forgotten food at the back of the fridge, and wipe up any meltwater at the door the same day.
- Every month: inspect the heating system’s air filter, wipe the fridge drawers and door shelves, and check the bathroom grout.
- Every one to three months: descale the kettle and the drip coffee maker, more often in hard water.
Written on a card inside a cupboard door, that list takes almost no effort to follow, and it replaces the guesswork about when something was last done.
Ventilate when the windows are shut
Cold weather tempts people to clean with every window closed. Open one anyway when you use a strong product. The CDC advises opening windows and doors for fresh air when using cleaning products indoors, wearing rubber or other non-porous gloves and eye protection, and never mixing bleach with ammonia or any other cleaner. A small bathroom with the fan off and the door shut is the worst place to use a strong product.
Where the list ends
Winter closes the year’s cleaning, and the next list begins when the weather warms. The spring cleaning checklist runs from March to May in the Northern Hemisphere and from September to November in the Southern Hemisphere. If you did the spring list properly, the winter list is a short one: the oven, the fridge shelves, the appliances that scale, the damp rooms and the door.
