Okay girl. You’re moving into your own place soon. And you probably have no clue how to clean your house properly, or even what you should be buying for that. I’ve been there, I’ve bought things I regretted later because I don’t use them. I’ve figured out and simplified my cleaning process to make it lazy-proof. As a result, I’ve concocted you this solid list of cleaning essentials. Let me walk you through what to buy (and what to skip) to clean your place effectively.
This list will be organized by room or cleaning area. The absolute essentials will be listed first and marked with a star, then you will find the nice-to-have section. I will also include links to products when possible. Fret not, my dear, you don’t actually need a lot of different things to clean your house effectively.
Disclaimer : I may get a commission if you purchase from some links in this article. They are signaled in bold and italics like this. You can view the full disclaimer here.
Entryway and exteriors
ESSENTIALS
✦ A doormat: Okay, I get it. Real doormats can be pricy. But trust me, even if you don’t come inside with your shoes, you need something to wipe your shoes before putting them away. If you can’t afford a proper doormat for now, a simple rag-type doormat will do. Make sure it still fits your vibe/color to feel nice about it. Be aware, though, that it will require a little bit more maintenance than a plastic one. You will need to throw it in the washing machine from time to time.
✦ A heavy-duty broom: If you’re lucky enough to have some kind of exterior space, you need a broom especially for that. Choose one with tough bristles that won’t fall apart easily.
Kitchen
ESSENTIALS
✦ A sponge for dishes: For now, the best sponges I’ve found are those ones. They’re cute, they can be hung up to dry, and they dry pretty quickly. Leaving a dirty, wet sponge to mop around the sink is one of my pet peeves. They’re small enough to fit in my hands (if you have big hands, you probably won’t find this practical). I have sensory issues, and one thing I absolutely hate is picking up a greasy, oily, dirty sponge. These ones clean themselves up. They don’t get greasy, and food doesn’t get stuck inside the fibers. The only downside is that they don’t have a “rough” side for scrubbing, but if you’re handling your dishes correctly, you shouldn’t even have to scrub.
✦ Dishwashing liquid: I’ll be honest here, I haven’t conducted studies on what’s the best product out there. I just grab the absolute cheapest at the supermarket, and it does the job. They come in regular bottles with a pouring cap. Since I don’t like grabbing the whole bottle with soapy hands every time I need a refill, I’ve made a tiny upgrade. I changed the bottle cap for a spray one (I bought some empty spray bottles). It doesn’t distribute too much product at once, and I don’t have to grab and flip the whole 1L bottle a dozen times per dish-washing session. It’s great.
✦ 2 tea towels : Get at least 2, so you can use one while the other is being washed. Pick some cute ones. Make cleaning fun.
✦ A kettle: A kettle? For cleaning? If you don’t see the connection yet, you will understand soon. To clean efficiently, you often need hot water. You don’t want to waste water by keeping it running while it gets hot enough. And maybe you don’t even have hot water (we don’t here). So you’ll need a kettle to make your hot water supply.
✦ 1 multipurpose cleaner in a spray bottle: You will use that to spray basically every surface in your kitchen, including the inside of the fridge, your dining table, desk, spot stains on the floor, door handles, shelves, chairs … Everything. You will use that often and on all kinds of surfaces, that’s why I recommend you get a “gentle” cleaner, not full of harsh chemicals.
✦ 1 or 2 empty spray bottles: You might need one for your multipurpose cleaner if it doesn’t already come in a spray bottle. And you might need the other one for plain water, or to use the spray top for your dishwashing liquid.
✦ A trash can: At first, you will be fine with using the trash bags hung up somewhere, but it’s much better to have a trash can. No need for a fancy one, although if you absolutely hate touching the garbage, an automatic trash can be nice for you. Get the right size for your household. If it’s too little, you will have to empty it every day. If it’s too big, by the time the bag gets full, the trash will be disgusting. I recommend not waiting more than one week. We’re a two-person household, and here in the Philippines, it’s very dependent on little plastic containers, so our 20L trash can fills up in roughly a week (note that we don’t use a bathroom trash can; we only have one in the kitchen).
✦ Trash bags: I buy my trash bags online because they’re cheaper than in-store. I also reuse any big plastic bag we get.
NICE TO HAVE
♥︎ A heavy-duty sponge: my house is located in an area that’s not very populated, and as a true filipino-style house, it’s FAR from being completely outside-proof. It means we get all kinds of animals inside, especially geckos. And geckos poop. A lot. On everything. It’s disgusting, and sometimes it brings me to the edge of a crashout. I don’t want to clean my dishes with something that has probably seen poop. But if you don’t have that kind of problem, you can get away with using the same sponge for dishes and wiping counters and tables.
♥︎ Baking soda or, even better, soda ash: Is your house prone to pipe and plumbing problems? If yes, you will love having this ready to use in case of an emergency. If not, it’s still good to do maintenance on the pipes to avoid bigger problems.
♥︎ 1 apron: If you’re that kind of messy cook or dishwasher, you probably want to add a cute apron to your inventory.
♥︎ Kitchen paper towels: It’s nice to clean disgusting spills. I know it’s not really environmentally friendly, nor wallet-friendly, but I don’t want to bother washing a rag that has seen questionable things. I don’t have a nice automatic washing machine, so I handle my laundry more than I would have liked. If that’s not your problem, you’ll be fine with converting old t-shirts into rags and using them for questionable spills in questionable places.
♥︎ Bottle cleaning brush: It’s basically a brush with a long handle that allows you to reach the bottom of narrow bottles. You can live without it, but it’s convenient when you have it.
Bathroom / Toilets
ESSENTIALS
✦ Toilet paper: don’t forget to bring toilet paper the first night in your new place lol. In this house, we also use toilet paper as regular tissues, and I save the pocket tissues for when I’m outside. Don’t be too cheap on toilet paper and buy at least a nice 2-ply one. 3-ply is even better. If it degrades too fast, you’ll end up using more anyway.
✦ Toilet brush: No need to say too much. I got a magnetic one that hold itself up because, as I mentioned, I absolutely hate when cleaning tools sit in their own wet filth.
✦ Shower squeegee: You’ll use it to wipe down wall tiles and glass shower walls. And if your house is like ours and the water doesn’t even reach the evacuation hole, you will need to push that water manually.
✦ Shower rug: If you don’t want to make a mess everytime you step out of the shower, you need a rug. I still have the one I bought in Ikea before I moved in Paris.
✦ Another sponge: Keep a separate sponge in the bathroom to clean the sink and the counters there.
✦ Toilet cleaning product: I heard you can get away with using baking soda to clean the toilet bowl, but I haven’t tried that yet. For now, I just recommend a regular toilet cleaning product.
✦ A bucket: In the Philippines, buckets are often used, but in a more Western style, it’s mostly for emergencies and moping the floor.
NICE TO HAVE
♥︎ A box of matches: Bear with me here. If your toilet isn’t blessed with proper ventilation, it can be hard to get rid of those nasty odors. Let me introduce you to the ULTIMATE HACK. When you’re done using the toilet, crack a match, let it burn a bit, hover it where the smell is the worst, and blow it out. Like magic, bad smell is no more, air is fresh, nose is happy. You don’t need a fancy toilet bowl thingy or an expensive aerosol freshener.
♥︎ A basic brush: I don’t usually use a brush for cleaning, but there may be some situations where it could come in handy. It’s not really expensive, so it’s nice to have, just in case.
Laundry room
ESSENTIALS
✦ Laundry detergent: I’m using a liquid one from Ariel, and it’s efficient. I don’t use fabric conditioner. I also want to try homemade detergent, but it’s still on my list. I’m not yet a pro at laundry; this is an area I really need to work on.
✦ Something to hang your wet laundry: it can be a drying rack, a clothesline, or a big bamboo installed under your roof. Don’t forget to also get enough hangers and clothespins.
For the whole house
ESSENTIALS
✦ A broom: This is for basic, every-day cleaning. The ones we have here in the Philippines are really good, although their handles could be longer.
✦ A dustpan: If you have a broom, you need a dustpan. Make sure to get one that is low enough so you won’t get frustrated trying to get the dust inside.
✦ A mop: I use a Swiffer mop that my mother bought for me when I moved to Paris for my internship. It’s great because any cleaning device that you attach to the head can be removed for easy cleaning.
✦ Mop rags: I’ve tried a few options here, and for now, my favorite to use is this mop that looks like a Komondor dog. It has an elastic band around it so it doesn’t come off while I scrub the floor.
✦ A set of microfiber cloths: You will use those for basically anything. I use them as tea towels. Before I bought the mop, I also used them as mops; my husband uses them as all-purpose rags. Get two styles : the regular one and the one for glass cleaning (it has a fishscale design). It’s a lifesaver for all mirrors and windows.
✦ A plastic water dipper: I discovered that here, and I LOVE IT. If you don’t live in an Asian country, I hope you can still find one, because it is SO convenient. Here it’s called a tabo. You want to mop the floor, and your bucket doesn’t fit under the faucet? TABO. You have a small leak under the sink? TABO. Curly Girl Method? TABO. Cleaning the bathroom floor? TABO. Cleaning your shoes outside and the water access is too far? TABO. Get your own TABO.
NICE TO HAVE
♥︎ Disinfecting wipes: I buy them in bulk, and they last me a while. As I said, I don’t bother with reusable rags when I’m cleaning questionable things. I use wipes to clean my shoes (It’s rainy here so I clean them often), to clean things that can’t be sprayed with multipurpose cleaner like light switches, to scrub small crevices, to scrub down and disinfect things like my plastic tables and chairs, to clean the fridge and the washing machine, to get rid of mold and grease, etc…
♥︎ A big bottle of hand sanitizer: Mine is on top of my (small) fridge in the kitchen. I started using that after I got food poisoning several times (big ouch). We get so many dirty and unsanitary things in this house, and sometimes I don’t want to bother washing my hands all the time. So I just use the sanitizer. It’s useful if you have pets that go outside . I’ve also used it to heavily disinfect the occasional crime scene left by my dear cat after a hunt.
♥︎ A VACUUM CLEANER: I’ve put it in the nice-to-have section because a broom and a dustpan are fine, especially if your space is very small. BUT A VACUUM CLEANER IS JUST CHEF’S KISS.
I’ve spent more than a year trying to clean my house only with a broom. One day, I got tired and bought the cheapest vacuum I could find. It was just a handheld one, so cheap that it looked like a toy. The dust container needed to be emptied almost after every use, and the filter needed to be washed often, but it was a huge improvement.
After another year, when my parents visited us for the first time, my father bought a heavy-duty vacuum cleaner for my husband. At first, I was uncomfortable because I thought we didn’t need such a fancy appliance. Then I tried using it in the whole house, just like a regular vacuum cleaner. BOOM, HOUSE GOT CLEANER THAN EVER. And the best part is, it’s a wet/dry vacuum. Just a few days after my father bought that vacuum, a violent typhoon hit us, and water seeped in our room from the floor. We used the wet/dry vacuum to contain the water. SO USEFUL.
Now my small vacuum is collecting dust in a corner, which is almost poetic, but it’s also kinda sad. I’ve been thinking about storing it in the bedroom and using it exclusively for the bed, because it gets dusty pretty fast.
That’s about it for the whole house. It will make a solid base for you to customize as time pass and your needs evolve. I will soon make a post on how to clean your house, so you can get more tips on how to use all of those cleaning supplies.
Thanks for staying with me until the end. If you want the summarized version of this list, you can subscribe to my newsletter to receive this shiny PDF version. Have fun buying your essentials, have fun cleaning, and let me know how it went. See you in the next one!
