Introduction

There’s nothing quite like coming home from a holiday, even if your holiday home was at the other end of the country – on the Yorke Peninsula for example – or even interstate. The comfort of your own home is what we usually travel to relax in the first place and then go back to work and relax again at our holiday home. But the idea of a holiday home does not translate when you are returning from holiday.

Instead of a fresh and airy home with everything just as you left it, weeks of stagnant air has developed in your absence is instead a musty smelling space with dust accumulated on all of the floorboards. The amount of luggage that had seemed to travel so well with you, suddenly becomes a massive pile of clutter that you feel is mountainous and is waiting to be tackled by you. It can be a challenge returning from holiday and trying to get back to work, and at the same time clear your clutter.

Returning home after a long holiday is always a big pleasure. At first we all liked to kick back and relax for a couple of hours in our own home. However, after a long couple of weeks away from home the air in our properties starts to stale, floorboards get dusty and upon our return we are faced with a stack of suitcases, dirty laundry and strong smell of air that was left trapped for weeks.

Immediately the relaxed feelings of your holiday are able to be replaced with the feelings of stress that you felt while you were on holiday as the immediate visual and physical mess of clutter takes hold and you’re immediately jolted back to reality.

But it doesn’t have to be this way and that’s why as a trusted Adelaide local service we’ve created this comprehensive guide to aid in Adelaide post-holiday cleaning around the home to clear away the holiday clutter to try and keep as much of your much needed holiday zen for as long as possible.

That is why we have put together this definitive Adelaide post-holiday cleaning guide to help aid your home in returning to normal as quickly as possible and enable you to try to keep the relaxed atmosphere from your holiday for as long as possible, we’ve managed to come up with 9 of the best methods to get your home back in order.

The Unique Challenges of Adelaide Post-Holiday Cleaning

When you lock up your home and head off on vacation, your house essentially holds its breath. And here in South Australia, our unique climate and environment add a few distinct challenges to post-vacation cleaning that require a specific approach.

There is the South Australian dust for a start, fine enough to enter houses despite best efforts to keep them closed up, with gully winds making themselves felt in tiniest window seal gaps. Adelaide’s old homes can be beautiful but notorious for cold draughts. All good until you leave for a vacation, returning to find every surface, at all levels (coffee tables,up high on shelves,down at floor level on skirting boards & under cupboards) has a dusty film on it.

Additionally to the above-mentioned dirt of houses there is also the sand brought in from beach trips. Whether you have been to Glenelg, Henley Beach or further along the coast at one of the many beaches along the Fleurieu Peninsula there is bound to be some left behind at your house. We find that the worst part of cleaning beach sand is that it penetrates deeply into carpet fibers and gets into all the smallest spaces in homes and can travel in unknown places like the laundry, cars and entries of homes.

Lastly, Adelaide’s ‘hard’ water supply often leads to quick build up of calcium in kitchen appliances such as sinks, tap holes, and kettles. Water left in appliances and surfaces before you leave will form white, hard water marks and if not removed with the correct cleaning solution, can mark or even scratch surfaces.

Lastly, the heat inside a house holds its breath until it is opened up again. Should your departure occur during the warmer months and you fail to switch off the air conditioning in an attempt to save money on your energy bill, then upon return you are to be met with stale smells of heat in every room of the house. A bit of work will overcome these odors and the air is quickly revitalized.

By recognizing these unique challenges, specifically those encountered in Adelaide homes and across South Australia generally, we are then able to approach the cleaning efficiently, dealing with each individual area required to give the home a truly deep clean and ensure that all facets have been addressed as necessary and specifically to remove every last speck of dust, each grain of sand and dissipate all the stifling heat-borne smells to ensure the air is not only clean to breathe, but to return to feeling fresh and newly revived.

9 Ways to Get Your Home Back to Normal

Getting on top of the post-vacation mess can be one of the most daunting jobs of all time but following a simple strategy can turn the task into a couple of hours of work in no time. Use the following 9 tips and go back to relaxing with your feet up after hours of labor in your clean home. The following is an Adelaide post-holiday cleaning strategy.

1. Conquer the Luggage and Declutter Immediately

The Suitcase Corner: One of the Biggest Mistakes Returning Travelers Make… The suitcases arrive back at your front door, get dragged into the house and are left to dominate a corner of a room for the next couple of weeks. It becomes the focal point of a returned traveler’s space and a constant reminder of all the chores they need to attend to in order to regain control of their space and get back to relaxing as if they were still on holiday.

Get home and unpack within 24 hours. Yes this will be stressful if you have been away for a long time but trust me it is better to do it all in one hit rather than to leave your suitcase in the corner of your room for two weeks. Take your bags straight to the laundry and sort out all of your luggage there.

You can separate clean clothes from soiled clothes and put away items that don’t need washing such as toiletries and put away your travel documents. Also sort out any souvenirs that you have brought home and give them a home too.

Once the contents have been removed from your luggage can be given a wipe down with soap and water (inside and out), vacuumed to remove any residual sand, hair etc, and then put away in the garage or shed out of sight. Instant psychological benefit – no more baggage in the home.

While unpacking your suitcase might be one of the few tasks awaiting your return to your home, the mountain of washing that comes with it can be a very daunting task indeed. Sandy beach towels that have been left to dry on the grass at Brighton Beach are often left outside, only to get damp in the rain.

The washing of holiday clothing can leave stubborn stains of sunshine on your clothes, as well as stubborn marks and odors of human sweat. But worst of all, there are garments that have been abandoned at the bottom of a duffel bag for weeks or even months, slowly suffering from a nasty case of mold and mildew.

Remember to sort all the items from your case into the same groups, such as; normal clothing, delicates etc. Then start adding all your clothes to the washer with the first load as you unpack your case, working your way down to the bottom to find sand-covered heavy items including beach towels and travel blankets. outside first.

Also be prepared for stains from sunscreen, scrub them before washing with heavy duty stain remover or a solution of dishwashing detergent and bicarbonate of soda or similar. Continue running the washer until you have finished all cleaning. Then the mountain of washing has been conquered and can be folded and put away.

Give any coastal items a good shake outside before bringing them near the washing machine as the last thing you want to do is find a mountain of sand in your machine’s drain after. As for those pesky sunscreen stains from sunscreen, give them a good spray with a heavy-duty stain remover or mix up a solution of dish soap and baking soda to apply to the stain before throwing it in the wash.

Next, just keep loading the washing machine up and run it continuously while you are doing the rest of the cleaning around the house. By the time you’ve finished, you should find that the majority of items from your vacation will have been washed, dried and put away ready for your next trip.

3. Do a Ruthless Fridge and Pantry Purge

A number of people have expressed a certain fear at opening up the fridge after being away from home for a week or two, even if they had tried to empty it out before they left. Whether it’s a forgotten container of leftovers or a crisper full of brown, wilted vegetables – tackling the kitchen is a key part of your Adelaide post-holiday cleaning.

Taking out the trash (and the contents of your fridge) is a great place to start with your kitchen in your Adelaide post-holiday cleaning routine. Get rid of expired dairy products, unknown containers, yucky vegetables and old fruit as well as check your pantry for expired or dried out snack packages that went bad while you were away in the heat.

When all the trash has been taken out you might still smell something rotten. Throw out all containers, shelves, drawers and wash everything in a mixture of warm water and white vinegar. Natural means that there are no harsh chemicals that will seep from the smell in your fridge and get into your food.

Persistent smells can be alleviated with a small box of baking soda in the back of your fridge. Once you have got rid of all the smell in your kitchen, you will have a good clear out and be ready to start filling up your fridge again with lots of fresh produce on your first return trip to the shops for groceries after your holiday.

4. Banish the Dust: Top-to-Bottom Wiping

Leaving an Adelaide home empty for an extended period of time can result in arriving home to a massive amount of dust. Adelaide’s dry climate means there are lots of dust particles suspended in the air all the time. Without normal movement and airflow in the home this dust settles fast into a layer on every surface.

Remember to clean from the top of the house down when clearing the inevitable layer of dust to return to from an unoccupied house left to sit for an extended time. See the first point for reasons why. A simple damp microfiber cloth is all that you need for removing this type of sediment from your surfaces and furniture. Always work from the highest point first; wipe the blades of your ceiling fans, the very tops of your tallest bookshelves, the frames of all of your windows, the frames of all of your pictures etc.

Work your way down from there clearing all surfaces such as your countertops, tables and entertainment systems and finish off with the damp cloth on your skirting boards to ensure that you have removed all of the dust from your The pursuit of a clean home, good quality air within the house is one of my main goals in our Adelaide home.

For dusting, you will require a number of items. The main item would be to grab hold of a microfiber cloth. You should wash this cloth with a little bit of water prior to dusting. This type of cloth is perfect for cleaning up dust because it picks up all the dust. However, it doesn’t scatter the majority of the dust particles in the air. Begin dusting from the highest point in a room and work down from there.

Ceiling fans and aerials and the very top of your bookshelves, window sills and blinds, and all your picture frames, as well as other things that gather copious amounts of dust need to be dusted. Once you have completed the above tasks, you will then work from the top of the room down and clean all countertops, entertainment units, tables and other furniture. After all surfaces have been dusted take a slightly damp microfiber cloth and run it along all the skirting boards to pick up any dust that has fallen to the floor.

Removing all dust from your home will give it a fantastic look but more importantly it will aid improving the indoor air quality, especially so for people suffering from allergies to pollen etc. that occur at different times of the year.

5. Deep Clean the Floors and Carpets

Next up, it’s time to give the floors a good clean. Not only will the layers of dust that have fallen from the higher surfaces of the home have found their way to the floor, but also any dead insects that have found their way into the home during the long wet of Aussie summer, as well as all of the dirt and sand that has been brought into the home on people’s feet.

Using just a quick vacuum of carpeted floors is unlikely to pick up enough of the fine dust and beach sand that has embedded itself deep within the carpet pile of your high traffic areas. Slow, methodical vacuuming of all carpeted surfaces may need to be done two times over in opposite directions to agitate the carpet pile to bring up the embedded particles of dirt.

Once the dust has settled on your floor it will have accumulated the fine particles of dirt and sand that have entered your home as well as the odd dead insect. To clean carpeted floor areas use a quick once over with a vacuum cleaner – slow methodical passes don’t work well on these occasions. Pulling in opposite directions on high use areas with repeat passes will get the best results.

For hard floor covering such as tiles or timber floor covering, thoroughly vacuum or sweep the floor prior to mopping with hot water and a pH neutral floor cleaner. Avoid the use of soaking wet mops on floating timber floor covering as the excessive moisture will quickly cause the floor to start to buckle or warp. A well wrung mop will remove the final grit of dust from your floors leaving them clean and feeling smooth between the bare toes of your feet after the long hot summer.

6. Scrub and Sanitize the Bathrooms

It’s surprising how quickly an unused bathroom can become a problem area! Yes, it may be a vacant room but it’s not necessarily a clean area as the toilet bowls can quickly harbor a couple of items including pink bacteria or mineral rings. Additionally the unused sinks, mirrors and shower floors all get covered in a thick layer of dust and the moist areas get musty smelt or growth before you depart.

Work from top to bottom and start with the toilet. Apply a heavy duty toilet bowl cleaner and allow it to work its magic whilst you sort the rest of the bathroom. Use a bathroom cleaner on the shower screen, bathtub and all the sinks and work from top to bottom to avoid missing any spots. Scrub any water marks on the glass with a non-scratch scrubber and any chrome with a heavy duty metal cleaner.

Now to the mirrors – spray the glass with bathroom mirror cleaner and wipe down with a quality microfiber cloth. The end result will be a spotless streak-free surface. Once you have given the bathroom a deep clean, 

Now to the mirrors – spray the glass with bathroom mirror cleaner and wipe down with a quality microfiber cloth. The end result will be a spotless streak-free surface. Once you have given the bathroom a deep clean, pay particular attention to the toilet and scrub the bowl with a heavy duty toilet cleaner, clean the outside of the toilet with a bathroom cleaner and give the floor a good once over with a mop and bathroom cleaner.

The end result is a sanitised bathroom that has been left clean and has all of the old stale odors of stale water and grime removed, ready for you to wash the travel dirt off and get back to work for your first day.

7. Let the Fresh Adelaide Air In

Many properties are left ‘closed up’ when owners leave their homes for periods of time, including holidays. Air is trapped within the building which can become stale, heavy and cause the interior to feel and smell foul. To re-hydrate a house suffering from closed-up-ness and warm weather, one needs to clear the interior atmosphere.

After freshening up, the next job is to get the air in your house ‘refreshed’ too and it’s the simplest thing: cross-ventilation! Open up opposite doors and windows and within 20-30 minutes the heavy stale air will have evaporated and been replaced by a beautifully scented and freshened atmosphere. When returning from a long closed-up house the sea air (even on a cloudy afternoon) or the fresh gully winds of the evening are always at their own wonderful air refresher.

Add atmosphere to your newly ventilated home. Scented candles are available in hundreds of fragrances and when it comes to spreading excellent smelling air there are even better ways to do this than with a scented candle. Using an essential oil diffuser is the ultimate way to spread great smelling air. There are so many differing fragrances available, such as lemon, eucalyptus, and peppermint, and they’re guaranteed to give your home and its occupants a fantastic boost of fresh air.

Don’t forget your soft furnishings too – a good spray of a quality linen spray will give them a great new smell.. Please remember that these are NOT to be confused with the artificial air-fresheners that you can buy in the shops. The smell of these merely mask the horrible smells of stale air and dust in your home rather than neutralizing them..

8. Reset the Bedrooms for Better Sleep

Begin with an unfolded, made up bed. The bed would have been made up for weeks prior to your holiday, under covers that are doubtless to have been gathering dust and developing musty smells. Duvet covers can be washed in the wash along with your other laundry. Use a hoover to pick up as many dust mites as possible from mattresses. Turn your mattress upside down and leave it to air for a couple of hours with a window open.

9. Know When to Call in the Adelaide post-holiday cleaning

We all get home from our long flights or long hours in the car after a holiday feeling so relieved to be back home. But then reality hits and we feel like we have to start cleaning as soon as we unpack! Scrubbing toilets and mopping the floors can be one of the most strenuous tasks and who wants to do hours of heavy cleaning to come back after a holiday?! Let’s be honest! If you are someone who dreads coming home after a holiday and starting to unpack and then be bombarded with hours of cleaning then it’s time for you to look at outsourcing the cleaning of your home.

Knowing when to book a post-vacation cleaning service is an act of self-care in itself, allowing you to extend your break from reality for just a little longer. While others are returning to work the following week, you can spend your last weekend of freedom unpacking at your own pace, running to the shops for some grocery shopping and mentally preparing yourself for the week ahead.

End your holiday with Adelaide post-holiday cleaning  from Gifted Hands Cleaning. After all your unpacking we understand that the thought of returning to deep cleaning can be off-putting and end your holidays abruptly. We can get your home 100% back to you with all the deep cleaning, sanitizing and dusting completed. Then you can return to your home that has been thoroughly and beautifully cleaned and have 100% confidence in your home haven.

Why Choose Gifted Hands Cleaning for Your Post-Holiday Reset?

Even as you return to work and life in Adelaide after your long awaited vacation you will go through a change as you settle back into routine. By the time you have unpacked all your bags and sorted your family back into full time work and school for the week you will be completely exhausted. After that there will be the mass of emails awaiting your attention at work as well as tackling a deep house clean and any other pending issues to try and bring under control – totally exhausting!

The team of cleaners at Gifted Hands Cleaning are seasoned professionals who can tackle any cleaning task in Adelaide homes. At Gifted Hands, we know that houses in Adelaide, particularly those in the hills, have to cope with red dust all the time.

As well as fighting the red dust, we also know how to remove stubborn sand from homes in coastal suburbs and how to remove tough water marks from bathrooms in Adelaide, caused by the harsh hard water found throughout South Australia. Our professional cleaners are fully insured and will bring a level of care and attention to detail to you Adelaide post-holiday cleaning that you simply won’t get with a rushed DIY clean.

At Gifted Hands Cleaning we understand that every home is different, and our Adelaide post-holiday cleaning packages are no exception. While a thorough spring clean of the entire house is required from time to time, we understand that in the majority of cases, a number of specific areas are cleaned on a regular basis. This is why we have also developed a number of pre-determined house cleaning packages that focus on the highest traffic areas within the home, including the kitchen and bathroom.

It is also worth noting that we use only the safest, highest quality cleaning products to clean every home we are engaged in. This means that when we have completed your house cleaning, not only will it look amazing, it will also smell great and have fresh air, as opposed to being full of harsh chemical cleaning products. Our aim is to give you the best possible house cleaning service that will enable you to return to your home, which we hope is your sanctuary.

Conclusion

Your holidays should not end with the beginning of stress and exhaustion. Rather than looking upon the post-vacation mess in your Adelaide home with dread, there are ways of handling it to make the task much less of a problem. Unpack immediately, tackle the laundry, discard what is past its use-by date in the fridge and then start from the top down.

While clearing out dust, sand and stale air from your home it is also important to remember that returning to a normal way of life and looking great is not just about how a house looks, it also is about creating a space that is to come back to after a wonderful break is to help to create feelings of calm and aid in the recovery of body and mind. Don’t let your home become the foe of your return to work!

Ready for a Spotless Home?

Enjoy that holiday relaxation for just a little longer, we can take care of all your premium Adelaide post-holiday cleaning for you, contact us today to book.

Find your Adelaide post-holiday cleaning at giftedhandscleaning.com.au for a home cleaning service that works for you and your home. Return to the home you love to return to in Adelaide – a beautifully cleaned and sparkling home.