Diwali Deep Cleaning Checklist: A Room-by-Room Plan That Doesn’t Take Two Weeks

Diwali safai has a way of turning into a two-week project that eats every evening and both weekends. Part of that is tradition. Part of it is that most of us start in the wrong place, clean the floor, then dust the fan, and end up cleaning the floor again.

This checklist is built around one simple rule: top to bottom, dry before wet, one room at a time. With Diwali on 8 November this year, you still have about a week. That’s enough if you split it sensibly.

Before you start: clear out, don’t just clean

Spend the first evening only on decluttering. Take one big bag for donation, one for recycling (newspapers, cartons, old bills) and one for trash. Old medicines past their expiry, dried-up pens, chargers for phones you no longer own, broken plastic dabbas. You’ll be surprised how much cleaning time disappears when there’s less stuff to move around.

The supplies you actually need

• Two or three microfibre cloths (one for dry dusting, one damp, one for glass)
• A long-handled cobweb brush or a broom tied to a stick
• An old pillow cover (for fans, more on this below)
• Dish soap, baking soda, white vinegar and your usual floor cleaner
• Rubber gloves, a stool or a steady ladder, and a mask if you’re sensitive to dust

You don’t need ten different sprays. Most of the shelf full of “specialist” cleaners does the same job as soap and water with a different smell.

One safety rule, please don’t skip it

Never mix bleach-based cleaners with anything else, especially acidic toilet cleaners or ammonia-based glass cleaners. The combination can release toxic gas, and bathrooms in Indian flats often have poor ventilation. Use one product, rinse it off completely, then use the next. Keep the exhaust fan or window open while you clean.

Day 1–2: Ceilings, fans and walls (whole house)

Do the high stuff for the whole house first, because it drops dust everywhere.

• Cobwebs in corners, behind curtain rods and on top of cupboards.
• Ceiling fans: slide an old pillow cover over each blade and pull it back. The dust stays inside the cover instead of raining on your bed. Then wipe once with a damp cloth.
• Light fittings and tube lights: switch off at the mains, wipe with a dry cloth only.
• Walls: dust first. Then spot-clean marks with a barely damp cloth. Scrubbing hard on matte emulsion leaves shiny patches.

If you’re repainting a room this year, do it before this step. Our guide on how much paint a room actually needs will stop you from overbuying.

Day 3: Kitchen

The kitchen is the hardest room, so give it its own day.

• Chimney filters first, since they need soaking time. We’ve written a full step-by-step guide to cleaning chimney filters.
• Tiles behind the stove: a paste of baking soda and a little dish soap, left for 10 minutes, then scrub and rinse.
• Masala shelf and containers: empty, wipe, check for weevils and expiry, refill.
• Fridge: switch off, empty, wash the shelves in warm soapy water, wipe the rubber door seal (that’s where the black gunk hides), and vacuum or brush the coil at the back if it’s reachable.
• Gas stove burners: soak in hot water with dish soap, use a pin to clear blocked holes, and dry completely before refitting.
• Sink: pour boiling water down the drain, then clean the mesh strainer.

Day 4: Bedrooms and living room

• Wash curtains and cushion covers. If the curtains are heavy, do them in two batches.
• Vacuum or beat the sofa and mattresses, then leave mattresses in the sun for a few hours if you can.
• Clean under the bed and behind the TV unit. These are the spots everyone avoids.
• Wipe switchboards with a dry cloth (power off first). Never spray liquid on them.
• Glass and mirrors: one damp microfibre wipe, one dry buff. Old newspaper works too.

Day 5: Bathrooms

• Descale taps and shower heads with white vinegar (soak a cloth and wrap it around for an hour).
• Scrub tile grout with an old toothbrush.
• Check the geyser while you’re there: any rust, leaks or a tripping switch? Our geyser guide explains what to look for before winter.
• If you see black spots on the ceiling or corners, that’s usually mould. The US EPA’s home mould cleanup guide makes the key point well: clean it, but also fix the moisture, or it comes straight back.

Day 6: Balcony, entrance and floors

Floors go last, always. Sweep or vacuum the whole house, then mop. Clean the main door, the nameplate and the area right outside, since that’s where the rangoli and diyas will go. Clear the balcony of anything flammable before you put lights or diyas out there.

What you can safely skip this year

Not every task has to happen before the festival. If you’re short on time, these can wait till after Diwali without anyone noticing:

• Reorganising wardrobes completely
• Washing every bedsheet in the house (just the ones in use)
• Deep cleaning the store room or loft

There will be a second round of cleaning after the festival anyway: wax, oil and rangoli colour don’t clean themselves. We’ll cover that in a separate post on post-Diwali stain removal.

Small things that make it easier

A few cheap buys really do cut the effort, like a proper sink caddy so the sponge isn’t sitting in a puddle, or bigger garbage bags for the declutter pile. We picked some in 5 small home buys under ₹700. If you’re shopping for cleaning supplies in the festive sales, use the unit price calculator to see whether the “combo pack” is really cheaper per litre.

Happy cleaning, and save some energy for the actual celebration.