Seasonal
Diwali Home Deep-Cleaning Checklist: Room by Room, With a Timeline
Start three weeks out, and hand the heavy jobs to someone else.
Diwali cleaning is the one household job almost every family in India does in the same fortnight, which is exactly why it goes wrong. Cleaners, painters and repair technicians are all booked at once, and the jobs that needed a professional get squeezed into the last weekend alongside the decorating. A checklist started three weeks before the festival, with the heavy work booked first, avoids most of that.
Three weeks before: book the jobs that need someone else
Decide early which jobs you will not do yourselves, because those are the ones with limited slots. Deep cleaning of kitchens and bathrooms, sofa and carpet shampooing, pest control, and any repair you have been putting off all compete for the same technicians in the weeks before Diwali. Booking them first means the rest of the list can move around them.
- Book a professional deep clean for the kitchen and bathrooms if you want one
- Book sofa, curtain or carpet cleaning if it needs to be done before guests arrive
- Schedule pest control early enough that the house can air out before the puja
- Get pending repairs done now: leaking taps, loose switches, a fan that wobbles
- Check that the AC or geyser service you skipped in summer is not needed before guests
Two weeks before: declutter before you clean
Cleaning a cluttered room means cleaning around things. Clearing first is faster overall and is the part of Diwali cleaning that families most often want to do themselves, because it involves deciding what to keep.
- Clear out cupboards, lofts and storage rooms, and decide what to donate or discard
- Sort old papers, expired medicines and empty containers
- Set aside the puja items, diyas and decorations you will use, so they are not lost in the clear-out
Room by room
Work top to bottom in each room — ceilings and fans first, floors last — so dust from above does not land on surfaces you have already cleaned.
- Living room: ceiling fans, light fittings, curtains, sofa, behind and under furniture
- Kitchen: chimney and exhaust, tiles behind the stove, inside cabinets, fridge, gas stove
- Bathrooms: tiles and grout, taps, exhaust fans, drains
- Bedrooms: mattresses, wardrobes, the space under beds, windows and grilles
- Puja room or corner: brass and silver items, the shelf or mandir, lamps
- Balcony and entrance: railings, the doorway where rangoli and lights will go
The week of Diwali: finish, then decorate
Aim to have cleaning finished two or three days before the festival. The last days are for brass polishing, fresh curtains, testing the lights before they go up, and the decorating itself — not for a deep clean running into the evening of the puja.
What is worth handing to a professional
The jobs that repay outside help are the ones that need equipment or take a full day: kitchen and bathroom deep cleaning, sofa and carpet shampooing, chimney cleaning, and anything at height. The jobs that are usually better done by the family are the ones that involve decisions — what to throw away, where things go, how the puja corner is arranged.
Questions
When should I start Diwali cleaning?
About three weeks before the festival if you want to book any professional help, because cleaning and repair slots fill up in the final fortnight. Decluttering can start at the same time; the deep clean itself works best in the second week, leaving the final days for decorating.
Can someone arrange Diwali cleaning for my parents' home while I live abroad?
Yes. This is a common request from families abroad: the cleaning is booked, supervised on the day and checked afterwards by someone local, with photos sent back, so your parents are not left managing workers in the house on their own.
Should pest control be done before or after cleaning?
Before the final deep clean, and early enough that the house can be aired out well ahead of the puja and any guests.
PadosiPro books and supervises the deep clean, pest control and pending repairs as one request — and sends proof when it's done.