Diwali cleaning is a tradition most households take seriously, but in a shared flat it can quickly turn into confusion over who's doing what — and who's paying for the cleaning supplies. A clear Diwali cleaning plan, split fairly among flatmates, turns an overwhelming task into a manageable weekend project everyone can be proud of.
Planning Your Diwali Cleaning as a Household
Rather than everyone tackling their own corner separately, agree on a date a week or two before Diwali to deep-clean the flat together. Assign zones so effort is distributed evenly, and set a realistic timeline — trying to finish an entire flat's deep clean in one rushed evening usually leaves half the job undone.
Room-by-Room Deep-Clean Checklist
Work through the flat systematically rather than jumping between rooms:
- Kitchen: clean inside cabinets, degrease the chimney and stove, wipe down the fridge inside and out, discard expired items
- Living room: wash curtains and cushion covers, dust behind furniture, clean fans and light fixtures
- Bedrooms: air out mattresses, organize wardrobes, wipe down windows and grilles
- Bathrooms: descale taps and showerheads, clean exhaust fans, replace old toiletries
- Balcony and entryway: sweep, clean grilles, and set up diyas or lights for the celebration
Splitting Cleaning Tasks and Costs Fairly
Assign each flatmate a set of rooms or tasks rather than leaving it open-ended, and rotate who handles the tougher jobs like the kitchen chimney each year. For costs — cleaning supplies, a professional deep-clean service, or new door decorations — agree upfront on how these will be split so nobody ends up fronting the entire bill for shared purchases.
Why it matters: Splitting both the labor and the cost of festival cleaning prevents the common pattern where one flatmate ends up doing most of the work while everyone shares the credit.
Tracking Shared Purchases
Between cleaning supplies, décor, and festive groceries, Diwali prep often involves several small purchases across different flatmates. Logging each one in an expense-splitting tool as it happens — rather than trying to reconstruct a week of receipts afterward — keeps the settlement quick and fair once the cleaning and celebrations are done.
Pro tip: Tackle decluttering before deep cleaning. Donating or discarding unused items first makes every other cleaning task faster and gives the flat a genuinely fresh feel for the festival.
Making It a Bonding Activity, Not a Chore
Put on some music, order in once the heavy cleaning is done, and treat the day as a shared ritual rather than a burden. A flat that's been cleaned together tends to be respected and maintained better by everyone afterward, well beyond the festive season.
After the Clean: Keeping the Flat Festival-Ready
Once the deep clean is done, a few small habits keep the flat looking fresh right through the celebrations: wipe down entryway surfaces daily since diya soot and rangoli powder tend to spread, keep a designated spot for gifts and sweets so the living room doesn't get cluttered, and do a quick five-minute tidy-up each evening rather than letting mess accumulate again before guests arrive. Agreeing on this as a household, just like the initial clean, keeps the effort from falling on one person during the busiest week of the festival season.
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