What to Clean Before You Unpack in Your New Regina Home
There is exactly one window in which a house is completely empty, and it closes the moment the movers set down the first box. Almost everything worth cleaning in a new place is dramatically easier during that window — no furniture to move, no contents to work around, nothing to put back. It's worth protecting a few hours for it.
Why the Empty Window Matters
A previous owner's clean, even a thorough one, is a clean done around their furniture. The floor under the sofa, the inside of the closet shelving, the back corners of cupboards — those only become reachable when the house is bare.
It also matters for how the place feels. Moving is unsettling enough without wondering what's in the cupboards you're about to put your dishes into. Half an hour with a cloth resolves that permanently.
Do These First, in This Order
Work from the rooms you'll need on day one, and top to bottom within each room.
1. The kitchen, inside and out. Every cupboard and drawer wiped inside before a single dish goes in. Inside the fridge and freezer, including the door seals and the crisper drawers. Inside the oven and under the stovetop drip area. The dishwasher's filter and door seal. The range hood filter. The sink and the drain.
2. Bathrooms. Toilets including the base and behind, tub and shower, any glass, the vanity inside and out, the medicine cabinet, the exhaust fan cover, and the floor including behind the toilet.
3. Closets and storage. Shelving, rods, floors and — always — the top shelf.
4. Everything you'll touch daily. Light switches, door handles, railings, thermostat, doorbell, and the front and back door handles inside and out.
5. Floors last, once all the dust from above has come down.
The Spots New Owners Miss
These are the ones people find in month three and wish they'd done in week one.
- Inside the washer and dryer, plus the dryer lint trap and the vent
- The top of the fridge and the coils or grille at the back or bottom
- Window tracks, which in Regina hold a genuinely impressive amount of prairie grit
- Blinds, especially horizontal ones
- Inside the entry closet, before winter coats go in
- Baseboards and door frames, including the tops
- Heat registers and the cold-air return
- The garage floor and any shelving you inherited
- Under-sink cabinets, where old leaks leave marks worth noticing before you store anything there
Check a Few Things While You're Looking
Cleaning an empty house means you're the first person to look at it closely, so pay attention as you go. Note the furnace filter size and change it now — you have no idea when the last one went in. Check under every sink for staining or dampness. Test that the windows open, close and latch, because you want to know that before January. Look at the window seals for grit or damage. None of this is cleaning exactly, but it's much easier to do in an empty house than a full one.
Moving in Fall or Winter in Regina
Regina's busiest move season is summer, but plenty of possessions happen in October and later, and the cold changes a few things.
- Protect the floors on moving day. Boots come in and out for hours, and in late fall that means water, grit and eventually road salt on a floor you just cleaned. Lay down runners or flattened boxes along the main path.
- Clean the entry last, after the movers have gone. There's no point doing it twice.
- Let anything that came off a cold truck come up to room temperature before you unpack it, especially electronics and anything in sealed plastic, which can attract condensation.
- Set up one mat outside and one inside each door on day one. It's the single cheapest thing you can do to keep a new house clean.
Move-In Clean or Deep Clean?
For a house you're taking possession of, a move in / move out clean is what you want — it's built for empty homes and covers inside cupboards, inside appliances and the places that only open up when there's no furniture.
If you've already moved in and the house is furnished, a deep clean is the right call for a first visit or any gap of 30 days or more, followed by standard cleans after that.
Either way, pricing is flat-rate rather than hourly — you know the number before anyone shows up, and it doesn't change because the job took longer than expected. It starts at $120 + GST for a 1 bed / 1 bath, plus $30 per additional bathroom. Common add-ons for a move-in are inside oven $30, inside fridge $30 and inside cabinets $20. Get your price in about 30 seconds.
One Less Thing on Possession Day
Possession day is already full. Booking the clean for the morning of possession, before the truck arrives, means you walk into a finished house and go straight to unpacking. You don't need to be there — a lockbox or a key is enough — and you pay after the clean, not before.
Book with YQR Cleaning
YQR Cleaning is locally owned and has been cleaning Regina homes since 2022, from Harbour Landing to Rosemont. Cleaners bring all their own supplies and are insured, bonded and background-checked, and anything we miss we'll come back and fix free.
See your price or call or text (639) 739-7669.