Save this one. Screenshot it, bookmark it, send it to whoever else in the house has opinions about how clean is “clean enough.” This Pre-Dashain cleaning checklist is built to be worked through over a couple of weekends rather than crammed into one exhausting day, and it’s organised by room so you can tackle whatever’s realistic for your schedule first.

We’ve split each section into two parts: quick wins you can knock out yourself with basic supplies and half an hour, and jobs that need more time or equipment, which is where it often makes sense to bring in help rather than lose a whole weekend to one task.

Living room and sitting area

This is the room guests will actually sit in, so it earns the most attention.

Quick wins: – Dust all surfaces, shelves, photo frames, and the TV unit – Wipe down light switches, door handles, and remote controls – Declutter — festival season tends to pile up stray shopping bags and boxes – Wash curtains or at least shake out and vacuum them

Needs more time or equipment: – Deep clean the sofa — fabric sofas especially hold a year of spills and dust that a wipe-down won’t touch. If yours hasn’t had a proper clean in a while, our sofa cleaning service uses extraction methods that actually lift dirt out rather than pushing it around. – Shampoo or steam-clean carpets and galaicha. These need drying time, so plan for this early rather than the week of Dashain. See our carpet cleaning service in Kathmandu if you’d rather not deal with a wet carpet and a fan running for two days. – Clean windows inside and out, including tracks and sills.

Bedrooms

Even rooms guests won’t see deserve attention — you’ll be living in them through a hectic week too.

Quick wins: – Change and wash bedsheets, pillowcases, and covers – Declutter wardrobes, especially before new Dashain clothes need somewhere to go – Dust skirting boards, window sills, and the tops of almirahs – Vacuum under the bed

Needs more time or equipment: – Mattress cleaning or airing, if it’s been a while – If bedrooms have carpet or heavy curtains, the same carpet cleaning and curtain-washing logic from the living room applies here too.

Kitchen

Festival cooking is intense, so a kitchen that starts clean makes the whole week easier.

Quick wins: – Wipe down countertops, cabinet fronts, and the backsplash – Clean out the fridge, including expired items and old containers before festival groceries arrive – Organise the spice rack and pantry — you’ll want easy access during cooking marathons – Wash dish racks and bins

Needs more time or equipment: – Degreasing the exhaust fan/chimney and the wall behind the stove — this is the job people underestimate most. Baked-on kitchen grease genuinely needs the right products and some elbow grease. – A full kitchen reset if it’s been months since a proper deep clean — this is usually bundled into a broader whole house deep cleaning service rather than tackled alone.

Bathrooms

With more people in the house, bathrooms get more use, so this is worth doing properly rather than a quick wipe.

Quick wins: – Scrub tiles, sink, and toilet – Replace old toiletries, mats, and towels – Clean mirrors and fittings – Check and refill soap dispensers before guests notice they’re empty

Needs more time or equipment: – Descaling taps, showerheads, and tiles if hard water buildup has set in – Deep-cleaning grout, which usually needs specialised products to actually lift discoloration rather than just scrub the surface

Windows, balconies, and terraces

Quick wins: – Sweep and mop balcony floors – Wipe down railings and outdoor furniture – Clear any stored clutter that’s accumulated over the year

Needs more time or equipment: – Exterior window glass, especially in flats where outside panes aren’t easily reachable — this is one area where a professional crew with the right equipment is genuinely safer and faster than a DIY attempt from a balcony ledge.

Storage and less-visible spaces

Quick wins: – Clear out the entryway/shoe area — this is the first thing guests see – Sort storage rooms or under-stair cupboards that tend to become a dumping ground – Check the puja room specifically — dust idols, frames, and the shelf carefully, since this space gets the most direct use during tika

Needs more time or equipment: – Water tank cleaning, if it hasn’t been done in the last several months — worth checking before the household’s water usage spikes with guests staying over. Our water tank cleaning service covers this if it’s due. – Marble floor polishing, if your entryway or living room has marble that’s lost its shine — see our marble polishing service for that specific job.

Planning around a preferred date

Once you’ve worked through this Pre-Dashain cleaning checklist and know roughly what your home needs, the next question is timing — especially for anything you’re planning to book rather than DIY. If you already know which weekend works for the sofa and carpet cleaning, or which day you want the whole-house deep clean done, booking early gives you a better chance of getting that date and time slot, particularly as Dashain gets closer and demand for these services typically rises. We’ve gone into this in more detail in when to book a cleaning service before Dashain, which is worth a read once you’ve got your checklist mapped out.

If you’re still weighing up what to handle yourself versus what to book, our comparison on DIY vs professional cleaning before Dashain walks through that decision room by room.

For homes in flats specifically, our flat deep cleaning service is scoped for that kind of layout, while larger bungalow deep cleaning services cover bigger properties with more rooms and outdoor space to manage.

Work through this list at whatever pace fits your household. The point of a Pre-Dashain cleaning checklist isn’t to stress you out — it’s to make sure nothing gets forgotten until a relative points it out mid-tika.

How to pace it across a few weekends

If you’re looking at this whole list and feeling a bit overwhelmed, that’s normal — it’s meant to be worked through gradually, not finished in one sitting. A realistic pace looks something like this: tackle bedrooms and storage on the first weekend, since they’re mostly quick wins. Move to the kitchen and bathrooms the following weekend, since those benefit from a bit more time. Save the living room’s bigger jobs — sofa, carpet, windows — for whichever weekend gives you the most breathing room, ideally with a few days’ buffer afterward in case anything needs longer to dry.

If your household is juggling a lot this year — work, travel, a smaller number of people to split the load — it’s completely reasonable to book out the equipment-heavy jobs from this Pre-Dashain cleaning checklist rather than trying to do everything yourself. That’s usually less about ability and more about hours in the day, especially once shopping and cooking start competing for the same weekends.

What tends to get skipped, and why it matters

A few items on this checklist consistently get pushed to “next weekend” until there isn’t one left: the kitchen exhaust, the water tank, and marble polishing. All three share the same problem — they’re not visible on a quick glance around the house, so it’s easy to assume they’re fine. They’re also the three that take the longest to arrange if you leave them until the week of Dashain. If you only take one thing from this list, let it be this: check these three first, even before the rooms that feel more urgent.

Frequently asked questions