A two-week Deepavali cleaning plan for your home

Deepavali falls on Sunday, 8 November 2026. Two weeks is a comfortable runway for the cleaning: use the first nine days for the slow jobs such as decluttering, fans and bathrooms, and the last week for the kitchen and the rooms guests will see. Then keep a little time for the week after, when the festival leaves its own mess behind.

Every family celebrates in its own way, so treat this as a framework and move the pieces around your own traditions, cooking and visiting plans.

Why the home gets a proper clean before Deepavali

The National Heritage Board describes Deepavali preparations as starting weeks in advance, with cleaning and decorating of the house, buying new clothes and preparing sweet and savoury snacks. The festival is widely seen as the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, and lighted oil lamps (diyas) are placed at doorways, often beside a kolam or rangoli drawn from coloured rice powder or rice grains.

In practical terms, that means three things for the cleaning plan: the doorway matters, the kitchen works hard in the run-up, and there will be oil and soot to deal with afterwards.

The two-week timeline for 2026

If you are hosting relatives who arrive earlier, shift everything forward by a few days. The order matters more than the dates.

Up to 1 November: the slow jobs

Declutter first. Everything you remove is something you no longer have to dust around. Start with wardrobes and the storeroom, because new clothes need somewhere to go.

Work top to bottom. Dust ceiling fans, light fittings and the tops of cabinets before anything else, so falling dust lands on floors you have not cleaned yet. Wipe window frames, tracks and any grilles you can reach safely from inside.

Curtains need planning. Washable curtains need a dry day and time to rehang. Curtains that must be dry cleaned go to a curtain cleaning company, which is specialist work, so send them early.

Bathrooms take longer than you expect. Descale taps and shower screens, scrub grout and clean the floor traps. Our home cleaning checklist lists what a thorough bathroom clean covers, room by room.

2 to 7 November: the kitchen and the rooms guests see

The kitchen. If you make murukku or other fried snacks at home, oil settles on the hob, hood, backsplash and the cabinet fronts nearby. Keep up quick daily wipes while the frying is going on, then do the proper degrease when the last batch is done. Clear out the fridge before the festive shopping comes in.

The entrance and doorway. This is where the lamps and kolam usually go, and where every guest arrives. Clean the door, the frame, the shoe rack and the floor a day before you draw a kolam, so the floor is completely dry.

The living and dining room. Vacuum the sofa and cushions, wipe surfaces and glass, and clear the dining table so there is space to lay out food.

The guest toilet. Guests are alone in this room, so they notice it. Clean it last, the day before, and set out fresh hand towels, soap and an empty bin.

Oil lamps, soot and ghee

SCDF's festive fire safety advice for lit candles is to use stable holders on a heat-resistant surface, keep them away from curtains and other things that burn, keep them away from children, and not leave them burning in an empty room. The same sense applies to oil lamps. A tray or a washable mat under each lamp also catches the drips before they reach the floor.

Soot on walls or ceilings. Wipe loose soot off gently with a dry cloth or dry sponge first. Water on fresh soot tends to smear it into a grey streak. Once the loose layer is off, wash with warm water and a little dishwashing liquid, and test a hidden spot first on matt paint.

Ghee or oil on the floor. Blot as much as you can with paper towels, then wash with warm water and dishwashing liquid, rinse, and dry the spot properly. An oily floor is slippery, which matters with young children and older relatives around.

Brass and clay lamps. Let them cool completely before cleaning. Wipe out old oil and wick ends with paper, then wash, and dry brass thoroughly so it does not spot.

Kolam. Rice powder comes up best dry. Sweep or vacuum it first; mopping straight away turns it into paste in the grout lines.

After the festival: a calm reset

The week after Deepavali is when the floors, the kitchen and the laundry all catch up at once. Put sweets and snacks into sealed containers so they do not attract ants, run the washing machine for table linen and cushion covers, and take out the extra rubbish and recycling. Then deal with the soot and oil spots above while they are still fresh.

Getting help with HomeMaster

Two kinds of visit fit around a festival: a long clean in the days before, or a shorter reset in the week after. Both are simple one-off bookings. Tell Helen, our AI assistant on WhatsApp, what you want done and when, and she replies with real open times and the exact price. A one-off 3 to 4 hour clean is $25/hour, and a 2 hour reset is $27/hour. There is no surcharge on weekends or public holidays.

The days just before a festival are popular, so it helps to book early. You need a working vacuum cleaner and mop at home; your cleaner brings the cloths, brushes, a scrub pad, bin bags and a multi-purpose cleaner. Our guide to cleaning supplies to have ready has the details. You can read more about single visits on our one-off cleaning page. If your plans change, one cancellation or reschedule per calendar month is free when made at least 48 hours before the visit.