From Cluttered to Clean: Chicago’s Ultimate Home Refresh Guide

Between work commutes and deep dish pizza nights, keeping your Chicago home spotless can feel like a full-time job. Whether you’re in a Lincoln Park high-rise or a Wicker Park walk-up, we know your time is precious—and your space should feel peaceful, not overwhelming.

Start With a Game Plan (No Onions Required)

Just like our favorite soup recipes begin with prepped ingredients, effective cleaning starts with strategy. Before diving in, gather your supplies and make a quick mental map of your space. This prevents that aimless wandering we all do when faced with a messy apartment!

If you’re short on time or energy, consider fast cleaning services to handle the heavy lifting. Sometimes the best first step is knowing when to call in the pros.

The Chicago Apartment Cleaning Method That Actually Works

1. Tackle High-Traffic Areas First

Just like caramelizing onions takes patience, cleaning your most-used spaces requires focus. Start with kitchens and bathrooms—these areas accumulate the most grime and make the biggest visual impact when clean.

For those particularly stubborn buildup situations, deep cleaning help can transform spaces you’ve been avoiding. There’s no shame in wanting someone to clean my apartment when life gets busy.

2. Work Top to Bottom, Left to Right

This professional cleaner secret ensures you’re not re-dusting surfaces you just cleaned. Start with ceiling fans and shelves, work your way down to counters and furniture, and finish with floors.

• Dust all high surfaces first
• Wipe down middle-height furniture and appliances
• Vacuum or mop floors last

3. Don’t Forget the Details That Matter

Those little touches—like freshly folded towels or sparkling mirrors—make your space feel truly clean. Pay attention to:

• Light switches and door handles
• Baseboards and window sills
• Inside the microwave and refrigerator handles

When you need help cleaning my place, a professional home cleaning service knows exactly which details transform a space from tidy to spectacular.

Making Cleanliness Sustainable in the Windy City

Chicago living means adapting to all seasons—and your cleaning routine should too. During snowy months, entryways need extra attention. In pollen-heavy springs, frequent dusting becomes essential.

The easiest way to maintain consistency? Schedule a cleaning with reliable cleaning services in Chicago that understand our city’s unique needs. As your trusted Chicago cleaning company, we’ve seen it all—from Loop high-rises to Bucktown brownstones.

When DIY Isn’t Enough (And That’s Okay!)

There’s satisfaction in cleaning your own space, but sometimes life has other plans. Between work deadlines, social commitments, and simply wanting to enjoy your weekend, finding time to clean your apartment can feel impossible.

That’s when it’s time to search for a quality cleaning service near me and book an appointment that works with your schedule. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s having a home that supports your lifestyle.

Today we’re going to make my version of French onion sage and onion soup. I’ve been making this recipe for like I don’t know maybe 10 or 15 years and I loosely based it off of Jamie Oliver’s recipe, but I’ve tweaked it a lot. My whole entire family, every time I make a pot of this soup, they want me to bring them Well, they don’t want me. They make me bring them some of it. So, I thought it’ll do really good on our YouTube channel. First thing we want to do is prep all the ingredients. I have everything gathered here. The hard job is slicing 50 onions. This is one of my favorite little kitchen gadgets. I think it’s like 15 or 20 bucks on Amazon. It’s It’s a mandolin and a vegetable chopper. You can also do like salads in a tub with it. I use this thing every single day. Just watch your fingies. Up here for thinking, down here for dancing. And then we have two shallots. I know that this seems like a lot of onions, but just trust me. My eyes constant. >> Oh my god. >> Now we have leaks, but you have to trim them and wash them cuz they get a lot of dirt inside of the tops of them. So, I’ll just show you how to do it. One hour later. >> Usually what I do is I just make this whenever I have a lot of onions. I have the leaks actually bring in a lot of flavor. I know it’s something that people don’t usually cook with a lot, but buy them cuz they’re worth it. And then I used about eight onions. Depends on the size. They’re going to cook down a lot. So, this looks like a lot of onion, but it’s actually not going to be cuz we’re sautéing this for 45 minutes. Oh, and two shallots. I have two puny garlic cloves. I don’t cook with a lot of garlic. It kind of bothers my stomach. I’m 42. Them’s the brakes. I’m hoping that this isn’t too much even for me. But you guys, if you like lots of garlic, measure with your heart. Everybody into the pool. Oh, got the sage is honestly gives this whole entire soup the flavor. So, I’ve made it without sage before. It’s just not as groundbreaking or like showstopping. Okay, so now I’m going to cover this and I’m going to let it cook down for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. I just switched the pots over because this is we were it’s still pretty crowded, but I just wanted more surface area because I didn’t realize how much onion that was. Again, it’s going to cook down a lot. So, you’re going to grate some aged cheddar. It’s way better with aged cheddar, you guys. You just want this like extra strong flavor. And then I also use some parmesan. Whatever you have in the fridge. Now, for the last 20 minutes, remove the lid and just let the onions like caramelize. It’s going to really help the color and the flavor of them. They’ll get nice and sweet. Just a little trick that I learned from my friend Jamie Oliver. Now look how much my onions have cooked down and how beautifully caramelized and brown they are. Okay, now it’s time to get our soup on. More Chester Shire sauce worisher. >> Yeah. Now we’re adding some chicken stock. You can use vegetable stock or beeftock, whatever you want. See how it has that beautiful like kind of coming into a creamy color? It’s exactly what we want. I’m going to put a little bit more um sage in it. Now we’re going to bring that to a simmer. Just a little bit more sage, guys. So, you want to taste as you go cuz it’s like the onions are sweet and caramelized. And you might want to add if it’s too sweet for your liking, you can add like a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar just to kind of balance it out. The cheese will balance out that sweetness, too. I asked him to have any sourdough and I was like I wanted to slice it myself like a loaf of sourdough. This is rye bread and he was like this is the only loaf of bread in the whole store. Okay. You can use like um stale day old bread which is good if you want to just put a piece of it on top. I prefer croutons because I like them not to be like super soggy. I like it to have a little bit of a crunch. favorite thing is a lot of croutons and a lot of cheese. Add in the cheese. This is the um whole aged cheddar. And then a little bit of parmesan on top. Now I have it on this pan just so that it should be kind of like technically an oven safe bowl. Um I have this on this pan so it’s easier to take in and out so we don’t like slop the soup out. On broil. Don’t forget about it. Now the finishing touch is a splash of Worchester sauce. Worchester. We used to just call it Lee Perryons at the but Lee Perians at the bar so nobody made fun of you. And then a little bit of the fresh sage. Ultimate fall cozy meal.