22 Must-Have Cleaning Essentials You Need In Your Apartment

This post is all about cleaning essentials you need in your apartment. Plus, I give you all the cleaning products I SWEAR by...believe me, they are good!

I am a clean freak and I got weirdly excited when moving into my first apartment thinking about all the cleaning essentials I would need to get.

I'm going to be showing you all the cleaning products I recommend and love that will get you prepared for literally any mess that is thrown your way in your apartment.

This post is all about the cleaning essentials you need in your apartment and all the cleaning products I swear by for cleaning your first apartment.

Best Overall Cleaning Essentials:

Overall cleaning essentials you definitely will need:

First up, you'll definitely want a vacuum and holy crap do I love my Dyson vacuum but it seriously might be the cost of your monthly rent hah! I actually got this as a gift and it's one of the nicest gifts I have ever received. I really do love it especially because it's cordless and can easily be taken to any room in my apartment.

Second, something to clean your floors. I use a Swiffer and I'm not in love with this but definitely don't hate it either. The reason I like it is because it sprays the cleaner out so I don't have to get on my hands and knees and clean. Also, my plan to fill it with a homemade cleaner to save some money once the cleaner runs out. These refills can get pricey so this is one way I'm trying to save a little money.

Next up we have the BEST window cleaner in the entire world - Sprayway Glass Cleaner. There are a few products in this post that I swear are hands down the best and this is one of them. A little tip for you with this...less is more and use newspapers or coffee filters to clean windows. That way it won't leave streaks!

Additionally, you'll want a duster. I love my Swiffer Duster especially because I'm really short and it extends super tall to get to fans and corners in the ceiling where dust collects.

Lastly, for the "all over the home cleaning section" is microfiber cloths. I use microfiber cloths all the time. I just buy them in a huge pack from Amazon. I use them everywhere - dusting, cleaning the kitchen counters, in the bathroom...literally they have so many uses and are especially good if you shed a lot of hair. These can pick up hair like no one's business. One thing to note is that you need to wash microfiber clothes in the washing machine with JUST microfiber clothes. they will literally stick onto your other clothes or towels and it's annoying. I just have a bucket in my laundry room that I stick all my dirty microfiber clothes in and once it's filled, I throw them in the wash.

Best Bathroom Cleaning Essentials:

The bathroom cleaning essentials you will need are:

The bathroom you don't need too many products.

I find that Scrubbing Bubbles is the best brand for bathroom cleaning products so I use their Power Stain Destroyer for my toilet cleaner and their Foaming Bleach for the rest of my bathroom.

This is extra of me and definitely is not a cleaning essential, but I also like having Lysol Disinfecting Wipes to wipe down the most touched parts of the bathroom.

Lastly, get yourself some cleaning gloves to cover your hands. I have found the cheapest place to find gloves is the dollar store. Otherwise, Target and similar places will carry them too.

Best Kitchen Cleaning Essentials:

The main kitchen cleaning essentials you will need are:

Method Heavy Duty Degreaser is what I use to clean my counters. This is definitely the best countertop cleaner I have been able to find. I try to clean off my counters daily (if I'm on top of things that day 😉 ).

For dish soap, I love my Method Dish Soap bottle but I refill it with Dawn Soap. I just wish Dawn soap had a better looking bottle because I really do like how it smells better.

To clean my sink, stove, and anything else that needs a really good scrub I use SOS pads and love them. I buy a big pack of them from Target and they will last you for forever.

My favorite dish sponge in the entire world comes from Home Goods, Marshalls, or TJ Maxx and it's a brand called Practical Matter. They're super cheap and I can promise you they work better than any other dish sponge brand you will find.

A rinse aid for your dishwasher is something that I didn't even know existed until a year ago when all of my dishes would get these water marks all over them but I KNEW that they were just cleaned. A rinse aid eliminates them and makes them look sparkling clean. I get the Finish Rinse Aid.

Lastly, my favorite product for stainless steel appliance cleaner is Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish. This will be having all your appliances shining so much they look new.

Interested in purchasing items you saw in the video? Click here to see where I bought everything in my first apartment.

Best Laundry Cleaning Essentials:

Laundry cleaning essentials you will need:

I am super passionate about what I clean my clothes, sheets, towels, and anything else to make them smell good. I'm obsessed with these laundry products.

I do have "unnecessary items" that wouldn't be considered cleaning essentials so really the only thing you need to have is laundry detergent whether that be in a pod, liquid, or crystals.

For the extra laundry cleaning essentials this is what I have:

Downy Infusions Calm Fabric Conditioner: If I could guess what heaven smells like, it would be this bottle. IT IS SO GOOD. I have only tried the lavender and vanilla bean but I know they also have other scents. I also use Downy Unstoppables which I love also!

Shout Color Catcher: This is something I just discovered about six months ago and they are awesome. You throw them in with your loads in the washing machine and any color that comes off your clothes they catch. For example, and I wouldn't test this out just in case, but if you put all white clothes and accidentally throw in a red sock...it would get all that red dye so your clothes won't be ruined.

Fabric Softener Sheets: just another way to make your clothes smell real good.

Oxi Clean Laundry Stain Remover: This is the best stain remover that I have been able to find. It can literally get any stain out of clothes. It's amazing.

Other Cleaning Supplies I Love:

First up, we have Magic Erasers. These are seriously magic. They can get any mark out of the wall and really, I am convinced they can get a mark out of anything.

Second, we have this Folex Carpet Stain Remover. Hands down the best carpet stain remover you will find. You can get this from Amazon or Home Depot. I originally got it for my white couch but I use it on EVERYTHING. Rugs, carpets, furniture...it's the best to always have just in case.

So that wraps up all the cleaning essentials you will need in your apartment plus some of my other favorite cleaning products out there.