The Onam cleaning checklist, and when to start
The short answer
Start about three weeks before Thiruvonam and work backwards: anything needing a professional booking or drying time first, the deep clean in the middle, and only the visible surfaces in the last few days. The mistake nearly everyone makes is leaving the deep clean to the week of Onam, when every cleaning company in Kerala is already full. Onam moves each year with the Malayalam calendar — it falls in Chingam, in late August or early September — so the useful thing is the countdown below rather than a fixed date.
The timeline
Onam is not on a fixed date. It falls in the Malayalam month of Chingam and is set by the Thiruvonam nakshatra, which puts it in late August or early September and moves it by a couple of weeks from one year to the next. The festival runs ten days from Atham to Thiruvonam, so check the year's panchangam for the date and then work backwards from it using this countdown.
| When | What |
|---|---|
| Three weeks before Thiruvonam | Book anything that needs a professional — deep clean, sofa and mattress cleaning, painting, AC service, pest control. This is the week the good slots go. |
| Two weeks before | Declutter and sort. Anything leaving the house should leave now, not during the clean. |
| Ten days before | Painting or repairs, if any. These need drying time and they make a mess that has to be cleaned after. |
| One week before | The deep clean itself, professional or otherwise. Kitchen, bathrooms, floors, fans, upholstery. |
| Three days before | Windows, glass, brass and lamps. Front entrance and the approach. The courtyard for the pookalam. |
| The day before | Surfaces, floors, guest bedding and bathrooms. Nothing structural. |
If you only take one thing from this: book the deep clean three weeks out. The last ten days before Thiruvonam are the busiest of the year for every cleaning company in Kerala, and it is entirely predictable — which makes it the easiest problem on this page to avoid. If you are reading this inside that window, call anyway: a smaller job at short notice is usually possible even when a full-house clean is not.
Room by room
The Onam clean is a deep clean with a guest-facing bias — the places people will actually see and sit get the extra attention. It is worth knowing that the cleaning is part of the festival rather than preparation for it: the courtyard is swept at dawn on Atham before the first pookalam goes down, and the major house cleaning traditionally falls around Pooradam, the eighth day.
- ENTRANCE AND COURTYARD — the approach, the gate, the front door, the porch floor and wherever the pookalam goes. This is the first thing every guest sees and the most commonly left to the last morning.
- KITCHEN — chimney and hob degreased, cabinets inside and out, the tops of units, and the fridge. Sadya cooking loads the kitchen more heavily than any normal day of the year.
- DINING AND LIVING — fans, lights, the tops of cupboards, skirting, switch plates. Sofa and cushion cleaning if it is being done at all, because it needs drying time.
- FLOORS — scrubbed rather than mopped, with corners and edges by hand. Guests sit on the floor for the sadya, which changes the standard.
- BATHROOMS — descaling, grouting, taps, the exhaust and the ceiling. Guest bathroom first.
- BRASS AND LAMPS — nilavilakku and any brass, polished. Best done a few days ahead so it is not competing with cooking.
- WINDOWS AND GLASS — inside and out, plus grilles and mesh, which trap monsoon dust.
The post-monsoon jobs worth folding in
Onam lands right after the heaviest part of the south-west monsoon, which makes it a natural moment for the maintenance the rain has just made necessary.
- Any damp patch or mould start that has appeared since June — deal with it now, while it is still small.
- Water tank cleaning, if it is near due. Guests, and a lot of cooking, is the wrong week to discover the tank needed doing.
- AC servicing, if the units have run through a humid season and will run through a full house.
- Cupboards and wardrobes aired and dried out — the musty smell in stored clothes is a monsoon leftover and it is worth catching before guests need somewhere to put a bag.
We run extra capacity for the Onam fortnight and it fills every year. If you know the date you want, book it early — call +91 80751 58377 or send a WhatsApp message with the size of the house and which of the jobs above you want included, and we will quote a fixed price for the lot.
Read next
- How often should you deep clean a home in Kerala?Twice a year for most Kerala homes, and why the humidity makes that different from national advice. What a deep clean includes, how long it takes, and when to book it.
- Monsoon damp and mould in a Kerala home: what actually worksWhy Kollam houses grow mould from June to September, which rooms go first, what removes it for good, and when a stain on the wall means a leak rather than condensation.
Want this done properly?
Call +91 80751 58377 or send a WhatsApp message describing the job. Fixed price agreed before the work starts, across Kollam district, Kerala.