Moving is stressful enough without losing part of your deposit over a greasy oven or a dusty closet shelf. The good news is that most move-out inspections focus on the same handful of places, and all of them can be handled in one thorough clean.
Start with the kitchen. Inspectors open the oven, the refrigerator, and the microwave first. Clean all three inside and out, then wipe the inside of every cabinet and drawer, the range hood, and the backsplash.
Bathrooms come next. Scrub the tub or shower, including the grout and the track of any glass door. Clean the toilet base and behind it, the vanity inside and out, and the mirror. Hard-water spots on fixtures are worth the extra minute.
Then work through every room for the details that only show when a home is empty: baseboards, door frames, light switches, window sills, sliding door tracks, closet shelves, and the floor along the walls where furniture used to sit.
Finally, take dated photos of every room once it's clean. If there's ever a question about the condition you left the home in, those photos settle it. And if you'd rather spend move day on the move, a professional move-out clean covers this entire list in one visit.