I was at my sister's house taking a tour of her newly built house! A couple of days ago, my sister got notice that she can start moving in!! As soon as she's done the bulk of her moving, I can start moving into her old house (I'm going to rent it from her). That will be a major chore...actually the cleaning of my apartment will be the major chore. I'm not very neat at all. It's a curse.
(I'm responding to this right after reading it, so if any of my suggestions have already been suggested, I apologize in advance).
I think you should consider a couple of things: If it's worth a couple of hundred dollars to you NOT to clean your apartment, there are services "out there" that will come in and do it for you. My last move was 9 years ago, and I still remember trying to set up the new apartment and having to clean the old. With Bay Area security deposits and first/last month rent deposits and having to buy boxes to pack, and having to pay a man and two helpers to move me to my new place, plus put excess stuff into storage, I wasn't about to pay anyone to clean the old place for me. And I STILL regret it.
Also, there is such a thing as "normal wear and tear" -- this means that it is not necessary for you to repaint, clean the carpet, fill-in nail holes where pictures were hanging.
Conversely, I feel it's a tenant responsibility to clean the refrigerator and oven, but not the cabinets, which the landlord might have repainted.
My mom ALWAYS cleaned a house so that it was in a condition she would accept were she moving into it....but then, she was the landlord turning over the house.
You should be able to get your security deposit without having to restore the apartment to its original condition.