diff --git a/include/Contact.php b/include/Contact.php
index 20ae524cbe..bb6d8c1981 100644
--- a/include/Contact.php
+++ b/include/Contact.php
@@ -23,29 +23,7 @@ function user_remove($uid) {
 		$r[0]['nickname']
 	);
 
-	/// @todo Should be done in a background job since this likely will run into a time out
-	// don't delete yet, will be done later when contacts have deleted my stuff
-	// q("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `gcign` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `group` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `group_member` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `intro` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `event` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `item` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `item_id` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `mail` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `mailacct` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `manage` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `notify` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `photo` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `attach` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `profile` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `profile_check` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `pconfig` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `search` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	q("DELETE FROM `spam` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
-	// don't delete yet, will be done later when contacts have deleted my stuff
-	// q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
+	// The user and related data will be deleted in "cron_expire_and_remove_users" (cronjobs.php)
 	q("UPDATE `user` SET `account_removed` = 1, `account_expires_on` = UTC_TIMESTAMP() WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($uid));
 	proc_run(PRIORITY_HIGH, "include/notifier.php", "removeme", $uid);
 
diff --git a/include/cronjobs.php b/include/cronjobs.php
index f367df7b14..53316e464f 100644
--- a/include/cronjobs.php
+++ b/include/cronjobs.php
@@ -110,12 +110,11 @@ function cron_expire_and_remove_users() {
 		AND `account_expires_on` > '%s'
 		AND `account_expires_on` < UTC_TIMESTAMP()", dbesc(NULL_DATE));
 
-	// delete user and contact records for recently removed accounts
+	// delete user records for recently removed accounts
 	$r = q("SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE `account_removed` AND `account_expires_on` < UTC_TIMESTAMP() - INTERVAL 3 DAY");
 	if (dbm::is_result($r)) {
 		foreach ($r as $user) {
-			q("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($user['uid']));
-			q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d", intval($user['uid']));
+			dba::delete('user', array('uid' => $user['uid']));
 		}
 	}
 }
diff --git a/include/dbclean.php b/include/dbclean.php
index 64185b39d9..36f4f46e53 100644
--- a/include/dbclean.php
+++ b/include/dbclean.php
@@ -53,11 +53,14 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 		} else {
 			logger("No global item orphans found");
 
-			// We will eventually set this value when we found a good way to delete these items in another way.
-			// Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-1', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." old global item entries from item table without user copy");
+
+		// We will eventually set this value when we found a good way to delete these items in another way.
+		// if ($count < $limit) {
+		//	Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-1', true);
+		// }
 	} elseif ($stage == 2) {
 		logger("Deleting items without parents");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` AS `i` WHERE `item`.`parent` = `i`.`id`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -69,10 +72,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No item orphans without parents found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-2', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." items without parents");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-2', true);
+		}
 	} elseif ($stage == 3) {
 		logger("Deleting orphaned data from thread table");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `iid` FROM `thread` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `item`.`parent` = `thread`.`iid`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -84,11 +90,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No thread orphans found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-3', true);
 		}
-
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." orphaned data from thread table");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-3', true);
+		}
 	} elseif ($stage == 4) {
 		logger("Deleting orphaned data from notify table");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `iid` FROM `notify` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `item`.`id` = `notify`.`iid`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -100,10 +108,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No notify orphans found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-4', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." orphaned data from notify table");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-4', true);
+		}
 	} elseif ($stage == 5) {
 		logger("Deleting orphaned data from notify-threads table");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `id` FROM `notify-threads` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `item`.`parent` = `notify-threads`.`master-parent-item`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -115,10 +126,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No notify-threads orphans found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-5', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." orphaned data from notify-threads table");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-5', true);
+		}
 	} elseif ($stage == 6) {
 		logger("Deleting orphaned data from sign table");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `iid` FROM `sign` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `item`.`id` = `sign`.`iid`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -130,10 +144,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No sign orphans found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-6', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." orphaned data from sign table");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-6', true);
+		}
 	} elseif ($stage == 7) {
 		logger("Deleting orphaned data from term table");
 		$r = dba::p("SELECT `oid` FROM `term` WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT `id` FROM `item` WHERE `item`.`id` = `term`.`oid`) LIMIT ".intval($limit));
@@ -145,10 +162,13 @@ function remove_orphans($stage = 0) {
 			}
 		} else {
 			logger("No term orphans found");
-			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-7', true);
 		}
 		dba::close($r);
 		logger("Done deleting ".$count." orphaned data from term table");
+
+		if ($count < $limit) {
+			Config::set('system', 'finished-dbclean-7', true);
+		}
 	}
 
 	// Call it again if not all entries were purged
diff --git a/include/threads.php b/include/threads.php
index 66622e8746..b0ba546840 100644
--- a/include/threads.php
+++ b/include/threads.php
@@ -245,9 +245,7 @@ function delete_thread($itemid, $itemuri = "") {
 				intval($item["uid"])
 			);
 		if (!dbm::is_result($r)) {
-			$r = q("DELETE FROM `item` WHERE `uri` = '%s' AND `uid` = 0",
-				dbesc($itemuri)
-			);
+			dba::delete('item', array('uri' => $itemuri, 'uid' => 0));
 			logger("delete_thread: Deleted shadow for item ".$itemuri." - ".print_r($result, true), LOGGER_DEBUG);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/include/uimport.php b/include/uimport.php
index 0ee15952af..707d535fc8 100644
--- a/include/uimport.php
+++ b/include/uimport.php
@@ -62,13 +62,7 @@ function db_import_assoc($table, $arr) {
 }
 
 function import_cleanup($newuid) {
-	q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `profile` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `photo` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `group` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `group_member` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
-	q("DELETE FROM `pconfig` WHERE uid = %d", $newuid);
+	dba::delete('user', array('uid' => $newuid));
 }
 
 /**
diff --git a/include/user.php b/include/user.php
index 973d6b8b1f..08719cd7c1 100644
--- a/include/user.php
+++ b/include/user.php
@@ -226,9 +226,7 @@ function create_user($arr) {
 	);
 	if ((dbm::is_result($r)) && (count($r) > 1) && $newuid) {
 		$result['message'] .= t('Nickname is already registered. Please choose another.') . EOL;
-		q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d",
-			intval($newuid)
-		);
+		dba::delete('user', array('uid' => $newuid));
 		return $result;
 	}
 
@@ -248,8 +246,7 @@ function create_user($arr) {
 		if ($r === false) {
 			$result['message'] .=  t('An error occurred creating your default profile. Please try again.') . EOL;
 			// Start fresh next time.
-			$r = q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d",
-				intval($newuid));
+			dba::delete('user', array('uid' => $newuid));
 			return $result;
 		}
 
diff --git a/mod/regmod.php b/mod/regmod.php
index 8847904581..3c86012088 100644
--- a/mod/regmod.php
+++ b/mod/regmod.php
@@ -74,27 +74,18 @@ function user_deny($hash) {
 		dbesc($hash)
 	);
 
-	if(! dbm::is_result($register))
+	if (!dbm::is_result($register)) {
 		return false;
+	}
 
 	$user = q("SELECT * FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d LIMIT 1",
 		intval($register[0]['uid'])
 	);
 
-	$r = q("DELETE FROM `user` WHERE `uid` = %d",
-		intval($register[0]['uid'])
-	);
-	$r = q("DELETE FROM `contact` WHERE `uid` = %d",
-		intval($register[0]['uid'])
-	);
-	$r = q("DELETE FROM `profile` WHERE `uid` = %d",
-		intval($register[0]['uid'])
-	);
+	dba::delete('user', array('uid' => $register[0]['uid']));
+	dba::delete('register', array('hash' => $register[0]['hash']));
 
-	$r = q("DELETE FROM `register` WHERE `hash` = '%s'",
-		dbesc($register[0]['hash'])
-	);
-	notice( sprintf(t('Registration revoked for %s'), $user[0]['username']) . EOL);
+	notice(sprintf(t('Registration revoked for %s'), $user[0]['username']) . EOL);
 	return true;
 
 }