How to Create a Cleaning Schedule that Works
Not to be confused with an ultimate cleaning list, or a comprehensive list of everything you should clean and how often to clean it, these are realistic cleaning checklists for busy moms. If you need an easy-to-follow checklist to remind you of what to clean daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonally that you might actually get through sometimes, this is it!
I’ve broken it down into daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal cleaning tasks. The daily tasks really should get done each day. Weekly cleaning tasks are important, but if you miss a week, your life probably won’t fall apart. Monthly tasks are less crucial, but still necessary to keep your house in order. The remaining tasks I label seasonal. Some I tend do do only once a year, and others I might do more often.
Get the printable list of all the daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal tasks + printable chore cards
DAILY CLEANING TASKS
Daily cleaning tasks may vary slightly depending on your situation, but here are my suggestions for daily chores. The reason I like to do these daily is that if they aren’t done every day, it’s noticeable. And the opposite is also true. By doing these tasks daily, your home has a reasonable baseline of cleanliness.
Here’s the checklist of recommended daily cleaning tasks:
- make beds
- clean dishes
- wipe counters & stovetop
- wipe table
- sweep floor
- end-of-day quick tidy
MAKE BEDS
I know there are people out there who insist that making your bed is a waste of time, since you’re going to get right back into it. It’s not a waste of time! It’s an accomplishment that sets the tone for your day. Watch US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven deliver a speech about the importance of making your bed to rev up that motivation.
Get your kids in on the action as soon as possible. Two of my kids make their beds every morning because they like the way their room looks with their beds made. The third is a work in progress. I have to believe it’s a teenage stage and she’ll come around to the correct worldview eventually.
DISHES
If you don’t stay on top of dishes, it doesn’t take long for your home to look messy and dirty. Loading and unloading the dishwasher and washing and drying dishes are tasks the whole family can pitch in on. In our family of five, we typically have to run the dishwasher once a day. I like to have everyone rinse and load their dishes throughout the day, and then I run it in the evening. Usually I will leave the unloading for morning, and kids can help as I’m making breakfast.
WIPE DOWN KITCHEN SURFACES
With near constant daily use, kitchens just get dirty. If you’re homeschooling, you’ve got kids home for three meals a day plus snacks. Wiping down kitchen counters, the stovetop, and dining tables is a daily chore. It’s always easier to clean up a fresh spill than a dried-on mess. Again, have kids help wipe surfaces so they can see the mess their meals leave behind!
SWEEP FLOOR
If you don’t have pets or toddlers, you may be able to get away with sweeping your floors less frequently. It seems my lot in life has been to share it with a dog who sheds profusely. Daily sweeping is a must. We did get a robot vacuum (which I love), but I don’t run it daily because I insist on picking up all the chairs and ottomans and other random items (hoverboards, I’m looking at you) before letting it run. So I still sweep the floor daily, and run the robot vacuum once or twice a week.
END-OF-DAY QUICK TIDY
At some point in the afternoon or evening, when my mental focus is waning, a quick tidy of the living area helps maintain order. I like to fix the pillows and throws neatly, remove any papers from counters or tables, and place all items that need to be brought upstairs on the steps. Usually, I’ll ask the kids to pick up whatever items they’ve scattered around the living room or kitchen, with the flexibility to leave out something they are still working on or reading.
WEEKLY CLEANING TASKS
These weekly cleaning tasks are important to keeping a generally clean house, but they are not all given equal weight in my book. I highly recommend you think about what really needs to be done on a weekly basis in your home. What’s going to give you the most bang for your buck, so to speak. Then, when you have a jam-packed week and you know you are definitely not going to get through all the chores you’d like to get done, you have a top three list.
HAVE A TOP THREE
For me, the top three list of weekly cleaning tasks is washing sheets, doing laundry, and cleaning the bathrooms. I also know that if I really can’t get to it, all of these can slide. The sheets can wait a few days, we have enough clothes to go a week without doing laundry, and honestly, if I just swish the toilets and run a wipe over the counter, the bathroom is fine.
Read How to Handle Laundry (3 ways to deal with the chore that never quits)
THE REALISTIC LIST OF WEEKLY CLEANING TASKS
If I’m honest, it’s rare for me to get all of these things done in a week. But on a good week, this is what I’d like to accomplish. Having a list of these weekly cleaning tasks helps me keep these tasks front-of-mind. If I don’t get to it one week, I’ll definitely work on getting that one done the following week.
So here’s the list of weekly cleaning tasks:
- clean hard surface floors
- vacuum carpets & rugs
- clean window smudges inside
- clean mirrors
- wipe switch plates and doorknobs
- wipe handrails
- dust wood furniture
- wash sheets
- laundry (kids, towels, dark, light—however your like to group your never-ending laundry piles)
- wipe down kitchen cabinets
- wipe down kitchen appliances
- clean out fridge
- scrub toilets
- clean bathroom counters/faucets/sinks
- wipe bathroom cabinets
- clean showers
- clean cobwebs from porch
- sweep porch/deck
- weeding/yard work
- clean out car
Get a Monthly Checklist to Organize Your Phone
MONTHLY CLEANING TASKS
Now we get into the tasks that need to be done, but we don’t think about them much. These are monthly cleaning tasks. You can get away with doing them less often, but you really want to do these more than once a year. I think it’s helpful to choose a time of the month to tackle these. Pick a time like “last weekend of the month” and bust through as many as possible.
Here are the monthly cleaning tasks:
- dust blinds
- clean window tracks
- vacuum edges of rooms
- vacuum under couch cushions
- wipe electronics screens
- clean washing machine
- dust ceiling fans
- wipe baseboards
- clean toaster
- clean coffee maker
- wipe inside of fridge
- clean windows inside
SEASONAL CLEANING
Finally, the seasonal cleaning tasks. I’m not including home maintenance tasks like cleaning gutters and such here. These are interior cleaning tasks that you should do once or twice a year.
- clean out freezers
- clean out pantry
- wash windows outside
- vacuum under furniture
- wash curtains
- clean rugs
- wash blankets
- dust light fixtures
- clean oven
- clean trash cans
WAYS TO INVOLVE YOUR KIDS WITH CLEANING TASKS
Get your kids involved with housework. They need to be able to do all of these things before they leave your home anyway. Don’t wait till senior year of high school to teach them how to do every little thing you’ve done for them for the past 18 years. Start now! Here are a few ideas for getting kids to help with cleaning tasks.
- Have a weekly work day. Write all the tasks on paper or a whiteboard and go till they’re done.
- Give each child the option to sign up for a specific task on a weekly or monthly basis.
- Assign chores to each child and rotate them regularly so that they learn to do each task. (Remember: you have to teach them how first!)
Even if you don’t have a formal “chore” system, post your list of cleaning tasks somewhere visible (family command center, fridge, bulletin board). Your kids need to know what it takes to manage a home. Many of these tasks are not intuitive to a child or teen. How would they even know that they should clean out the toaster occasionally if they never see anyone do it or talk about it? Give your kids a sense of the work involved in maintaining the family home. Invite them to be a part of making the home clean and functional for the whole family to enjoy.
Free Printable Cleaning Checklist
You’ll find the printable cleaning checklist in my printables library, along with many other lists and resources to help you organize your home and homeschool.
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