It’s Friday afternoon and while you should be excited about all the spare time you have on the weekend to relax and play with your little ones, you’re thinking about all the cleaning you have to accomplish in a mad dash during your two precious days off. Ugh. We feel you! That’s why we recommend and encourage anyone, but especially parents of little ones, to have and implement a cleaning schedule.
A cleaning schedule is a daily, weekly, or monthly outline of what needs to be done. It breaks out your cleaning chores into an easy-to-accomplish checklist, and in a time efficient way. Adhering to a cleaning schedule prevents you from spending your entire weekend cleaning and keeps your house cleaner and tidier every day! And guess what? Everyone’s cleaning checklist and schedule is different! But rest assured that if you find the right routine for you and your family, it will be easy to stick to and maintain.
How do you make a house cleaning schedule that works for you? Follow these 5 steps and you’ll be spending more time enjoying your house rather than cleaning it!
5 steps to creating a whole house cleaning schedule…that you will stick to!
1. Determine what clean means to you and what clean things are important to you.
This is super important, and definitely the first step to a successful cleaning schedule. What is your definition of clean? Is it an empty sink of dishes? Clean bathrooms? Laundry? Or is it top to bottom, every nook and cranny clean?
There isn’t a right or wrong answer. The important thing is that you think about what aspects of your home are important to you to be clean and to be cleaned regularly, then write them down…literally. Make a list of things that you want to be cleaned regularly. That way you know what your expectations of clean are and can fit those expectations into a schedule. You could even set up reminders on your phone!
2. Organize in stages.
So you’re probably staring at a laundry list (no pun intended) of things that need to be cleaned and it might feel kind of overwhelming. But don’t worry. The next step is to organize those things into categories. We recommend categories based on the frequency at which you want these things and areas of your home to be cleaned: Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Bi-Annually, Annually.
You can go even further and organize them by days of the week! Once you categorize all the areas of your home that need to be cleaned into a timeline or schedule, then you can visualize what your cleaning routine looks like. And ta da! You’ll feel organized and more productive already!
3. Assign and delegate tasks.
Remember, you aren’t the only one in your household! Make sure you involve your family and assign some of these tasks to everyone. You can’t do it alone. You can also be proud of your parenting skills because you’re teaching your little ones healthy habits for life! If you want to get super crafty about it, create a white board chart for their bedrooms that reminds them of their assigned cleaning tasks and a checklist of when each task needs to be completed. Better yet, have them help you create their very own cleaning schedule. They will feel good having ownership of their tasks and contributing to the overall cleanliness of the home!
PRO TIP: Pinterest has awesome ideas for chore charts, task lists, cleaning checklists and more. They can be easily adapted for your little ones too!
4. Make it efficient…and fun!
The whole purpose of a cleaning schedule is to make it more efficient so ultimately, you spend less time cleaning overall. So why not make it even more efficient and maybe even a little fun? We recommend having cleaning supplies in all rooms. That way you don’t have to lug around all the cleaning equipment and products to each area and you can quickly access what you need to get the job done. Make sure to restock frequently. How do you make it fun? Dual purpose your cleaning time as a dance party! Put on some fun music and dance while you clean. Bam. Fun created.
5. Stay consistent and make it a habit.
They say that once you do something enough, it becomes a habit and automatically part of your routine. So make an effort at the beginning to stick to your cleaning schedule. Over time, it will be so natural you won’t even think twice.
So, there you have it! An easy list that will guide you to your very own cleaning schedule. We promise it will help ease your weekend woes of cleaning your entire house while you have FOMO because your social media feed is blowing up with images of all the fun being had by others. Before you know it, you’ll have your weekends back and be enjoying an even tidier and cleaner home.
Related articles:
- 10 Tips for Keeping a Clean House With Kids
- 10 Dirtiest Things in Your Home…and How to Clean Them!
- What to Clean When Your Child is Sick
Easy-to-follow cleaning schedule:
Need a cleaning schedule inspiration? We’ve created a template just for you! Feel free to adapt it to fit your needs, your home, and your family.
Daily Cleaning Schedule:
- Dishes cleaned and put away
- One load of laundry
- Make beds
- Empty trash as needed
- Toys, bedrooms, and family areas neat and tidy
- Wipe kitchen counters
- Mail management (don’t let it pile up!)
Weekly Cleaning Schedule:
Monday: Kitchen and Dining
- Wipe Counters
- Dishes
- Trash
- Clean Sink, Stove, Microwave, Outside of Fridge and Outside of Dishwasher
- Straighten up pantry and clean out fridge
- Clean Dining Table and Vacuum or Wipe down chairs
- Clean out Fridge
Tuesday: Bathrooms
- Clean counters and mirrors
- Clean toilet (inside and out)
- Clean shower and tub
- Wash bathroom linens and rugs
Wednesday: Floors
- Sweep
- Vacuum
- Mop
- Dust baseboards
Thursday: Living Room and Bedrooms
- Light dusting
- Wipe down hard surfaces
- Tidy up/de-clutter
- Wash bedding/blankets
Friday, Saturday or Sunday: Garage & Outdoors
- Mow and Landscaping
- Sweep Garage
- Sweep Porch/Deck area
- Tidy outdoor kid toys
- Empty/de-clutter vehicles
- Empty/de-clutter mud room/entry way
Monthly Cleaning Schedule:
- Dust all rooms, window sills, decor, electronics, etc.
- Vacuum furniture
- Baseboard
- Blinds/window treatments
- Reorganize toys, pantry, closets – high traffic areas
- Sweep/clean garage area
- Don’t forget about your vehicles! And baby gear! (BabyQuip Cleaning can help!)
- Wash all rugs and carpets (or have professionally cleaned biannually)
- Front Porch and Back Porch area
- Sanitize door handles and light switches
Biannual Cleaning Schedule:
- Windows (inside and out)
- Gutters (or seasonally)
- Power wash outside of house and driveway
- Replace: batteries, filters, supplies, etc.
- Spring or Fall Clean and De-clutter entire home
- Wash Shower Curtains and Liners
- Toiletries, Medicine, Personal Products – throw away or keep!
- Vents
- Wash your Washer and Dryer! Inside and out.
Annual Cleaning Schedule:
- Basement or Attic
- Shed
- Clean and store or pull out outdoor furniture
- Flip Mattresses
- Paperwork Purge (Office Deep Clean)
Kaylee Garcia is the mama to one sweet boy and one sweet girl, and wife to an awesome husband. Kaylee and her son (he’s only 4!) have completed over 20 trips via air travel (thank you, Alaska Airlines!) on over 40+ airplane rides! They love sharing travel tips with other families since they’ve learned a lot in the last 4 years. Kaylee enjoys spending time with family, researching baby gear, and exploring the Pacific Northwest.
I used to enjoy cleaning before kids. I feel like all of my efforts are wasted when everything is a mess in one day.
I would love to hear from you and how your approach cleaning. Do you have any additional tips for making it more fun and exciting? Where do you find your motivation?
Such a great template!!
Hello, just wanted to mention, I loved this blog post. It was inspiring.
Keep on posting!
Lists are my jam. I make lists for everything! Thanks!
Thorough list. Can’t forget those baseboards!
I LOVE THIS TEMPLATE! I’m definitely using this starting now!
OMG< I need this SO bad. I'm printing it now to keep on my desk.
So much cleaning to do. I wish I could afford a maid but this helps me thing about everything
that needs to be done.
MY CAR! I never clean my car and it needs it super bad. I’ll have to add it to my routine.
I need to get my kids to do some of this…and my husband lol!
Send help hahahaha. I’m not this organized. I’m going to save this for reference. Thank you!
How many days makes a habit. I’ve been cleaning for 20 years and still can’t seem to do it naturally.
This Is Amazing! Thank You. <3
So appreciateive of this article.
Thanks for writing such
informative article.
Good for me to look back
for.