How to Create a Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Your Home

Do you struggle with an endless mental to-do list of cleaning tasks? Sometimes life gets so busy from all the school, work, and socializing. Amid all these distractions, you might not have noticed some dirt building up on your windowsill or the kitchen sink piling up.

Home upkeep can feel like an Olympic sport. It takes a lot of time and energy to keep a place pristine and livable.

Instead of having heavy cleaning days, work on maintaining a realistic cleaning schedule. A cleaning schedule helps you keep track of your responsibilities and reclaim control over your space.

Are you ready for some structure? Then, let’s get down to it in a step-by-step guide.

1. Make a Checklist

The first step to making a cleaning schedule is to list tasks. You can’t make a cleaning schedule without knowing what needs cleaning, right?

This step might seem obvious, but we often prefer going with the flow and being more intuitive with our actions. Take time out of your day, sit down, and think about what needs doing around the house. Gather those scattered thoughts and put them on paper.

Go to each room in your home and enumerate every cleaning task you would do if you had all the time and energy in the world. For each cleaning job, write down how often you’d do it so that you clean it up to your standards.

After brainstorming, you might find yourself overwhelmed with a long list. Don’t get discouraged; remember that this is under ideal conditions and involves every room in your house. Conduct a sanity check and make adjustments later.

Here are some examples:

• Wipe down kitchen counters – daily
• Vacuum floors – daily
• Wet vacuum upholstery – once a week
• Ironing – weekly
• Empty kitchen bin – daily
• Empty house bins – weekly
• Clean bathroom and shower – weekly
• Clean toilet – twice a week
• Mop floor – every other day
• Wipe down the ceiling – monthly
• Clean curtains – seasonally
• Decluttering the house – monthly

Expand this list according to your needs. Once you have a general idea, you’ll have an easier time breaking those tasks apart into a realistic cleaning schedule.

2. Organize the Tasks Based on Frequency

Some people like to organize tasks by location in their home, which is very doable. However, for a schedule based on time, it makes more sense to manage your duties based on how often you have to do them.

Categorize your tasks based on which ones require daily cleaning. Next, sift out the ones that need weekly cleaning, monthly cleaning, and any more upcoming dates.

You might include wiping surfaces and vacuuming every day. Mopping the floor could be every day or 2-3 times a week.

Deep cleaning the shower might work for you every other day. Cleaning pet beds may fall on a weekly basis. You might deep clean your refrigerator once a month.

There’s no right or wrong way to do this. How often something needs cleaning is subjective and depends on your household. What’s important is that your home runs smoothly and gets clean by your standards.

3. Distribute Your Time

You made an ideal list with ideal frequencies. Now you get to include the constraints of life into that schedule.

Ask yourself how much time you have in a day. How about how much time you have in a week and a month?

Do you have a weekly schedule on hand? If so, that simplifies things.

Grab your weekly schedule and see how much time you have in a day. Creating one will help with the succeeding steps if you don’t have one yet. Fashion the first two steps of task listing and organizing by frequency to make your weekly schedule minus the cleaning.

You can’t plan your life up to the last second. Some days let you fit more than others, and you must account for unexpected events. If you want to enlist family or hire professional cleaning services, include their available time.

Turn your weekly schedule into a 4-week plan. When you have your weekly schedule all laid out, copy it four times to fill up your whole month. This allows you to look at the bigger picture when allocating time for tasks.

Since all months except February are a little shy over exactly four weeks, you’ll even have a couple extra days for yourself or other tasks.

4. Put it All Together

It’s time to incorporate the cleaning schedule into your weekly schedule.
Remember how you organized your tasks by frequency? Sticking the daily tasks into your 4-week schedule is simple enough. Now you have to work on distributing the tasks that don’t occur daily.

A good idea is to distribute them equally. For weekly tasks, instead of dumping them all on the weekend, try to pepper them across the week.

You need to accomplish tasks once in those four weeks, so spread them around over those weeks. Split your annual tasks into twelve reasonable chunks and try to insert them.

Shuffle your monthly, annual, and seasonal tasks, so they all get done but don’t crowd too much. A schedule should help you, not hinder you.

5. Have a Trial Period

Now that you’ve made your schedule, it’s time to test it out! Live with your schedule for a while so you can make any needed adjustments.

The key to building good habits is sustainability. Learn to prioritize and adjust. There will be some off days where you can’t get something done to your standard.

Instead of vacuuming the carpets daily, see if you can still get the results you want by a deep clean once a week. Determine your daily non-negotiables and see if there’s wiggle room for other tasks.

6. Make Adjustments

Over time you learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Give yourself some leeway for down days. Shuffle the tasks around until you’re comfortable accomplishing the list as a habit instead of a heavy burden.

Sometimes mental health gets in the way. You’re not lazy, but you might be operating on hard mode. Some disorders impede a person’s ability to maintain cleanliness.

Everyone deserves clean living conditions. Never hesitate to call in the big guns and hire for help.

Make a Realistic Cleaning Schedule and Get Your Household Back on Track

When you’re plagued with a messy home, it feels like all the chores pile up in a never-ending list of errands. Don’t feel chained to your unorganized cleaning duties ever again. Curating a realistic cleaning schedule is the kindest thing you can do for your physical and mental health.

Thank you for reading our article! Keeping a household neat and tidy is always a challenge. Contact us today to call in reinforcements and regain control over your lovely home!