I Never Thought I’d Need a Cleaning Schedule
I never thought I’d need to teach my kids manners either. Yet, here we are.
Houses don’t just stay clean, just like kids don’t automatically know proper etiquette. These things need attention and planning.
Before having kids I had a reasonably clean house.
On most Fridays, you could find me dancing to ’80s music with the vacuum and tackling my cleaning to-do list, on a mission to reveal sparkling results in under an hour.
Back then, the house stayed clean all week!
After three kids, one husband, and a furry pet, I changed my goal from ‘sparkling’ to ‘good enough.’
For a while I was good with the change. After all, I was a mom and my dirty house was a just sign that it was well lived in. Right?
However, I discovered I was either stressing out and wasting valuable time cleaning for hours on end every time someone would stop by, or bouncing around in cleaning mode all day long, leaving my poor kids in ‘wait a minute’ mode indefinitely.
It was time for something new.
I Created My Own Cleaning Schedule
I searched online for cleaning schedules to conjure up something brilliant, but what I found only devastated me. The list of ‘daily’ tasks completely overwhelmed me and made me feel like a failure before I even began.
To be successful in the cleaning game, I had to create my own plan.
My cleaning schedule incorporates all of the cleaning schedules (weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, and annually) into a straightforward form.
Below you’ll see a copy of my personal plan — I encourage you to modify this cleaning schedule to fit your own cleaning style.
If you don’t want to dust your living room every Thursday, make it a bi-weekly occurrence. What matters in the end is that you have a realistic, stress-relieving schedule for you.
I will show you how I made my schedule and then give you tools to make your own with our free Cleaning Schedule Template.
How the Cleaning Schedule Works
STEP 1 – Prioritize and Organize
Go room by room and figure out what should be cleaned in each and how often. Put these on a list.
You don’t have to go crazy but include things that were a bit out of your regular habit (such as cleaning the blinds – the worst task ever).
Break the list down into sections based on cleaning frequency: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and seasonal.
For this step, you must create new lists from your more extensive list of cleaning tasks. I started with the weekly items.
I then broke the remaining chores down into bi-weekly, monthly and seasonal categories and divided them into a four-week rotation.
Doing this part is much harder than the cleaning itself, so hang in there. Going slow here will help you go fast later.
Schedule WEEKLY Tasks
I assigned the tasks on my weekly list to separate days of the week. I included two tasks to tackle each day, in addition to one designated load of laundry, under a specific day of the week.
Although most of these chores don’t require daily work, they typically should be done once a week to keep the house visitor-friendly.
For me, those things included dusting, vacuuming, cleaning appliances, and cleaning bathrooms.
I chose tasks that my husband typically assists with on the weekend. We usually bust these out first thing Saturday. These items are shown here (this is the top of my cleaning schedule).
Schedule BI-WEEKLY Tasks
The tasks I added to my bi-weekly list are things that I can tell if I ignore them, but they aren’t crucial to get done.
Included are such items as:
- vacuuming the stairs
- washing slider windows
- cleaning handprints off entry walls
These were added to the schedule on alternating weeks. For example, in the Monday schedule, “dust and vacuum basement” alternates between weeks one and four.
Schedule MONTHLY Tasks
Here come the tough guys…the ones I really don’t like doing, but really need to be done every once in a while.
These tasks include:
- organizing the shoes
- organizing the refrigerator and pantry
- cleaning the dreaded blinds
You can see an example of these tasks assigned to Thursdays – the tasks repeat once every four weeks.
Schedule SEASONAL Tasks
There were some tasks left that I decided could be done once every few months (and that was being generous).
Included are:
- washing windows
- organizing closets
- cleaning the oven
- vacuuming under cushions
I tried to mix in some easy ones, such as vacuuming under cushions and washing the inside of our garbage bin. I didn’t want to spend every weekend taking on a significant task.
In addition, I left openings in the first weekend of the month for things such as putting up and taking down the Christmas tree, weeding, raking, and other occasional chores. These are labeled ‘SEASONAL’ tasks.
Although some months have five weeks, I left the schedule with four, leaving the fifth to catch up or simply relax.
Each column corresponds to a day of the week, with the last column dedicated to weekends.
STEP 2 – Start Using the Schedule
I do some things daily (wiping down crumbs or sweeping up dog hair) that I chose not to add to my schedule. Those unfinished items staring at me by the hour were reminders enough!
I group chores by area so that I don’t have to run from the bedroom upstairs to the craft room downstairs.
I also organized the schedule with the main floor placed toward the end of the week. This keeps the main living area cleanest over the weekend when I tend to have the most guests.
Post the schedule on your refrigerator or somewhere you will see it, and refer to it daily.
Looking at it now, you’ll see that on the fourth Thursday in January, I dusted the living room, vacuumed the main floor, washed towels, and washed my slider door windows.
STEP 3 – Give Yourself Grace and the Freedom to Change it Up
If this has wholly overwhelmed you, please know even though the initial set-up takes a little time, this has made my family’s life so much easier.
You can involve the whole family, too. There is an expectation that comes every day. The kids know what has to be done. I know what has to be done.
It’s emotionally rewarding, and when it’s done consistently…it gets done so fast!
Download the Cleaning Schedule
This is a look at the complete, personalized cleaning schedule.
You may download a PDF copy of this version, or you can EDIT and CREATE your own by making a copy of our free cleaning schedule template.
To use the template, click here. This will open a file in Google Sheets. If you do not have a Google account, you will need to make one. If you do have a Google Account, log in.
After that, make a COPY of the file. You may then edit/modify your own copy of the file.
Good luck!
Pro Tips for Your Cleaning Schedule
If you decide to make your own schedule, please remember these things:
- No single schedule will work perfectly for everyone. Make it work for you. This schedule is pretty type A. If you’re not, try something else. Not everybody notices the dust on their dark blinds, but you do.
- Be okay with skipping a day. Heck, skip two. You’ll be starting over in a week. If you don’t get it done, you can catch back up soon enough.
- Involve the whole family. Assign tasks or let the kids pick their own. This will instill good habits and a sense of responsibility.
- Remember your goal – mine was to organize my time so that I didn’t pull away from my family all day long. The clean house was just a bonus.
Have Any More Cleaning Schedule Tips?
Do you have a current cleaning schedule? What does it look like?
I’ve been using this schedule for a week now and I already feel more on top of things! The fact that it’s so customizable really helps me stay focused and motivated. Thanks for sharing!
I completely agree! As a busy parent, it’s hard to keep up with cleaning and organizing, especially when it feels like there’s always something else that needs attention. This schedule is so helpful in breaking down the tasks into manageable chunks and making it easy to fit them into my daily routine. Thanks for sharing!
Hey! I love this system! I too started searching for a schedule and was totally overwhelmed! Perhaps this comment is old news as it seems you wrote this years ago 🙂 : your schedule seems to be missing MARCH JUNE SEPT and DEC. I realize they go at the bottom but just though I’d let you know as I think you did a fabulous job coming up with this and explaining it 🙂
Happy cleaning!
So helpful! I’ve been trying for YEARS to find a system that involves everyone, makes cleaning manageable, and hits all the right areas consistently. This is brilliant. Thank you.
This is so helpful! I’m trying to download but it looks like the link is faulty. Can you please fix? Thank you!
This is really helpful! I’ve been looking for a way to balance my days off with my toddler. And I love the laundry schedule! Thank you for the inspiration.
Ok I’m obviously late to this, but I have a question about your schedule chart. I absolutely ADORE it and have adapted it to my own needs, I’ve just got one concern I’m hoping you can clear up for me. You’ve got it setup for 4 weeks in a month, and I’m just wondering how you use this day to day when months don’t often have four solid monday-sunday weeks? Do you just have free days at the beginning/end of the week? For some reason, I can’t wrap my mind around that aspect of it. I’d love to use this method, like I said, I’ve already made one of my own and can’t wait to use it.. I’m just afraid the months/weeks thing is confusing me too much for it to stick. Any advice would be helpful, thank you!
Hi Lena! I’m glad you love the chart. I hope it proves a really useful tool for you. As for the “extra weeks,” Stephanie addressed it in the article but here it is for quick reference: “Although some months have five weeks, I left the schedule with four, leaving the fifth to catch up or simply relax.”
WOW! I was trying to figure out how to incorporate all the schedules (weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually and annually) all on one simple form. This captures exactly what I need! Thanks!!
Great article! I have a cleaning schedule, too. It definitely decreases my stress levels, knowing when something was done last and when it will be done again. I also include a weekly night to pay bills, handle paperwork, etc. Today (Tuesday) was Tuesday Towels, which is switching all the towels and cleaning the bathrooms. Thanks again for the article!