We know cleaning the house can seem like a never-ending battle, and we get it. Not everyone enjoys the process of maintaining their living space and that’s okay, but it doesn’t have to take up every bit of free time you may have.
Having a cleaning schedule in place can help to eliminate some of those feelings of dread and may even make you look forward to cleaning, maybe. By creating your own cleaning schedule, you can tailor it to fit your life and the way you work. That way you always know what needs to be done and you can have a checklist to see how much you’ve already accomplished.
Start with Everything
This doesn’t mean you have to clean everything right this second. It means grabbing a pen and paper and writing down everything that would need to be cleaned. This list doesn’t have to be in any certain order, that will come later because this is just a brainstorming list. We suggest walking through your home as you do this so that you have a chance to see any spaces you might not have thought about. Once you’ve written down all of the cleaning tasks for each room, you can think about how often each task should be completed and write that as well. As an example, your list may look a bit like this:
- Take out the trash – weekly
- Deep clean your bathrooms – weekly
- Wipe the kitchen counters – daily
- Sweep or mop the floors – weekly
- Clean kitchen appliances – monthly
- Clean the windows – monthly
- Declutter cabinets – seasonally
- Clean the carpets/rugs – annually
This list can feel overwhelming and that is okay. Just remember that you won’t be cleaning everything all at once. Also, keep in mind that this is your list, you can be as thorough as you would like.
Break it Down
Now that you have a complete list of everything in your space that can and should be cleaned, you can break it all down into groups. These groups can be by room, by frequency, or by task, depending on what would work best for you and your home. Remember, this list is made by you and for you so there is no wrong way to make it. If you know you enjoy cleaning and want to make it fairly frequent, breaking the list down into rooms may work best for you so you can have a consistent rotation.
On the other hand, if cleaning is definitely not something you like to do, you may want to break it down by frequency or by task. That way you know how often something should get done, or have something you can do all at once in every room to get it out of the way. Again, there is no right or wrong way to make this list, or to clean, so you can organize tasks however you like.
Timing is Key
You now have a list that is organized to your liking, time to plan for it. If you already have a weekly schedule to account for, then you can incorporate your cleaning schedule fairly easily. If you don’t have a pre-existing schedule, that’s okay too because that way you have a clearer view of what your cleaning schedule can be. Some tasks will be easier to complete on a daily basis, so you can consider having your daily tasks written on a dry-erase board so that you can check them off each day as you do them.
Other tasks that you will need to do once a week only have to take up one day, such as gathering and taking the trash out. In general, some days will have more free time than others and those are the days that you will want to tackle the more time-consuming tasks on your list. The most important thing to consider with any schedule is realistic expectations. You can’t have a time-consuming task set to be done on a day that you have five meetings or have somewhere to be, so it is a good idea to reorder the tasks on your list each week to make sure you can get to it all.
Get Started
You have a master list, you’ve broken it all down, and you’ve scheduled it all so that it fits your life. All that’s left to do now is to start working through the tasks each week. Give yourself the time and patience to fall into the habit of cleaning your space, and see what works and what doesn’t. You can rework your list any time you need to so that it fits just right and won’t be forgotten in a month.
Great job for taking the first steps toward accomplishing your cleaning goals, you should be proud of the list you’ve made. You can find more cleaning tips and tricks on our blog at www.staging.tidyhere.com. We’re happy to help you on your cleaning journey!
