A Simple, Realistic Weekly Cleaning Schedule for YOU

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White bucket with wooden handle, striped towel draped over the side of the bucket with black feather duster, wooden scrub brush, and tin with homemade soaps stacked inside.

Ever look around at your house and get completely overwhelmed by all there is to do? This weekly cleaning schedule will help you organize all the tasks that need to be done into manageable portions. In a month, you won’t recognize your home!

I see so many weekly cleaning schedules out there. I’m sure they work great for some people. But that may be the problem: they only work for SOME people.

I’ve found that they don’t always take into account the chores that need to be completed less frequently. For example, I don’t need to wash my curtains or wipe down my blinds every week.

I have also noticed that other cleaning schedules I’ve seen are often split up into different zones of the house. My kitchen, for example, is a much bigger job than my bedroom, so that kind of zone split doesn’t work for me. I tried to split various tasks so that each day’s workload is more even – and less overwhelming!

This house cleaning schedule is split up into four weekly cleaning schedules that will incorporate monthly, weekly, and daily chores. It also includes tasks that are done even less frequently so they don’t fall off your radar!

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Use my Free Printout and Build Your Own House Cleaning Schedule.

Wooden tabletop with simple white mug and a standing calendar.

I’ve created a free printable with my suggested cleaning schedule. It includes a pre-populated list with all the chores already there. If that helps take a load off you, then that’s great!

I have, however, left the last few pages blank for you to make your own customized version. I know that my household chores may not look exactly like yours.

This will give you the flexibility to put bigger tasks on days where you have more time. You can also add chores I may have forgotten, or special chores that apply to your unique situation.

Some people like to tackle all their housecleaning in one day. This doesn’t work as well for me, and when I think to myself “I have to clean the entire house,” it always feels daunting. This schedule is arranged so that no single day will feel unmanageable.

Let’s take a look at a few starting tips for keeping a clean house:

1. Keep Your Cleaning Supplies close at hand

For example – don’t keep all your cleaning supplies in one central location (e.g. linen closet). Instead, keep kitchen cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink, keep bathroom supplies under the bathroom sink. Keep basic supplies like dust cloths in the closet of every room where you may need to dust.

If you can, keep a vacuum on each floor of your house! I am madly in love with my vacuum because it’s cordless and lightweight. It does a great job of getting the dirt up with minimal effort on my part. We live in a small apartment so I only have one, but it is so easy to use that I vacuum every day.

Vacuuming used to be hard for me because I had to tug the heavy thing out of the closet, find a good place to plug it in, stop halfway through, plug it in on the other side of the house, and then start again. Then I had to put the heavy thing away with an achy back. It might seem silly but that was a major mental hazard for me. Getting something lightweight and cordless made ALL the difference.

2. Incorporate Chores into Daily Routines

A woman in a black shirt is washing dishes in a small round sink. Her hands only are visible along with the streaming water from the faucet and the soapy glass she's washing with a yellow sponge.

I include on my schedule a list of daily reminders. Basically, the things you have to do each day like make the bed (if you’re one of those), toss dirty clothes in hamper, do the dishes, etc. – you get the idea. These chores can be done as you move through your day.

For example, when you get dressed in the morning, place your hamper close to where you change so you can throw your clothes inside and skip that extra step. While you’re making breakfast, empty that dishwasher at the same time and load your dishes as you use them throughout the day. Save some time by incorporating those daily duties into your everyday routines.

3. Keep Yourself Accountable and Follow Through

This was my number one motivation in creating this schedule. If you assign yourself an enormous list of tasks and hold yourself to perfection, you are very likely to give up before you’ve managed even half your list.

My schedule was designed to split up ALL household tasks into very manageable daily tasks each week so you’re never overwhelmed. Don’t worry about that crusty dirt in the corner today, you’ll get to it next Thursday. Sufficient for today are its own household chores.

Once your list feels more manageable, you are far more likely to succeed. And if you have a bad day there is nothing to fear. Monday of Week 2 will come around again and you’ll have another chance.

4. Don’t Strive for Perfection. Pretty Good will do.

Let’s be honest. We could all probably spend ages and ages getting every last corner and speck perfectly clean and every piece of clutter put away. But we are not cleaning for the awards and accolades. And it never lasts anyway!!

Do the job well enough, and then let it go and move on. The longer you stick to the schedule, the less dirty things will be too, and the easier it will be to get more thorough over time.

So without further ado, let’s take a look at this super amazing weekly cleaning schedule:

Daily Cleaning Tasks:

Black and white photo of vintage metal kitchenware. A small and large milking can are on each end, and the middle is filled with pots, pans, and silverware.

First, it’s important to know the things you’ll be doing every day. See this list I’ve compiled – for you it may vary slightly, but I think this covers most peoples’ basics!

  1. Make beds
  2. Put clutter away
  3. Sort Mail
  4. Laundry
  5. Wash Dishes
  6. Wipe Down Kitchen
  7. Sweep/Vacuum Kitchen Floor

Monthly Cleaning Tasks:

These tasks might include cleaning bathroom rugs, vacuuming the baseboards, and cleaning out the freezer. I incorporate, at most, one monthly cleaning task per day. Most days have about three weekly tasks, and an additional monthly task.

On Saturdays I add an extra weekly cleaning task because I know I have more family around to help with the housework. I still just keep Saturdays to one monthly task for the day.

Occasional Cleaning Tasks:

I am providing a list of typical occasional cleaning tasks here. Your household may have fewer or more. I don’t incorporate these into my personal schedule since I usually schedule a day for Spring cleaning and try to knock them all out at once.

But it’s important for you to customize to make this work for you! If you’d rather spread these tasks out through the year and assign them their own place, that’s great too.

  1. Organize closets/drawers
  2. Launder throw pillows
  3. Launder comforters
  4. Clean oven
  5. Wash windows
  6. Sort/donate clothes
  7. Vacuum behind/under fridge
  8. Organize storage space
  9. Clean behind and under appliances

Monday Cleaning Schedule:

On Mondays I focus on food and bathrooms. Wow, just realized how gross that sounds. Don’t worry, food is never IN the bathroom…

Get your meal planning and grocery shopping for the week done on Monday. Then check in on your bathrooms and make sure sinks and toilets are clean. You may decide you want to make this a daily task. This will probably depend on how many boys you live with. 🙂

Tuesday Cleaning Schedule:

On Tuesdays I focus on dusting and cleaning the floors. If I do this weekly, the dust doesn’t build up too much and that helps with household allergies as well! It also gives me a chance to keep up with the surface clutter that inevitably builds up.

Wednesday Cleaning Schedule:

Wednesdays are extra laundry day. I wash sheets and towels in addition to the regular laundry that is maintained daily.

Thursday Cleaning Schedule:

On Thursdays I take the opportunity to wipe down the outside of my kitchen appliances – front of fridge, stove, outside of microwave, etc.

But mostly I do paperwork on Thursdays. I file my paperwork, pay bills, and update our budget.

Friday Cleaning Schedule:

My Thursday paperwork day inevitably leaves me with one or more phone calls I need to make. I do that on Fridays, along with any ironing that needs doing for church on Sunday.

Saturday Cleaning Schedule:

I always clean out my fridge on Saturdays. I do a deeper clean in the bathrooms and wash out the showers, tubs, and clean the floor.

Sunday “Cleaning Schedule:”

Take the day off! Of course you may need to keep up with some dishes and basic clutter – especially if you have young kids! But this house cleaning schedule was designed to allow some breathing time.

In our house, we try to make Sunday a day of rest. I even cook more food on Saturdays so I don’t have to make anything other than some basic toast for breakfast. If you can make a big meal on Saturdays, you can serve leftovers on Sunday!

Why You Need a Weekly Cleaning Schedule

A woman in a gray shirt is polishing a wooden tabletop. She is using a spray and a cotton cloth and is wearing blue latex gloves.

I can say from my own experience that I am happier and more relaxed when my home is (reasonably) clean. But studies have shown that excess clutter can lead to procrastination. A cluttered kitchen can lead to unwanted snacking and bad nutrition.

As is almost always the case, we need to put in some hard work to live a healthy and happy lifestyle. My hope is that this system will make that weight a little lighter and make it possible for you to thrive in your home!

If you’ve been looking for a new way to approach your house cleaning, give us a shout in the comments! And don’t forget to grab my free printable. Happy cleaning!!

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