Keeping Your House: Weekly Cleaning Schedules

Let’s face it – we only have 24 hours in the day and all of us mama’s have more than that to do.  Regardless of if you stay at home or work full-time, homeschool or send your kids to school – our to-do lists are always a mile long and for many, it can seem like it never gets done.  For me, a big chunk of that to-do list every day has to do with housekeeping and until recently it seemed to always fall to the bottom of the list (i.e. didn’t get done).  I was really struggling because I chose not only to be a stay at home mom but a homemaker also.  Part of that means “keeping the home”, aka keeping it clean.  I strive to keep a home that is relaxing, warm and inviting for both our family and others.  I realize the pressure to maintain a clean house on top of everything else is self-inflicted pressure but it’s there nonetheless.  I read dozens of blog posts and articles about staying on top of housecleaning and the “secrets” of homemakers who are always on top of their game.  The common thread through all of them was the notion of having weekly cleaning schedules.

Here’s the thing – a quick pinterest search on weekly cleaning schedules will bring up dozens of different printables and worksheets.  They are beautiful and look lovely but the truth is that everyone’s house and priorities are different.  I tried a few of the “pre-done” schedules and found myself getting frustrated as I was constantly behind each day.  It wasn’t until I threw out the beautifully made cookie cutter schedule and sat down to make my own that I finally felt like I was getting somewhere.

To my surprise – IT WORKS!  Having a cleaning schedule has completely changed how I manage the house and has significantly reduced my stress about it.  Creating a personalized cleaning schedule is *key* to being successful with this but I understand how intimidating it can be!  I have the steps broken down here for you but I also create a quick Cleaning Schedule Cheat Sheet to help you get started.  The cheat sheet comes with two pages – the first page has my weekly cleaning schedule laid out to use as a starting point and the second is a blank schedule for you to use.

To start, write down all the rooms in your house and then group the rooms/cleaning tasks that can be done together easily.  You can have up to 7 groups but I find that 5 works better.  Personally, I try to have all the major cleaning done during the week so the weekends can be spent together as a family without worrying about scrubbing toilets!  Once you have your groups, assign them to specific days based on your schedule.

For those moms that work out of the house, you can absolutely assign a few jobs to Saturday or Sunday but I think you’d be surprised at how much you can get done during the week with this plan.  With the exception of laundry, I can get all the tasks done for each day in an hour (sometimes less if the kids are behaving!).

Once you have your weekly cleaning schedule, create reminders in the calendar on your phone for what needs to be done on what day.  After a few weeks, you’ll remember what needs to be done each day but it’s a good reminder and most likely, you’re never far from your phone!

There are a few things to keep in mind to minimize stress:

• If you’re on a roll and finish the day’s tasks quickly, stop!  Don’t try to tackle more than that days tasks.
• That being said, there are some smaller tasks that should be done daily – for me, that means doing roughly a load of laundry a day, having the kids clean the playroom every night, never going to sleep with dishes in the sink and sweeping the kitchen floor every day.
• If you don’t get a day done, THAT’S OK!  Just skip it and move  on tomorrow.

The beauty of this system is that you’re going to miss days here and there – life happens.  But once you are in the routine, your entire house will be cleaned every week so if you miss “bedrooms” one week, you can rest easy knowing they were done last week and they will be done again next week!   A cleaning schedule is one of a few time saving things I’ve implemented to help my days run smoother.

Don’t forget that cleaning the house doesn’t need to fall entirely on your shoulders either!  These chore charts can help kids involved in helping around the house – from the youngest toddlers to teenagers.

I’ve always been a clean person by nature so struggling with maintaining a clean house was an unexpected surprise for me.  Finding weekly cleaning schedules that is manageable has been a game changer. I hope this helps you!