My Weekly Cleaning Schedule

When my husband and I were first married I used to spend every Saturday cleaning our apartment. We worked during the week and I never felt like spending hours cleaning any of the evenings after work. If only I would have known that I could have spent 30 minutes a few nights a week and claimed my Saturdays back! In that little apartment, each task would have probably taken me only 10 minutes. 

Almost 5 years ago, after my daughter was born, my husband and I decided to make room in the budget to hire a housekeeper to come once a month and clean. It was nice, but it didn’t help me as much as I would have liked. First, I have pretty high expectations when it comes to cleaning and they were not always met. Also, only ONCE per month was my entire house clean. That was hard. So it was still a burden to keep my house clean with my newborn. Thankfully I came across a cleaning schedule on Pinterest. I eventually changed some things around and over time I have created my own system and I now have a clean house pretty much all the time. I said CLEAN - it’s not always straight - I do have kids. Each day I spend 30 minutes or less on these tasks. 

A few things to remember - Bathroom day takes me 15 to 20 minutes, but it’s because I do this every week. There is no major scrubbing that has to happen. If life has been crazy for you and you are just getting started on this, these tasks might take longer. But don’t be discouraged, once you get it really clean it will take less time. 

Also, the day I vacuum and dust my upstairs is a really quick day. Remember, I have been a minimalist for several years now. I don’t have to move very much to dust. There is no clutter for me to move around. As you move through this journey these tasks will get quicker. 

So let’s start with my week:

On Mondays I clean bathrooms. Right now this is my bathroom and my son’s bathroom and a little half bath downstairs. I am teaching my teenager to clean his own bathroom so I’m just supervising this. HIs bathroom is also his task for Monday. (Unless we have guests coming and then I do it myself.)

Here are the steps I take.

1. I quickly make sure everything is put away. We keep our bathroom counters clear, everything has a home in a drawer or cabinet. So if anything is out I put it away. 

2. I spray everything down. I use hairspray daily, so if the spray sits for a minute, it’s always helpful. I spray down the counters and sinks, the tub and shower, and the toilet. For the toilet this always includes the bottom of the commode and the floor around it. 

3. I then come back to the counters and clean them and the sinks. Next the tub and shower - I clean the interior of the shower doors and the walls when I’m taking a shower that morning - my shower is a walk in. Next the toilet. 

4. I come back and clean the mirrors.

5. I’m done!

Tuesdays are for my upper level. If dividing the upper level and lower level doesn’t work for you, then use this day to clean your bedrooms. That is what I have in the upper level of my house. 

1. I check for any clutter. This is a great time to move that one thing that’s been there a few days to it’s home. If you do this every single week this is a huge step in having a really tidy home. 

2. I then dust every room. This includes my bedroom, 2 kids’ rooms, my guest room (even if we haven’t had a guest recently and don’t have one coming I always dust and vacuum this room. It’s super important to do that to keep dust at bay.) This also includes the laundry room. Once I am done dusting all the bedrooms I spray the microfiber cloth again and wipe down my washer and dryer. 

3. Lastly I vacuum this level. 

4. I’m done! This is usually a very quick day!

Wednesdays are my longest day - on this day I clean my downstairs which includes hardwood floors (which are essentially twice the work.)

1. I wipe down my kitchen counters and clean the fronts of my appliances. 

2. I move all furniture and rugs out of my kitchen area and the entrance and sweep them with a microfiber mop. Then I mop these areas.

3. While they dry I dust the other rooms (these all have carpet.)

4. I move the furniture back and then vacuum all the carpeted areas.

5. And I’m done!

Thursday is when I do my deep cleaning zone. The blog post and video last week were all about this. You can watch that HERE.

Friday is for catch up - if you missed a day, take care of it on Friday. But if you are caught up, enjoy your day off!

This schedule is flexible - going out of town? Have company coming in? You can move your days around really easily. Do what works for you!

Enlist the help of your family. Iff you’re at work all day, come home and get everyone involved - it will take even less time. 

Have a full night? Get up 15 minutes early and clean the bathroom as soon as you finish getting ready and be done!