How to Create a Simple, Realistic Cleaning Schedule

I don’t know about you, but I have googled “cleaning schedule” more times than I can count and have yet to find one that is a reasonable and realistic schedule to follow for life with littles. As a SAHM having a clean home is important to me but not at the expense of my sanity. I have definitely let some tasks go since becoming a mother but there is a way to maintain a clean home even with chaos creators underfoot and I’m here to teach you. 

No matter what season you’re in, you can create a simple cleaning schedule completely customized to your needs (no more “vacuum curtains” when you don’t own a single curtain in your home) in four easy steps. 

Step One: Brain Dump All your Chores. 

Make a list of all the chores you have to do in this season. If you’re making this during the wintertime, I wouldn’t add “mow lawn”. I find it super helpful to make the list over a couple days so I can add to it as more chores come to mind – because you know that happens. I should say here that I don’t add our daily cleaning habits such as “clean the kitchen counters” or “wipe kitchen table” or even “tidy areas” because those are things I have built into our daily routines already. 

Step Two: Assign Chores to Time Frames 

Some chores, like laundry, need to happen every week whereas other chores, like cleaning the fridge, need to happen more on a monthly basis. This is where you need to get real honest with yourself and be realistic. Before kids, I cleaned our bathrooms once a week – all three bathrooms. Now with two littles, I am lucky if I get to the bathrooms once a month. If I’m really honest with myself, I need to do the bathrooms every other week so the grime doesn’t build up too bad. Also, to be totally honest, I would pay someone just to clean the bathrooms for me. I absolutely HATE cleaning them – just because it’s tedious – not because it’s gross. Therefore, when I make my cleaning schedule, I know I have to clean the bathrooms on Mondays when my husband is usually home so that my hardest chore is done first and so someone else can worry about the kids while I tackle the worst chore ever.

Step Three: Reorganize your List into a Weekly Schedule

Look at all the monthly items on your list. To keep your sanity, you will want to reorganize those items into four separate weeks so they are spread out. The goal here is to separate the items realistically. For example, I put “clean dishwasher and washer” together on week one so I remember to throw the tablet into the machine on the first of the month but that doesn’t take long so I also added “clean the fridge” and “clean bathrooms” since they take longer. If you have any bimonthly items, write them into the weeks here as well. 

Step Four: Sort the Weekly Items

I absolutely hate doing chores on the weekends. To me, that’s like the boss calling you into work on your day off, no thank you. Therefore, I don’t schedule any chores on Saturday or Sunday. My husband typically has Mondays off so since I have an extra pair of hands then, I like to tackle the bigger chores like vacuuming and the monthly chores on Mondays. My weekly items, since I’m being realistic, are mostly laundry, the microwave and the kitchen sink. 

Common Questions

When do you recreate your cleaning schedule?

You can use these steps to create your own cleaning schedule any time you need to, like when your seasons change, either figuratively or literally. I typically recreate my cleaning schedule at least twice a year.

What if it doesn’t work after a few weeks?

Keep in mind that this is a living document. It is not written in stone and if you find something doesn’t work, change it. Allow yourself grace as well, remembering that spending time with your littles is so much more important than a sparkling clean home.

Where do you keep your schedule?

I keep my schedule in my Happy Planner so I can see it every week. If I had a magnetic fridge, I would consider keeping it there though. As I use my cleaning schedule more and more, I start to remember what cleaning needs to be done on each day.

What about the little daily tasks?

I don’t include the little tasks like dishes or taking out the trash or even wiping down the counters. Of course, you’re more than welcome to include these tasks if that would work best for you but I find they are too random (like the trash), or they are things I can easily ask my husband to help with (also like the trash), or they are already part of our daily habits (we wipe the counters down after dinner every night). I also don’t add those tasks to the schedule because since they are part of our daily habits, it would seem redundant or pointless to add them to the schedule – like including “take a shower” to your daily to do list.

Why should I create a cleaning schedule?

The point of creating a cleaning schedule is to show you that you can get everything done as long as you are realistic about what really needs to happen and when. The bathrooms, although it would be grand if I cleaned them once a week, really don’t need that, in my opinion. And the deeper cleans, like the garage, is something I schedule as needed and with the help of a babysitter or my husband or can be done over multiple days. 

So there you have it – make a list, assign timelines and then sort them out. Keep it somewhere handy, give yourself grace and remember it’s a living document – able to be changed if it isn’t working for you.

I’m always looking for ways to help teach you how to live simpler here on Humble Oaks and I hope this cleaning schedule does just that. If you want my printable to help you create your cleaning schedule, just click on the link below.

Get your template here to create your own cleaning schedule.