How to Make a Monthly House Cleaning Schedule

Maintaining a clean and orderly home is a huge and daunting task that can easily get out of control if you don't stay on top of it. Just like any other big job, it becomes more manageable when broken down into smaller tasks. Take it a step further by plotting these smaller more manageable cleaning tasks onto a schedule, then you have a monthly cleaning routine. Use this sample cleaning schedule for the month that will work for most households but can also be easily modified to fit into your unique home.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Pen
• Paper
• Calendar

1. Set your time for performing the daily cleaning chores. Maybe you will complete them all in the morning, all at night, or throughout the day. It does not matter, but you must have a plan or the day will get away from you before you crossed everything off your list.

2. Identify and plan for daily cleaning tasks. They are making beds, putting away clothes and toys, wash dishes, clean stove and kitchen surfaces, take out the trash, manage recyclables, clean out litter boxes, clean bathroom sinks, spray down shower doors or curtains, wash and fold a load of laundry.

3. Identify and plan for weekly chores. They are clean the kitchen and bathrooms, dust furniture and shelves, change bed linens, mop and vacuum flooring, vacuum rugs, sweep porches and steps. The kitchen and bathrooms are the toughest jobs so start with those while your energy is highest, and get them out of the way.

4. Every two weeks, plan on sweeping the garage, shaking the rugs outside before vacuuming them and vacuuming furniture and cleaning out under the cushions.

5. Identify and plan on your monthly chores. You don't need to set aside one day a month to attack these tasks. Simply schedule them in one or two per week so they don't pile up on you. Monthly tasks are cleaning all windowed, glass, and mirrored surfaces, washing and disinfecting the trash bins inside the house and out, thoroughly wipe down the inside and outside of both the stove and fridge, clean, dust, and/or vacuum baseboards, blinds, curtains, hard to reach shelves, ceiling fans and vents and change or clean filters on heating and cooling systems.

Tips & Warnings

• Everyone's definition of "a clean house" is different. Determine your definition and tweak the routine accordingly.
• Create a place for everything so that things are most likely to be put away properly between cleanings, making cleaning time quicker and more efficient.
• It is very difficult to maintain spotlessness in every single room at every single moment. Children in the home and a busy work schedule are just two challenges you will constantly face. Comparison to others is another. Cut yourself some slack and don't get caught up in whose house is cleaner. You might lose track of the fact that the number one goal is to have a happy household, not the cleanest one.

[1cream2sugars]

on 1/20/2009 Part of my New Year's resolution is to get more organized with my cleaning schedule. Great article. Thanks.