I rather clean my kitchen over my bathroom anyday. Sometimes I am in the mood to clean but that is not often. To keep myself on schedule I write down my to do list in my weekly planner to remember. As there a billion other things we would rather do than clean! I’ve actually just started a bullet journal and have created a checklist with weekly, monthly and bi-annual cleaning tasks to do. Below is a cleaning schedule organized by daily, weekly, monthly and bi-annual tasks.

Daily

The daily focus is on the bathroom and kitchen, as these are two large areas that become dirty quickly.

• Wipe the table after every meal.
• Wash the dishes or put them in the dishwasher.
• Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher as they become dirty, instead of filling up the sink.
• Clean and disinfect the kitchen counters and stove after each meal.
• Especially now during covid-19, I make sure to wipe all the door knobs, fridge handle, microwave, etc. Anything with handles that you use to open!
• Pick up the house. By doing this daily, you will have less work to do at the end of the week.
• Make your bed.
• Fluff the couch pillows.
• Pick up and clean any food or spills on the kitchen floor.
• Wipe down microwave after each use. Less gunk build up.
• Keep cleaning spray and brush or towel in the bathroom for everyday messes, such as toothpaste in the sink.
• Replace hand towels that are damp or smell.

Weekly

Pick a day for one specific task as it’s too tiring to clean the house in one day! The bathroom is one day and the kitchen is another. I usually combine dusting with cleaning all the mirrors in the house.

• I do the laundry and make sure to fold it after. No matter what!
• Sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
• Clean the bathroom sink, toilet and shower.
• Vacuum. I vacuum every other day now that I have a teething baby who puts everything in his mouth!
• Dust furniture, TV, lamps, counters in bedrooms and use a lint roller for an upholstered headboard. This also works for lampshades.
• Clean mirrors and windows.
• Clean any spills in the fridge and toss out old food.

Monthly

Once a month I deep clean the bathroom and kitchen. What exactly is a deep clean do you ask? I spend extra time in each space. The living room is easy. I vacuum behind the couch and also vacuum the couch itself. For the bedrooms, I organize the closets and always have a donation bag going to rid of things we no longer use, need or want. Same thing for the hall closets, as these are high traffic areas they tend to get messy faster.

Kitchen

• Clean the stove drip bowls with a brillo pad. If there’s a major spill I do clean them ASAP. The longer you wait the long it becomes hard to remove food build up.
• Remove everything from the counters and clean with all purpose cleaner, including the wall tiles.
• Clean the fridge and freezer. I pick another day of the week to do this.
• Wipe down all the cabinets, dishwasher, oven door, fridge and trash can.
• Clean the microwave.
• Sweep and mop the floor.
• On a separate day, I organize the pantry. Remove all the food and wipe down all the shelves and door.

Bathroom

• Wash the bathroom rugs.
• Remove everything from bathroom and spray down the shower, toilet and sink (in that order). Then clean the sink first, the toilet and the shower for last.
• Sweep and mop the floor.
• Wipe down cabinets, door, clean mirror and walls.
• Wash soap bowl, along with toothbrush holder.
• Mildew grows on everything. Therefore, I also clean the shampoo bottles.
• On a separate day, I organize under the sink cabinet. Keeping baskets keeps things tidy.

Bi-Annual

Twice a year I clean:

• Behind the fridge – instead of sweeping and mopping I get down on my knees to clean the floor as it gets super sticky. It’s easier to spray down the floor and wipe it down.
• Behind the stove – instead of pulling out the stove I pull out the bottom drawer, sweep and then spray it down. I hand wash this as well. Fun fact: We mostly use the bottom drawer to store extra pans but it was invented to keep food warm!
• Wash comforters.
• Curtains!

Helpful Tips

• Pick a day to do one task a week. Monday clean bathroom, Tuesday dust, Wednesday, Vacuum and so on.
• Also write down your cleaning schedule for the week and month in your planner or bullet journal.
• Have one scent going for the home after done cleaning. I use lavender essential oils to freshen my home and lavender cleaning products! Keeps it fresh all day!
• Doing laundry in town? Save a pill bottle to save a roll of quarters.
• Replace the dish sponge weekly. Smelly sponge but realize you ran out of sponges? Stick sponge in boiling hot water for a few minutes to kill the germs.
• Add some all purpose cleaner to your toilet and toilet brush holder after cleaning. Leaves a fresh scent hours after.

What are some helpful tips or ways you clean your home?