Household Cleaning Schedule: Daily, Weekly, Monthly & Yearly

How do you get the kids off to school, work a full-time job, cook dinner, and still squeeze in cleaning the house in your spare time?

Start by rethinking your household cleaning schedule.

In just about every section of this website, I’ve talked about which chores kids can do and how old they need to be to do them. I’ve been less specific about which chores need to be done, and when.

That’s because your family’s chore list depends on how many kids you have and how old they are, the layout of your home, whether you have pets, where you live, how much (or how little) your family is home, and how meticulous you intend to be.

So to give you a starting point for your own household cleaning schedule, I’d like to share mine.

How often should you clean everything? Daily: dishes, counters, a quick bathroom wipe and a 10-minute pickup. Weekly: bathrooms, floors, dusting and sheets. Monthly: upholstery, walls, trash cans, the dishwasher filter and the shower curtain. Seasonally: windows, blinds, curtains and light fixtures. Yearly: carpets, upholstery, the oven, wood furniture and the dryer vent.

How Often to Clean Everything: The Schedule at a Glance

Daily Cleaning Chores

Let’s come clean here. The daily grind is challenging enough (and I’m just talking about the kids, carpools and errands), so don’t let this daily list ruffle your feathers.

Once you’ve rallied the troops, you’ll have plenty of help getting the essentials done. And exactly what those essentials are in your home is entirely your call.

In the Kitchen

•      Wash the dishes, or load the dishwasher after each meal.

•      Wipe the kitchen table, counters and cooktop.

•      Rinse the sink after each use.

•      Wipe up spills, including the ones inside the microwave, while they’re fresh.

•      Sweep the kitchen floor, or at least the crumb zone under the table.

Bedroom Bliss

•      Make the bed. That’s it. One made bed makes the whole room look cleaner.

Bathroom Basics

•      Squeegee the shower, or wipe down the tub.

•      Wipe the counter after use.

•      Hang up towels so they dry.

Around the House

•      Scoop the litter box every day, and change the litter completely once a week.

•      Do a 10-minute pickup before bed: shoes, dishes, mail, toys, and anything else that wandered into the wrong room.

Few people will ever notice dust on top of the refrigerator, but they’ll immediately notice things strewn around the living room. If you have only a minute, choose put-away duty over a cleaning job.

Here’s how the kids can help: daily chores for kids by age.

Weekly Cleaning Chores

These are the jobs that keep the house at baseline:

•      Bathrooms: Clean the toilet, sink, tub or shower, mirrors and chrome fixtures. Mop the floor and put out fresh towels and soap. See our easy toilet cleaning tips.

•      Kitchen: Wipe down the refrigerator and toss old leftovers. Mop the floor.

•      Floors: Vacuum carpets, shake out area rugs, and mop hard floors. Use a barely damp mop on wood floors.

•      Dusting: Furniture, shelves and lampshades.

•      Bedrooms: Change the sheets, empty the wastebasket, and hang up clothes.

•      Laundry: Sort, wash, fold, and put away.

•      Electronics: Wipe phones, keyboards, laptop and TV screens, game controllers and remotes.

For the full room-by-room list and a day-by-day plan, see our Weekly Cleaning Checklist.

Here’s how the kids can help: kitchen chores by age, bedroom chores by age and bathroom chores by age.

Monthly Cleaning Chores

•      Vacuum upholstery and curtains with the brush attachment.

•      Wipe fingerprints and spills off the walls, light switches and door frames with warm water and a drop of dish soap.

•      Wash the trash cans with hot, soapy water, and let them dry before putting in a new bag.

•      Clean the dishwasher filter. Most twist out from the bottom of the tub. Rinse it under hot water and scrub off the gunk with an old toothbrush.

•      Degrease the range hood filter by soaking it in very hot water with dish soap and a little baking soda.

•      Wash the shower curtain liner in the washing machine on warm with a couple of towels. The towels scrub it as it tumbles.

•      Clean the washing machine with a hot cycle and a washer-cleaning tablet or 1 cup of bleach.

•      Vacuum the heating and cooling vent covers.

•      Check the fridge and pantry for expired food. Here’s how to decipher those dates.

•      Sweep and tidy the garage.

•      Tidy one closet. Just one. You’ll get to the rest over the year.

Here’s how the kids can help: monthly chores by age.

Seasonal Cleaning Chores

Some jobs only need doing a few times a year, usually when the seasons change in spring and fall.

•      Wash the windows inside and out, and wipe the sills and tracks.

•      Dust or wash the window blinds, and wash or dry-clean the curtains.

•      Clean light fixtures and ceiling fans. Switch the fan direction while you’re up there.

•      Clean the oven. Do it before the big holiday cooking, not after.

•      Rotate the mattress head to foot and vacuum it.

•      Clean the fridge coils to help it run efficiently.

•      Swap seasonal clothes in the closets, and pull out what nobody wore.

•      Take houseplants outside for a gentle shower with the hose. See keeping house plants healthy.

•      Spring: Sweep the patio and porch, and wash the patio table and chairs.

•      Fall: Clean the fireplace and tools before the first fire.

Here’s how the kids can help: seasonal chores by age.

Yearly Cleaning Chores

•      Deep-clean carpets and upholstery. Professional carpet cleaning every 12 to 18 months is the usual recommendation, and many carpet warranties require it. See our tips for hiring a carpet cleaning service.

•      Give hard floors a deep clean. Scrub tile grout, and strip and re-wax floors that use wax. Recoat wood floors only when the finish looks dull and worn in the traffic paths, not on a schedule.

•      Wash and polish wood furniture.

•      Dust top to bottom in every room: ceiling corners, crown molding, the tops of door frames and cabinets, and the crevices you usually skip.

•      Wash or dry-clean the bed skirts.

•      Clean out the medicine cabinet and take expired medications to a pharmacy drop-off kiosk.

•      Clean the dryer vent from the dryer all the way to the outside. Lint buildup is the leading cause of dryer fires.

Here are some yearly chores kids can help with.

Looking for furnace filters, gutters, smoke alarms and washer hoses? Those are home maintenance jobs, not cleaning. They’re on our Preventative Home Maintenance Checklist. Stock up on furnace filters while you’re thinking of it.

How to Actually Stick to a Cleaning Schedule

Clean in Spurts

To truly enjoy your free time, do your cleaning in spurts during the week instead of all on the weekend.

Break big jobs into smaller ones. Wipe down the bathroom sink now, and clean the tub and mop the floor later. Any job seems overwhelming if you can’t break it into pieces, and a household cleaning schedule is no exception. But you can maintain your home and your composure.

Stop Dirt at the Door

A little prevention goes a long way:

•      Have everyone take their shoes off at the door.

•      Put a good doormat outside and another inside.

•      Use washable rugs in high-traffic areas so dirt doesn’t get tracked from room to room.

•      Keep eating to the kitchen and dining room so you aren’t chasing crumbs through the rest of the house.

Head Off Clutter

Put things away the minute you’re done with them, rather than waiting until the end of the day, when the pickup job will be overwhelming. Tackle small jobs before they turn into big ones. Sweep up crumbs before they get ground into the kitchen floor or the family room carpet.

Don’t Get Sidetracked

When you finally snatch a magic cleaning moment, don’t get sidetracked. If you’re halfway through cleaning the fridge shelves, let voicemail take that call. And if Aunt Agnes emails while you’re scrubbing the tub, her communiqué can join the others to be answered when you’re done.

Put Your Calendar to Work

Put the monthly, seasonal and yearly jobs on your phone as repeating reminders, so you don’t have to remember them. Or follow our month-by-month checklists, starting with the January Cleaning Checklist.

Get the Troops to Pitch In

Giving everyone in the family cleaning jobs is essential to getting it all done in the time you have. Each section above links to chores kids can do at every age.

And if the results aren’t perfect, well, that’s just the way things are. Let them be.

Household Cleaning Schedule FAQ

What should be on a household cleaning schedule?

Daily jobs (dishes, counters, a quick bathroom wipe, a 10-minute pickup), weekly jobs (bathrooms, floors, dusting, sheets), monthly jobs (upholstery, walls, trash cans, the dishwasher filter, the shower curtain), seasonal jobs (windows, blinds, curtains, light fixtures, the oven), and yearly jobs (carpets, upholstery, wood furniture, the dryer vent).

How often should you deep-clean your house?

You don’t have to do it all at once. Spread the deep cleaning across the year: seasonal jobs in spring and fall, and yearly jobs like carpets and upholstery once every 12 to 18 months.

How often should windows be washed?

Twice a year for most homes, in spring and fall. More often if you live near a busy road, the beach, or a lot of trees.

How often should I wash my shower curtain?

Once a month. Toss the liner in the washer on warm with a couple of towels, and hang it back up to dry.

How often should I clean the litter box?

Scoop it every day and change the litter completely about once a week.

How do I make a cleaning schedule for my family?

Start with the daily essentials, add a weekly routine, and put the monthly, seasonal and yearly jobs on the calendar. Then assign chores by age, so everyone in the house shares the work.

Keep Going

Build your cleaning routine with these related guides:

• Speed Cleaning Your Home: More ways to clean faster when time is short.

• 7 Resolutions for a Cleaner New Year: Start the year with cleaning habits that stick.

• Easy Kitchen Cleaning Tips: Shortcuts for the room that gets dirty fastest.

• Easy Bathroom Cleaning Tips: Speed-clean the bathroom in less time.

• Laundry & Stain Removal: Keep the laundry moving, and get the stains out.

• How to Declutter Your Home: Less stuff means less to clean around.

• Green Cleaning: Clean with less harsh stuff and spend less money.

• Easy Fall Cleaning Checklist: The seasonal jobs for autumn.

• Preventative Home Maintenance Checklist: Tips for staying ahead of the big jobs.
  

Too Much Stuff? Not Enough Space? Clear the clutter, let go of the guilt, and reclaim your home, one room at a time. Discover Room by Room by Tara Aronson.

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