How Often Are You Required To Clean Your Home? – A Schedule of Cleaning Chores for Every Room in the House

Making sure that an entire house is neat and clean is not an easy job to do as there are too many things to do while the time to do them is limited. Even after reading many articles and blogs about house cleaning, you may still find it difficult to decide on a schedule that will ensure the optimum capitalization of your time in accomplishing your house cleaning chores. We, at ABC, understand this and therefore we will help you today with your cleaning schedule.

The first thing you have to do is to not feel pressured to accomplish all your household cleaning chores/ tasks all at once. Instead, you can prepare a separate schedule for those that are not required to be done, too often. After that, prepare a room by room detailed schedule for the remaining cleaning chores and while doing so keep in mind that the schedule is to be followed by you and your family, so prepare it accordingly.

To help you in getting started, here is an example of a detailed cleaning schedule containing information as to when and how you need to accomplish specific cleaning chores for each room in the house:

Living Room and Other Main Living Space

Daily

• Deal with the mail on a daily basis. This will help you in preventing piling up of papers in your mailbox or garage while allowing you time to sort out your important letters, documents and bills. You should also adopt the practice of reusing and recycling paper you no longer require and secure the ones you need in a safe place.
• Sweep or vacuum areas where people walk around in, especially entrance and pathways.
• Clean dirt, spills, and other forms of mess on a daily basis.
• Return items after using them in their rightful places (for example, put toys in their toy boxes and books in shelves of the cupboards allocated for them).
• Empty bins

Once or Twice Weekly

• Dust hardwood floors using a dust-mop to prevent scratches.
• Vacuum carpets, staircases, hallways and other walkways, particulary if you live with children and/ or pets.

Monthly

• Get rid of dust in baseboards and blinds by vacuuming or wiping with a damp cloth.
• Use vacuum to clean upholstered furniture.
• Vacuum dirt and dust under the furniture.
• Wash rugs and doormats.
• Clean ceiling as well as wall fans.

Seasonal/ Spring Cleaning

• Clean window screens through the use of a hand vacuum or a vacuum cleaner.
• Wash the windows both from inside as well as outside.
• Clean the floor underneath the carpeted area by getting rid of dust and dirt existing underneath the carpeted area.

Kitchen

Daily

• Clean the used dishes after every meal.
• Unload the washed dishes from the dishwasher and dry it. After drying the dishes put them in their proper places.
• Clean kitchen countertops right after you are done with preparing the food for a specific meal.
• Clean the sink
• Clean food spills, splashes of cooking oil on the stove top using a degreaser.
• Make sure to clean appliances like refrigerator, microwave, dishwasher and coffee maker after every use.
• Vacuum or sweep high-traffic areas.
• Put away ingredients, spices and other cooking tools after using them.

Once or Twice a Week

• Defrost your freezer and take care of expired food items or unused leftovers.
• Clean other parts of the kitchen that don’t often get cleaned like appliances and cabinets.
• Dust all surfaces to ensure prevention of scratches and other signs of damage or wear and tear.

Monthly

• Clean the oven thoroughly.
• If your bins are detachable then wash their insides thoroughly. If not then make sure to spray with disinfectant and give the inside part of the bin a good wipe to eliminate germs.
• Clean your dishwasher keeping in mind the manufacturer’s recommendations.

Seasonal/Spring Cleaning

• Clean your refrigerator thoroughly both from inside as well as outside.
• Polish all your silverware.

Bedroom

Daily

• Have all your family members make their beds on a daily basis.
• Put stuff in their rightful places such as dirty clothes in laundry baskets or hampers.
• Deal with dirt and messes as needed to prevent staining.

Once or Twice a Week

• Do the laundry once every week. If required, do the laundry twice a week to prevent the piling up of dirty clothes.
• Once the clothes come from laundry, iron and fold them and then put them put them neatly in their proper place.
• Replace and wash beddings, including mattress covers and pillowcases.
• Vacuum or sweep to get rid of dirt and dust.

 Monthly

• Clean and organize drawers and dressers.
• Remove dirt and dust, including those under the bed and other furniture in the bedroom.
• Bring pillows in the open for natural disinfecting from the sun. Air them out to prevent unpleasant odors.

Seasonal/Spring Cleaning

• De-clutter dressers by removing clothes and other similar items that are no longer in use. You can either donate them or can make use of them by turning them into rugs. Do the same for toys and similar items.
• Wash pillows and stuffed toys.
• Vacuum mattresses.

Bathroom

Daily

• Clean fixtures and surfaces such as mirrors, faucets and counters.

Once or Twice a Week

• Clean surfaces more thoroughly, especially the mirror, shower and toilet.
• Replace towels and rugs.
• Give the drain, sinks, toilet bowl and toilet seat a good scrubbing.
• Scrub the tub as well as the shower walls.

Monthly

• Ensure to mop the floor of your bathroom thoroughly at least once a month.

Seasonal/Spring Cleaning

• Make sure to use grout for filling gaps/ voids, connecting pre-cast concrete and sealing joints such as between tiles and tile cleaner.
• Clean tiles thoroughly using a tile cleaner

Everywhere Else

Daily

• Return each and every item that you’ve used during the cleaning process to their rightful places.
• Empty bins whenever considered necessary.

Once or Twice a Week

• Vacuum or sweep floors and other hard surfaces inside your home.
• Mop all the hard surfaces to prevent staining. Dust-mop the hardwood floors first to ensure prevention of scratches.

Monthly

• Remove dust and dirt from baseboards and blinds using a damp rag or a vacuum.
• Sweep the garage, patio and exterior walkways.
• Clean light switches, the wall area and door handles.
• Get rid of debris and other dirt from your washing machines and dryer.
• Wipe down door frames and doors.
• Clean the ceiling of a room every month.

Seasonal/Spring Cleaning

• Clean the fireplace, chimney and gutters.
• Remove cobwebs in corners of the stairwells, ceiling, and other similar parts of your home.
• Clear out air vents.
• Use a vacuum cleaner to clean underneath heavy furniture and fixtures.
• Clean the filters of your air conditioning units.