Daily Weekly Monthly Cleaning – The Fast Way to Clean Your Home
If you struggle to clean then getting tips on daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning will help you to put this task on autopilot. The more you can do without having to give too much effort to keep your home neat and put away, the better off you will be.
We love to do things easy at Declutter in Minutes and this is list as easy as it gets! Put cleaning on auto pilot and take back your weekends again.
There is nothing I love to do quite as much as scrubbing the toilets in my home.
Said no one….EVER.
Seriously. When does anyone enjoy cleaning? And I am not just talking about just the bathroom, but literally any type of cleaning at all.
Not too many people I am guessing, and if you are reading this article right now you are most likely one of those, “I would rather be doing anything else but this” people.
When I was younger and had a young active family along with a full-time job and that meant that weekly cleaning was just something that had to be done. Since my schedule was already packed to the nines, that meant I had to do all of it (laundry included) in one frazzled day.
That day was usually on the weekend and what I like to call my Saturday marathon cleaning day. This was when I would usually plop my kiddos in front of the television with a bowl of fruit loops. Then I would grab my supplies and make the mad dash of cleaning as quickly as I could before any of them needed me.
It was quite comical really.
There I would be running from room to room trying to clean, wash, and vacuum up the cluttered and messy remnants from the week. Washing walls, dusting, vacuuming, and gathering up the debris that made our space look more like a disaster area rather than a room in our house.
This weekly ritual usually ate up most of the day and by the end of it, I was completely and totally spent. Too tired to play with the kids or do anything with my family.
I would just chalk it up to another Saturday of a frazzled working mom.
I remember saying to myself, there really has to be a better way. A way to clean the house without sacrificing a full Saturday every single weekend. I mean, really. Saturdays were meant to be fun. A day spent with my family so we could enjoy each other and laugh and play.
Then it hit me. The answer was so obvious I didn’t even see it at first.
I needed to break it down.
Just like decluttering a home, it is best to break a huge job like this down into simple and quick steps. Steps you can weave throughout your busy day without monopolizing it. Daily, weekly monthly cleaning steps you can follow along to get your cleaning done in the quickest way possible.
But before you can do that you need a list of all the chores you usually do. A room-by-room master list so you know just exactly the things that need to be done and how often you do to do them in order to keep a room clean.
The rest is easy from there. Just take those tasks and schedule them throughout your days each week to break this big bad boy down making it much less overwhelming.
Daily, Weekly, Monthly Cleaning Checklist
For a system to work effectively a bit of planning needs to happen first. Why? Because my list is going to be different than your list. By creating a list that fits your home, your size of house, and your time of life you can create a plan that is easy to stick with and even easier to be successful with.
Home Cleaning Resources:
- Clean and Organize Your Freezer Step by Step
- Microwave Cleaning Hacks
- How to Clean and Organize Your Fridge
Step #1. Make a Room by Room Cleaning List
The very first thing we need to do is make a list. A list that is just for you and one that is specific to your home and family.
Start by grabbing a clipboard and enough blank paper for each room in your home. Use a large black magic marker to label the room name at the top of each sheet. Once done, you can take a stroll around your home making a list for each room.
3 Step Action Plan:
- Write down all the cleaning that you normally do in the room you are in. Things like dusting, sweeping, etc. This is your maintenance list.
- Add on any tasks that you like to have done but never really have the time for. Things like wash the floor rugs or wipe down the ceiling fans. This is your cleaning wish list.
- Finally, fill in any tasks that you may have missed. The best way to do this is to start at the floor and work your way up to the ceiling. Use your eyes to look at everything taking it all in. Don’t miss a chore thinking you will remember. Write it all done. Everything.
This part is going to take some time so you may want to do a few rooms a day until your list is completed.
When you are finished you should have a pretty thorough list for each room. One that lists out the most simple daily chores to the spring cleaning jobs you tackle just once a year.
I know it sounds like busy work, and maybe in a way it is, but it’s also an investment in you. Taking the time to do this step completely will help you to free up your time going forward allowing you to enjoy a bit of fun again.
The key here is to not rush things.
The list for each room needs to be complete so your master list is complete. That way you will know all the cleaning chores are getting done routinely and you can finally put cleaning your home on autopilot where it belongs.
Step #2. Hit Every Single Room
This is an important tip to keep in mind if you truly want this system to work effectively. That means you may want to make a list for your linen closet, the basement if you have one, the garage, and even the back porch.
Every single solitary space in your home must have a list.
Step #3. Prioritize
Once you have your lists done you next want to go through the tasks you have listed one at a time. Armed with a few colored highlighters go down your list of cleaning tasks and determine if it is a high-priority task meaning it needs to be done a few times a week, a medium-priority task meaning it needs to be done monthly, or a low-priority task that gets done just a few times a year.
Use a different colored highlighter to identify each. Going forward, the colors will be your guide to create a schedule that really fits nicely into your days and week.
Here is a sample daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning guide.
Use this list as a starting off point for your own. Your goal is to make a cleaning plan that is easy to keep up with. Almost as if on auto-pilot. Keep things simple so you can add tasks to your schedule without spending an entire day having to clean a room.
Yellow – High Priority Task (Items that need daily attention)
- Sweeping the kitchen floor
- Wiping down the bathroom sink
- Doing the dishes
- Laundry (If you are a daily washer)
- Feeding the dog
- Checking bookbags
Pink – Medium Priority Task (Items that need weekly cleaning)
- Vacuuming the carpets
- Washing the kitchen floor
- Dusting the furniture
- Laundry (If you are a weekly washer)
Green – Medium/Low Priority Task (Items that need monthly cleaning)
- Washing the other floors
- Dusting wall pictures/shelves
- Cleaning kitchen appliances
- Wash floor rugs
Blue – Low Priority Tasks (Items that need seasonal cleaning)
- Washing bed comforters
- Vacuuming under furniture
- Cleaning the furnace filter
- Washing windows
- Washing trim work
- Shampooing carpets
Step #4. Pick a Day
Even though you have a list of daily tasks that will get attention each day, you will still need to do the weekly tasks for each room in your home. To make this part easier I suggest assigning a room for each day of the week. On that day you can work on the weekly tasks that you have listed out.
Before assigning a day to each room you will want to look at your schedule for the week ahead. This means two things.
- You will know you are keeping the room on the day that makes the most sense. For example, if you tend to spend more time cleaning the kitchen then assigning it to a slower scheduled day will be a helpful tip.
- You will be more conscious of your schedule. For example, if Tuesday is the day you clean the kitchen and that is your most involved room, then you will know not to make a dentist appointment on that day.
What day you assign to each room will all depend not only on your schedule but also on your level of activity. If Monday is a day when you tend to be a bit sluggish you may want to focus on an easier room such as the bathroom.
Read: Monthly Bathroom Cleaning Checklist
The trick here is to match the room to your schedule and energy so you can more easily get it done without being tempted to skip it due to an overly busy or exhausting day.
Step #5. Follow Your List
In step number 3, I had you use colored highlighters to prioritize your list. This is where the magic really comes into play.
When it’s time to clean the room you have assigned for the day, you can refer to that list choosing the tasks based on how you have things set up.
- Each week you will do all the tasks you have listed weekly.
- 1-2 times a month you will do the monthly tasks.
- A few times a year you will do the seasonal tasks.
D/M PRO TIP: Keep your cleaning lists in clear page protectors and use a washable marker to check things off as you go. When you are done cleaning you can use a tissue to clean the sheet off. This is a great way to keep track of without messing up your room cleaning list.
I like to keep my cleaning sheets in page protectors tucked inside of my Decluttering Planner. That way my list is ready to go when I am. I can take it right out of my planner into the room I am cleaning and check each item off as I go along.
Step #6. Rinse and Repeat
Each week you will want to set up a fresh cleaning plan. Why? Because your schedule is going to change each week and because of that you will want to adjust your cleaning plan to fit.
If, however, you have a schedule that is pretty easy and routine you can pick a plan for the entire month and just run with it. I like to make a new weekly plan each Sunday. This is planning day in our home and my chance to really map out a week that will be realistic and productive rather than overwhelming and frustrating.
By customizing your daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning schedule each week you will be surprised at how you will be better able to match the rooms to your ever-changing schedule.
Remember the trick to anything working is to have systems set into place, especially in our homes. This is the key to keeping things simple instead of overwhelming. The prep work may take some time but when the end result is meant to put a job of this size on autopilot isn’t that initial time investment worth it?
I say, absolutely yes!
I have found that cleaning a room TOP to BOTTOM is a much better way to clean. That way, dust from ceilings and surfaces that fall will be vacuumed up, lastly. If done floor to ceiling, you will have to re-clean surfaces and floors AFTER dust has fallen to these places. Discovered this the hard way when I had to basically re-do everything…just my experience. I live in a 1945 built house, and it does tend to gather dust rather rapidly.