Cleaning Schedules

So in my last post, which was also my first post, I mentioned how I’ve had a harder time adjusting to staying home full time than I thought I would. I had all these grand and lofty ideas about all the things I would be able to accomplish with all the extra time I have now. One of these grand ideas of mine was how immaculate my house would be. I would have all this time extra time to spend keeping my house organized and clean so of course rather than setting out to clean my house I got on Pinterest. Ha!

I began pinning cleaning schedules and family planners like there was no tomorrow! I really loved the idea of the family planners I looked at so many of them and was so overwhelmed by them that I basically just decided that a planner just wouldn’t work for me, at least not right now.

I have found several cleaning schedules that I like and I finally settled on one of them.

Here are some of the schedules and I looked at.

Clean House Worksheet at Life On Paper

Daily Housekeeping Schedule at Time - Warp Wife  *This is the one I based mine off of.*

Daily Chores and Deep Cleaning Monthly Schedule at Six Sisters’ Stuff

My problem with doing these kinds of things is that I look at them and want to make it work for me the way it already is. That just isn’t always possible and for some reason I have a hard time coming to terms with that but I was actually able to adapt one of these cleaning schedules to my own needs and for even more growth on my part, I have been able to be flexible with it!! It’s a miracle! (I’m only kind of kidding about that.)

My schedule goes something like this…

Monday: Clean Bathrooms

   Clean showers/tubs, toilets, sinks, counter tops, and mirrors, sweeping/mopping floors, and emptying trash cans

Tuesday: Clean Bedrooms

    Change bed linens, picking up any dirty clothes that missed the hampers, decluttering dresser tops and bedside tables, and picking up toys in AJ’s room

 Wednesday: Grocery Shopping/Errands

     I originally chose this day for shopping because it was the day that my husband went in to work late so he could watch AJ while I did the shopping. (Any of you that have ever tried to take a one year old grocery shopping know the potential hazards this holds!)

Thursday: Clean Kitchen
    Do dishes if needed, (“A” always leaves dirty dishes in the sink. The dishwasher is right next to the sink man!!),  disinfect counters, stove and appliance surfaces, clean sink, declutter kitchen table and disinfect, declutter kitchen window seat, empty trash can

 Friday: Clean Floors

     Mop, sweep, and vacuum all floors. Yes, even under the couches and rugs. (You could just use this day for mopping and do the floors in the other rooms as you clean them but I prefer to only have to schlep the vacuum out as few times as possible.)

Saturday: Clean Living Areas (Formal dining room gets lumped in here too)
    Declutter rooms, straighten couch pillows and throws, and dust if I feel so moved

Sunday: Church and Family time!! J

Dishes, basic kitchen tidying, and picking up toys in the family room are done daily and I just do laundry a few times a week whenever I have spare time( My fantastic hubby helps with the laundry too.).


This is just a basic daily cleaning schedule that I use to keep from getting overwhelmed and trying to do too much at once. I am fairly flexible with it so that if something comes up one day and I don’t clean one of the rooms I just add it on to another day that I’m able to squeeze it in or switch days around if I need to. I don’t include things like cleaning baseboards, or dusting blinds and light fixtures in this schedule. (I am still in the process of finding a monthly deep cleaning schedule that I like and will have those things on that schedule)  Of course you can make your schedule anyway you want, to include or exclude anything you like. One of my friends recently asked about my schedule and she was very much against the idea of having a Saturday chore. I saved the living areas for Saturday because they’re quick and easy! ;)

My only real advice is to look around for ideas out there and then make something work for you. I realize how ironic that statement is since I have such a hard time “making something work for me” but it’s true. Start with a schedule, try it a while and play around with until you find something that fits your needs. Keep it simple so that when you do need to be flexible on a crazy day it won’t throw the whole week off. Most importantly, if a schedule freaks you out, don’t use one!! The point is to make things easier on you and if it just stresses you out or overwhelms you then toss it out the window and do what you can when you can!