Whether you're a busy stay-at-home parent or an occupied working person, cleaning is never an easy chore. As per research by The Clorox Company, 60% of people are less stressed after cleaning, and 75% are more productive. While it can be a source of relaxation, routine cleaning after a hustling day can drain your energy.
Most experts recommend preparing a practical home cleaning schedule. Through this schedule, you can break down time-consuming cleaning chores into daily, weekly, and monthly timeline brackets to manage the process effectively.
In this blog, we'll help you maintain a checklist to manage your home cleaning schedule.
The Philosophy Behind Effective Cleaning Schedules
According to recent studies, our environment has a significant impact on our physical and mental health, so properly cleaning your space should be a priority. But nowadays, with a burden to juggle personal, parental, work, and social life, managing a cleaning routine is always a question mark. That's where cleaning schedules can help.
The main purpose of maintaining a cleaning schedule is to make sure your space is neat and maintained every time. It also helps to get rid of excessive cleaning all day, and a clean home prevents the spread of viruses or skin diseases. The key to preparing an effective schedule is to keep it as realistic as possible and not go overboard to maintain consistent motivation.
Daily Cleaning Habits for a Tidy Home
It is essential to incorporate cleaning habits into your daily routine to keep your home maintained and satisfy your cleanliness trait. Instead of dumping all your cleaning tasks on a specific day, these habits can make cleaning more manageable. You can not adapt all cleaning habits in your life right away; take baby steps and work firmly on a few, then expand as per your comfort.
Some of these habits are:
- Start by making your bed as you get out of bed, leaving the bed as it can lead to a mess in your entire home.
- Even if it's just a small stain or even a single candy wrapper, throw it into the trash can and clean it immediately.
- If you're moving from one room to another, look for any spills and wipe down surfaces you've used with a damp paper towel.
- Wash your day-to-day clothes every day to avoid a big load of laundry on weekends.
- As you complete cooking, clear unnecessary items off the counter, wash used dishes, and clean the space right away.
- Dedicating a place for every item in your house can avoid mess as you habitually put them right back where they belong.
- Declutter and donate your wardrobe regularly.
- Before going to bed, look through the house and clean the apparent mess.
Weekly Cleaning Routine: Balancing Depth with Do Ability
Once you become habitual with daily cleaning, a weekly cleaning routine will be less daunting. Make a list of every area of your home and write the cleaning tasks attached to it. Now, you can divide them into days based on priority and your free slot. In addition, you can even designate the time to make it more systematic and help with procrastination.
Ideally, the list can be similar to the following:
- Monday: (Living Room) Vacuuming and dusting furniture. Clean the bathroom surface, sink, and toilet.
- Tuesday: (Bedrooms) Change bed sheets, clean bathroom, wipe windows and mirror with glass cleaners, and dusting furniture
- Wednesday: (Fridge) Clean spills from the surface, discard empty containers and expired items from the fridge and freezer.
- Thursday: (Kitchen) Mop kitchen with anti-bacterial surface cleaner. Clean oven and microwave from inside.
- Friday: (Small Spaces) Dusting blinds and curtains, organizing wardrobe, vacuuming stairs and throwing garbage
Monthly and Seasonal Deep-Cleaning Tasks
After weekly clean-up, the monthly cleaning checklist should handle bigger and more time-consuming tasks. It can be helpful for increasing the life of appliances, furniture, and the interior of your home. You can adjust it at any time of the month based on your convenience.
However, most people prefer taking care of monthly cleaning before the start of every month. Once you've picked a day to handle these tasks, you don't have to worry about it for at least 5-6 weeks.
Here are some of the monthly cleaning tasks to consider:
- Cleaning backsplash and cooking range
- Seasoning your cast iron and similar cookware
- Declutter the freezer and clean its shelves and drawers.
- Get rid of bathroom grout lines, clean your bathtub and surface behind the sink
- Clean windowpanes, wash curtains, and wipe baseboards in your room
Yearly Cleaning and Maintenance Checklist
If you keep up with the monthly cleaning tasks, then there won't be much to manage on the annual or seasonal cleaning haul. It helps maintain the comfort and increase the durability of valuable items at your home. Here's how to maintain a yearly cleaning checklist:
Winter Cleaning Schedule
Winter brings leisure, and you often don't want to get up and clean, so it is advisable to prepare beforehand. Start by tightening knobs, racks, and handles, fix the locks and deadbolts on doors or windows, remove shower heads, dry clean your comforters, and lastly, inspect and deep clean your basement.
Spring Maintenance Checklist
Spring is all about preparation for summer and recovering from winter mess, so check your exterior for drainage, inspect the roof for damage or leaks, clean your gutters, get HVAC system maintenance to avoid issues in summer, and clear dead plants or shrubs in the front of your house.
Summer Cleaning Schedule
Summer calls for repairs, and if you tend to live in hot areas, then precautions are mandatory. Check your bathrooms and kitchen for grouts and repair if necessary, inspect plumbing for leaks, clean your patio, and work on minor repairs. Deep clean your carpets and rugs. Clean out dryer vents and exhaust vents. Clean your garage and throw stuff that hasn't been used for a year.
Fall Cleaning Checklist
Fall cleaning is majorly sweeping to ensure you're set for cozy days. Inspect and clean your HVAC system and check the water heater for maintenance. Sweep chimneys and look for cracks in the driveway or entrance of your house.
Tools and Supplies to Make Cleaning Easier
With a busy schedule, people find it difficult to clean, needing cleaning assistance more than ever. Following are some advanced tools and supplies to simplify cleaning:
eufy X10 Pro Omni Robot Vacuum
X10 Pro Omni is the latest and most comprehensive vacuum that works on artificial intelligence. It is the world's first MopMaster that can avoid more than 100 obstacles working on 8000 Pa power suction strength.
Moreover, it has an Omni station for self-washing, drying, emptying, and refilling, so you don't have to do anything. It is cost-effective, user-friendly, and perhaps the best robot-vacuum available.
Baffect Magnetic Window Cleaner
If you want it hard to clean windows upstairs and getting a ladder isn't always convenient, then you should try out Baffect magnetic window cleaner. It helps to make all your windows spotless with its strong magnetic design, sticking to both sides of the glass and cleaning the front and back of the window simultaneously.
TOWNEW Smart Bin
We know taking trash out itself is a hassle, and switching trash bags is more daunting. Townew has realized this problem and introduced the TOWNEW Smart Bin for easy waste management.
This bin detects when it's full and seals the bag with the help of thermoplastic sealing. It even lifts the sealed bag up to prevent any spills and replaces the bag at the touch of a button.
Making Cleaning a Family Affair
Most parents, especially moms, love a tidy space to relax, but with energetic children running around spilling and staining surfaces, cleaning becomes more and more difficult. Managing everything alone can be time-consuming and feels like all you do is work. It is helpful to involve your children and spouse in the cleaning ride with the following tips:
- Children will hop on anything fun, so you should turn home chores into a game. You can also designate rewards for participating and cleaning properly.
- Rules are important to keep a clean environment, so set some regulations to simplify your load, like making your bed, keeping dirty clothes in the laundry basket, cleaning your own plate after dinner, unloading the dishwasher, folding laundry, etc.
- Make a chore list for every person in your family, depending on their age and capacity. They can be minimal tasks, but they can save up a major part of your day. You can even give allowance to your children based on the completion of the list.
Overcoming Common Cleaning Challenges
Once you prepare a personalized home cleaning schedule template, it becomes simple to adjust your routine. However, there are some challenges that may hinder your cleaning routine. Some of them are:
- Taking time out of your busy schedule is always the hardest. Start by dividing cleaning responsibility with other family members or roommates. You can also designate a time or day for cleaning if needed.
- Some rigid stains are difficult to remove with the same cleaner. Try out different household and industrial cleaners like water, gel, oil, and acid.
- People with dust allergies may find it challenging to clean. You can wear a mask or buy equipment that doesn't let dust out.
- If you have pets in your house, then their hair and odor can be a challenge to get rid of. You can use pet-friendly cleaning products that handle the smells and make sure your pet has a proper clean zone, preferably in a secluded area of your home.
Conclusion
If you're wondering if preparing a cleaning schedule can magically make your house spotless, that's not the case. It's all about getting up and doing it yourself. However, a schedule can make sure you're not overwhelmed with cleaning tasks amidst your busy routine.
Experts recommend making a habit of cleaning on a daily basis to avoid excessive cleaning on a specific day, either before a party or holiday.
All you need is 10 minutes from your daily routine to maintain a healthy and tidy home for yourself and your family. It also helps in making you more organized and declutters your time for activities that you love.
Ready to prepare your practical home cleaning schedule? Maintain a spotless home without stressing over the process.