Daily Cleaning Schedule Versus Weekly Cleaning – Pros and Cons

Have you ever followed a cleaning schedule for your home?

I haven’t but I’ve thought of it a lot. I’ve even gone as far as to make a schedule and hang it on my fridge.

I can tend to be a bit of a “neat freak” at times but with kids, dogs and the desire to NOT put the tidiness of my home over the needs of my kids – I try to keep a balance and unfortunately that sometimes feels like the house takes a back seat and isn’t in the condition I’d like it to be a lot of the time.

A while ago I spoke to a friend who follows a cleaning schedule and highly recommends it. She said not only does she spend a lot LESS time cleaning than she used to but also she gets a lot more cleaning tasks done than when she would clean all on one day.

For example, she would spend hours and hours on cleaning day getting to the entire house and still only do surface things like tidying, cleaning floors, maybe dusting etc. With a cleaning schedule she said she would spend no more than 1 hour per day on her task for that day but would have cleaned thoroughly including windows, baseboards, walls, light fixtures etc.

I liked the idea of this. It’s true with me as well. It seems even if I spend the better part of the day on “cleaning day” working on things, I never get to the less obvious things like the tracks of windows, baseboards, door frames and light switches etc.

With the type of heating I have in my home (forced air furnace) every surface gets dustier and dirtier than in homes without this type of heating. When you don’t get around to things like cleaning the tops of the baseboards on a weekly basis, it can look like it hasn’t been done in a year within very short order. I am really bothered by the look of this but can’t seem to find the time on cleaning day to get to those sorts of things around the whole 2 storey house I call home.

And so I am about to embark on a daily cleaning schedule and will report the pros and cons to you in subsequent post. Maybe its something that will encourage you to change some of your regular routines.

I’m hoping it’s going to help me keep things more in balance and keep my house cleaner and tidier while still not putting all my time and attention into that over my kids.

Are you ready?

Here’s the cleaning schedule I came up with to best fit into my lifestyle.

Cleaning Schedule

Monday – Bedrooms

• linens
• dusting
• vacuum and wash floors as needed
• shine mirrors
• tidy
• clean baseboards
• dust picture frames and light fixtures
• clean door frames and light switches
• clean window tracks as needed

Tuesday – Bathrooms

• scrub counters
• tidy
• wash sink (s)
• shine mirrors
• wash bathtub/shower
• clean toilet
• wash baseboards
• dust pictures and light fixtures
• change towels
• vacuum and wash floors
• wash door frames and light switches

Wednesday – Living Room

• tidy room
• vacuum and wash floors as needed
• dust
• wipe down picture frames and light fixtures
• clean baseboards
• clean window tracks as needed
• vacuum furniture
• wipe down coffee table and side tables

Thursday – Kitchen

• clean and put away all dishes
• tidy
• wash counters and backsplash area
• wash outside of cabinets as needed
• clean appliances
• wash baseboards or kick plates
• clean window track as needed
• dust
• vacuum and wash floors as needed
• clean out fridge
• organize cabinets as needed

Friday – Dining Room and General Items

• vacuum and wash floors as needed
• tidy
• clean window tracks as needed
• dust picture frames and light fixtures
• clean baseboards
• wash down table and chairs
• dust
• general tidy of any rooms that need some freshening
• general floor cleaning as needed
• food prep if needed for weekend

Over the weekend I will strive to clean up things after I have used them or messed things up but no specific cleaning as it will be mainly for family time.

Although it is already Tuesday when I am writing this post, I have already started this cleaning schedule as of yesterday (Monday) and will do it for several weeks before I report back to y’all as to how it’s going for me.

I promise to be honest about any areas that I’m struggling with, any changes I feel the need to make and if and how it impacts my home for the better.

Talk to y’all soon…