Welcome back! Today is the final installment of The Busy Mom’s Cleaning Series.  Are you as excited as I am? We will be finishing today with my daily cleaning regimen complete with a free daily cleaning printable. (Below)

First time here? Start from the beginning.

Daily Cleaning Schedule

• Make your bed:

  Start where you sleep. The quickest and easiest way to start checking off your list is to make your bed as soon as you get up. I never made my bed until I met my husband,  but it really does make the room seem immediately cleaner (even if there is dust on the nightstand.) My favorite consequence of making a bed is that it immediately sets the tone and gives you a head start for the rest of the day.

• Unload the dishwasher:

  I find that the time I spend waiting for my oatmeal to cook is the perfect time to get this done. It takes about 3 minutes and saves the sink from dirty dishes first thing in the morning.

• Laundry:

  Before I had my son, I could get by with only doing laundry once a week. Now,  it’s best to do a load daily. I put one load in the wash after getting ready in the morning,  it gets switched to the dryer around mid-day and folded before I start dinner. By doing one load everyday, it eliminates the clean clothes pile up that sometimes happens when there isn’t enough time to fold everything at once. Here’s an example of my week in laundry.

  • Monday: Bedding
  • Tuesday: Lights
  • Wednesday: Delicates
  • Thursday: Darks (because that’s 90% of our clothes)
  • Friday: Towels
  • Saturday: Rest
  • Sunday: Darks

• Clear Clutter:

  This is something we do throughout the day. When we are finished with something,  it immediately goes back to its “home.” I do this not just to keep the house looking nice,  but also because I have ADD and if I don’t put things away I will forget where they are and spend 4 hours looking for my car keys (they were in a jeans pocket.)

  The only exceptions are mail (see below) and toys which get picked up before naps and bed as opposed to eventide he stops playing with something. We also keep a limited amount of toys available everyday and that helps keep him interested and saves time with clean up.

• Sort Mail:

  This is one area that I’m still working on. In an ideal world, I would immediately file or trash every piece of mail that comes in. And that is what I recommend you do. But my husband often brings home the mail (we don’t have home delivery in my town) in the middle of me cooking dinner. So I have a dedicated pile for my incoming mail and try to go through it daily, but more often it doesn’t get filed until a week or so later. It’s a work in progress…

• Meal Clean-up:

  This is another example of doing things as they come. No gross dried on food. No dishes piled in the sink. Right after a meal or snack:

  • Table is cleared and cleaned with a handy, dandy disinfecting wipe
  • Dishes go in the dishwasher or washed by hand if they aren’t dishwasher safe
  • Counters and stove get a wipe down
  • Floor is swept

• Run Dishwasher:

  Everyday, before bed, the dishwasher. The only time it doesn’t get run is if it is less than half full.

• Something for the week:

  Monday through Friday, I focus on one task each day that only needs done once a week. I use the system that works best for me, which is a combination of a room and task breakdown. You might find that focusing on one complete room a day or once complete task a day may work better for you.

  • Monday: Bathrooms –  Clean mirrors, toilet, shower and sink. (Does not include floors or dusting.)
  • Tuesday: Dust
  • Wednesday: Vacuum all floors,  including carpets, rugs and hard surfaces.
  • Thursday:  Mop
  • Friday: Kitchen – Clean microwave, sinks, counters, table,  and wipe down appliances.

• Monthly tasks:

  These are tasks that make an impact on the cleanliness of your home,  but aren’t necessary to do weekly. These are best done when you have a little more time, because they can be more involved. I try to work on one once a week or so.

  • Clean the refrigerator: Clean out old food, replace cling wrap (if using), wipe all shelves and drawers.
  • Clean Oven: I don’t know if there is anything worse that baking a delicious meal and the whole house smelling like burnt pizza from last week.
  • Wash windows: If you don’t have low windows that constantly have little fingerprints or dog noses,  then you may be able to stretch this to a bi-monthly or quarterly task, but mine are a smudgy mess most days.
  • Clean baseboards and molding: Again our mileage may vary with this task, but my home has bright, white molding that attract dirt and grime like a magnet. They just make the whole house look dingy if they aren’t clean.
  • Garage/Outside: This is my husbands domain, but normal tasks include; organizing the garage, sweeping the garage, deck, and front porch, and weeding. (He also mows as needed.)

Phew, that looks like A LOT of work on paper! And if you haven’t cleaned your house for weeks, it might take you a while to get everything done. I promise you though, if you consistently follow this schedule, your house will always be company worthy for minutes a day. It takes me about 30 minutes to clean a 2000 Sq foot home.

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*Tip: I keep my schedule in a sheet protector and hang it on the side of my fridge. That way I can check tasks off with a dry erase marker and just wipe clean at the end of the day. Using a laminator would also rock, but sadly that’s still on my wishlist.

Thank you so much for reading my first home cleaning series. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Now it’s your turn, let me know in the comments below:

What is your biggest cleaning struggle?  (Mine is mail clutter!)

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