The Ultimate Cleaning Chart to Keep Your Home Tidy
A weekly cleaning guide that works around your schedule.
The daily hustle and bustle of our lives can leave little time to maintain a clean home. Cleaning charts are helpful for creating a manageable system that you can stick to every week without feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
By outlining what needs to get done and when, you’re in a better position to budget your time for the upcoming week regardless of how busy you are and make sure the cleaning you need to do actually happens.
I like using a cleaning chart because it helps me get all the things I need to do down on paper and helps get the clutter out of my brain—before getting the literal clutter out of my home. The way I look at it, a chart has a built-in rewards system; I don’t know about you, but I get a deep sense of satisfaction from checking something off my to-do list.
Think of this chart as your cheat sheet for efficient cleaning so you can spend more time and energy on the things that are important to you. No more throwing your hands up in frustration when you don’t know where to start. A cleaning chart is a stress-free guide to a cleaner home. Sign me up!
Prioritize your tasks
Our priorities shift daily, and on days when you’re running a mile a minute, you may not be able to tackle a chore that takes longer than five minutes. Cleaning charts should give us the flexibility we need to accomplish our cleaning goals. Assigning priority levels to tasks based on level of importance, time, energy, or difficulty level can organize the chart in a way that ensures flexibility.
Here are a few options you can consider when deciding how to prioritize your chore chart:
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Consider prioritizing chores by difficulty level. Some tasks take longer and require more effort than others. If you’re someone who spends a lot of time cooking and the kitchen is loaded with hardened food bits, cleaning it may take some time and skill. Try scheduling this task for a day when you’ll have the time and energy to devote to it. Check out this checklist outlining chores by effort level.
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Assess the needs of your family. Every household looks different, so tailor your chore chart to your specific needs. For me, having young kids means there’s a mess on the kitchen floor after every meal, earning cleaning the kitchen floor a top priority spot.
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Consider any health concerns. If there are allergy sufferers in the home, dusting, cleaning any dust mites, or taking care of dust bunnies will likely be high on the priority list.
Creating your 5-day cleaning chart
I recommend two different approaches to designing your cleaning chart. Choose the option that aligns most with how you like to clean, and best suits your personal priorities and needs. Neither option is better than the other—the main consideration is choosing a strategy that works best around your schedule and that you can most easily stick to week after week.
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Option 1: Organize chart by chore type. This approach can sometimes be more efficient than dividing chores by room. For example, if your home is made up of 70 percent tile floors, you may choose to tackle cleaning them all in one go rather than breaking it up by room across multiple days.
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Option 2: Organize chart by room. Dividing chores by room type is likely a more desirable approach for a larger home. For example, you might clean all the bathrooms on Monday and clean all the bedrooms on Tuesday. This 5 rooms in 5 days cleaning guide is also super helpful for this approach!
The cleaning chart will likely remain the same week after week. Rooms that are infrequently used, like a formal dining room or guest bedroom, may not require a weekly refresh, and can be incorporated into the schedule on a rotating bi-weekly basis.
Sample cleaning charts
Option 1: organize chart by chore type
Moving from left to right, fill in the first row of your chart with the following information:
- Chore description and task
- Day of the week
- Time commitment
- Difficulty level
- Priority
Then go row by row and fill in the following information in the appropriate box. Remember: this is just a sample, so feel free to make the chart your own!
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Vacuum carpets and rugs
a. Monday
b. 30 minutes
c. Easy effort
d. Priority level: 1 -
Clean tile & hardwood floors (vacuum and sweep first, then mop and clean)
a. Tuesday
b. 30 minutes
c. Medium effort
d. Priority level: 2 -
Bathroom: Wipe down counters, sinks and mirrors, clean toilets, wash rugs, sweep and wash floors, wash tub/shower
a. Wednesday
b. 45 minutes
c. Medium effort
d. Priority level: 3 -
Dusting surfaces: Blinds, ceiling fans, figurines, etc.
a. Thursday
b. 20 minutes
c. Easy effort
d. Priority level: 4 -
Laundry
a. Friday
b. Several hours
c. Medium effort
d. Priority level: 5
Option 2: organize chart by room
Moving from left to right on a chart, fill in the first row with the following information:
- Room of the house
- Task
- Day of the week
- Time commitment
- Difficulty level
- Priority level
As with Option 1, go row by row and fill in the following information in the appropriate box. Again, remember that this is just a sample, so feel free to make any edits you’d like.
- Kitchen
a. Wipe down counters, sinks, clean stovetop/range, sweep, mop, throw out trash, throw out expired and spoiled foods
b. Monday
c. 30 minutes
d. Easy effort
e. Priority level: 1
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Bedrooms
a. Vacuum flooring and dust surfaces, change sheets, straighten closet and dressers
b. Tuesday
c. 30 minutes
d. Medium effort
e. Priority level: 2 -
Bathroom
a. Wipe down counter, sinks, and mirrors, clean toilets, wash rugs, sweep and wash floors, wash tub/shower
b. Wednesday
c. 45 minutes
d. Medium effort
e. Priority level: 3 -
Living Room/dining room
a. Wipe down surfaces, vacuum, sweep, mop, straighten up space, wash pillows and throws, launder table linens
b. Thursday
c. 30 minutes d. Easy effort
e. Priority level: 4 -
Hallway/Entryway/Laundry Room
a. Toss rugs for debris, tidy the entry, vacuum, sweep, mop, put items away in their designated spots
b. Friday
c. Less than 30 minutes
d. Easy effort
e. Priority level: 5
Having the right tools makes all the difference
As you set up your chore chart, you’ll want to think through the right tools to get the jobs done. For example, it’s always frustrating trying to dust something when the tool ends up pushing the dust around rather than collecting it. Not to mention the health risks it poses to those highly allergic to dust particles and dust mites. I find that the Swiffer Dusters Cleaner Starter Kit magically sucks up dust particles all in one effortless swipe. This product packs a major punch and there’s no need to go over the same area twice (unless the dust has accumulated for quite some time).
Not only is cleaning the kitchen floors an everyday task for me, but it’s also an every meal task. I don’t know how it happens, but my kids manage to smear pasta sauce and peanut butter all over the floor. While this might seem overwhelming, we manage the mess by first sweeping the crumbs off the floor, then use the Swiffer WetJet to do the heavy duty lifting. When you’re cleaning the kitchen floors as frequently as I am, you don’t want to put a whole lot of effort into the process, because another meal time is right around the corner. The WetJet mop is lightweight, easy to use, and does an amazing job at keeping my kitchen floors clean, fresh, and ready for the next meal. Imagine that!
In short, with the right cleaning chart–and the right cleaning supplies–you should be well on your way to achieving and maintaining a sparkling clean home.