My Complete Guide to Cleaning the Whole House
I’m not the cleanest mom out there, ok? I’m fully aware of that. However, I do take a lot of pride in keeping a clean home now more than ever, despite also being a working mom. I created a guide to cleaning my whole house so that I can keep track of what I’ve cleaned each month and to also hold myself accountable to remember the commonly forgotten places in the home. I mean, when was the last time you cleaned your baseboards? If it’s been since 2008 when you moved into your current house, then, Boo Thang… it’s time. Those baseboards have been neglected.
Please note - this is not the typical chore list, like dishes, pick up toys, etc. for things that are typically a daily chore. I’ll probably put something like that together for y’all soon, but this is strictly for keeping a clean home at a holistic level. Let’s help get you on track with a simple template! You can check out my personal cleaning chart at the link below.
Listen - Before we get started, I felt the need to mention a few.. hmm…disclaimers(?), if you will:
I have an iRobot / Roomba-thingy that vacuums my house and empties into a bin all by itself. Yes, I spent a few hundred dollars on it - Yes, I believe it’s worth every penny. In fact, I’m almost at the point where I want to buy one that lives solely upstairs and keep my current one downstairs. Why? Because currently, every Mon/Wed/Fri, my sweet robot “James” (yes, he has a name - don’t judge me) vacuums all of my floors downstairs. However, on Tuesday mornings, I carry him & his homebase upstairs, change his mapping to “upstairs”, and send him on his way to vacuum my 2nd floor. I would LOVE to just have a second vacuum… a “Jeff” maybe (ha!)… who lives upstairs and vacuums every other day, as well. *Sigh* First world problems - I know. But anyway - that’s why you won’t see ‘Vacuum’ on my cleaning lists. If you don’t have a precious robot like James, then just make sure you add “Vacuum floor” to the appropriate rooms on your own list. *Disclaimer* - I have zero experience on how the Roomba performs with pet hair. I don’t have pets. I felt like that needed to be said.
I also have a mopping robot - Her name is “Maria”. However, I haven’t quite figured her out yet for my downstairs floors. She’s supposed to mop in the middle of the night, but she keeps glitching - so for now, my cleaning lists do include “Mop floors”. Yes - more first world problems. Judge all you want. For now, I use my Swiffer WetJet mop. I love it… I’d just love it more if it mopped my floors while I slept. #goals
Some of the items on my list are ‘once a month’ items and some are ‘every other week’ items (or twice a month). You can tell which ones I do twice a month because there will be two date cells per month for that line item. If that’s not frequent enough for you, then by all means, add more cells! This is what works for me and what I can commit to with my weird schedule.
HOWEVER - the kitchen section is almost arbitrary for me. We clean our kitchen WAY more than what I’ve listed on this sheet - It’s honestly the cleanest room in the house - and for good reason. We take our health and our food very seriously around here. And - we host people at our house A LOT. The kitchen happens to be the gathering place, so it’s cleaned weekly. Another exception might be that you need to clean your windows more often than I do because you have slobbery dogs…or slobbery small children. Again, I don’t have pets and my kids don’t really touch the windows, so I can get away with cleaning windows once a month.
Some of you might be wondering - “Why doesn’t she just do ‘mop all floors?’ or ‘dust everything downstairs?’ instead of making SO many items for the list. Well - the short answer is “Hiiiiii…I made this list for me… so this is what works for me.” Truthfully, I have high anxiety (possibly undiagnosed ADHD) and too large of tasks can cause major anxiety for me. Breaking up my cleaning list by room is easier for my brain to wrap around and feel accomplished when I knock out ‘mopping the entry room’ vs. mopping the whole dang house. Additionally, it helps with delegating tasks to my kids. I.e. Austin cleans the windows in his room and Nolan cleans the windows in his, instead of just a generic “Clean all the windows upstairs”. Divide and conquer!
Speaking of dividing and conquering, I ABSOLUTELY have my kids help with these chores. Don’t be shy in assigning some of these chores to your kids or others in your home. This is a group effort, people! Granted, will my kids wipe the baseboards with the scrutiny and attention to detail that I will? Absolutely not. Do I sometimes find myself following up behind them and redoing the chore? *sigh* Yes. However, if you get into the rhythm of doing these things monthly, it becomes SO much easier to maintain and the chores get done quicker. If you want to assign chores to different kids and have that be their assigned list, add a column for “Assigned to:” and divide these tasks up! I used to have certain chores assigned to each person, but we started switching up chores or dividing differently so it became arbitrary and I removed it.
How to Create Your Own Cleaning Chart
The best way to start with creating your own cleaning chart is to ‘make a copy’ of the template at my link below using Google Sheets. Swap out the names of the rooms to match your house’s setup. Then, feel free to leave the current chores, or delete them all out. I recommend printing the sheet out and then literally walking through, room by room, and thinking about what chores need to be done in each section of your home. If it’s easier, start at the ceiling and work your way down. Do you have ceiling fans? You’ll want to put “Dust ceiling fan” on the list. Do you have artwork or pictures on the walls? Add “Dust wall decor” as dust collects along the tops of your pictures and frames. Finally - don’t forget your baseboards! Those are arguably one of the most neglected spaces in your home. You won’t believe how much dirt and dust collects on those. Just ask my kids. :)
You’ll see in my bathrooms (and kitchen) that we have chores involving cleaning the trash cans. Maybe you’re blessed with boys who have superb aim in the bathroom. Good for you. Or maybe you’re like me and you find that your bathroom trash cans require.. Um.. disinfecting.. on a regular basis. Please make sure you are attentive to even these types of random chores that are common to neglect.
The list that I’ve created probably has most of the basic chores needed for a majority of your spaces (aside from vacuuming - thanks to my sweet James), so feel free to keep most of those on your list. Remember that this isn’t about perfection the first go around! This is simply a template to help you get started and feel better about your cleaning regimen. Grant yourself some grace and happy cleaning!
Check out my cleaning template at the link below:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DGR1hoBxPWBzrua8iTKQtuBzptX26FkftKKAcioaTHo/edit?usp=sharing
Thanks for reading! If there’s an important chore you think I forgot or a chore that you think others might benefit from adding, send me a message via the Contact Us form! I’d love to hear from you.
Love y’all,
Lo
xoxo
