Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home Printable (FREE)

I’m always looking for the easiest way to stay up to date with the cleaning tasks at home. Mostly the daily cleaning chore checklists are unrealistic and because of that too heavy to accomplish. So I’m so proud to tell you that I created a Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home that I want to share with you! You can easily and stress-free keep your home clean daily, weekly, monthly, and YES throughout the whole year.

The feeling when the home is clear of clutter and the sink is free from dirty dishes is priceless. I’m a divide-and-conquer kind of girl, so I tend to divide the tasks into easy steps to conquer the possible chaos that might follow otherwise. The plan is there to give the frames that you can use to help and guide you and give yourself the feeling of power and freedom.

The Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home is divided into tasks that I suggest to do daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly, to stay up to date with the cleaning. I have added a few extras that I have found very helpful: Seasonal wardrobe check and the cleaning tasks that would be good to do as seldom as only twice a year. You can download your Cleaning Schedule for Home completely for free.

Tips for using the house cleaning schedule

• You are the expert of your household. Check the list with your home in mind. Are there tasks that you don’t need? Cross them over or ignore them. For example, we do not own a dryer, so I would cross out the “Clean the dryer lint trap”.
• I have left there some space for you to add some cleaning tasks depending on your own home. Do you have a fireplace? Add: Empty the ashes from the fireplace to your list.
• Use the list for you, not against you. I heard once someone say that instead of the To-do -list we should change the perspective to the tasks and name it Did I do it? -list. With that in mind, you know not to feel heavy-hearted if something does not get done. Lists are not something that you NEED to accomplish, they are your helpers. They are there to give you steps, to remind you and YOU choose what to follow and when, depending on your current situation and your lifestyle. You are the Empress of your list. I actually named the Cleaning Schedule the Annual Cleaning Plan, for The Plan, sounds less strict and stressful than The Schedule! The Plan has more positive vibes!

Daily cleaning chores

The chores you do daily are there to make your home a more cozy and enjoyable place to be. At home, you want to feel relaxed. For many the clutter, dirt, and unfinished tasks bring only stress and zero enjoyment to life. So let’s keep it simple with small steps every day. This is the easy maintenance level you keep up with daily with the Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home.

Make bed

Making the bed after you get up is one of the things with which you tune the day’s ambiance. It secretly gives you the energy to do anything you want to accomplish the tasks of the day. Whenever I glance into the bedroom and I see the blanket nicely covering the bed, it gives me a peaceful mindset. And making bed took literally ten seconds.

If you struggle with making the bed, figure out why and then ease the task. Do you have too many pillows to organize? Get rid of the extra. The bedspread is too heavy, so you don’t like to cover the bed with? Change it to a lighter one or just fold it in the linen closet. Less is more when you are looking for an easy cleanup.

Tidy up, declutter & wipe the counters

Small tidying up daily is effective for the appearance of your home. Collect the magazines in one place. Fold the blanket on the sofas and arrange the throw pillows. Have at home only so many things that you can clean up and arrange. If you feel like you are all the time cleaning the four hundred toys, limit them to ten. Clothes everywhere? Add a rack with hooks to the bedroom for the clothes that are used but not yet in need of washing. Check that you have the laundry basket accessible and that everyone uses it.

Wipe counters when there are spills or you see the need. Side tables in the living room need less of your attention than the kitchen table. Don’t bother to wipe surfaces when you don’t have to.

Clear sink, wash dishes / load/empty the dishwasher

Keeping the sink clear helps you to spend less time when you need to prepare food. If you have a dishwasher make the habit of putting dirty and used dishes directly in instead of letting them clutter the kitchen counters or sink.

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Sweep away the crumbs

Having a broom and a dustpan on hand in the kitchen is more than helpful. It’s fast and easy to sweep away bread crumbs and such. I adore my broom and dustpan with wooden handles. They fit nicely in the kitchen corner and it’s so much easier to grab the broom to fix the little mess than the big clumsy hoover from the closet.

Weekly cleaning chores

The weekly chores for cleaning in the Cleaning Schedule are planned for the places and things that are most used at home and need a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness overall. There is no point in cleaning the shower every day but on the weekly level, small cleaning helps the monthly cleaning that will come anyway. Cleaning doesn’t need to be perfect the point is to move the needle enough to maintain a fresh feeling at home. If the annual cleaning plan feels too heavy you can choose a weekly cleaning schedule instead.

Tidy up shower

Keep a cleaning spray and a sponge in the shower and do a quick cleaning while showering. This is especially fun with kids – a spray bottle and sponge are some of the best entertainment for toddlers! Spray the walls, floor tiles, faucet, and hand shower – two minutes and it’s clean – no need to fuss.

Tidy up toilet

Wipe the sink and faucet. Check the need for changing the soap bar to a new one or filling up the liquid hand soap. Wipe the top of the toilet seat, the seat cover, toilet seat ring. Brush quickly the toilet bowl and flush it. Tadaa!

Dusting and hoovering

At our home, there are seasons when there is more dust and less dust. So use your hoover and duster when needed. Check the cleanliness level weekly. The vestibule or the mudroom collects more sand and pine needles, and the kitchen has plenty of crumbs. All the rooms don’t need to be hoovered once every week if it is not necessary. You can rotate and hoover half of the house one week and the other the next week if it makes more sense.

Clean mirrors

You can continue a long time with dirty and stained mirrors. BUT. I added mirrors to the weekly cleaning list because when you spray and wipe the mirrors, they bring suddenly and so easily freshness to the home. If you have children, you know that the fingerprints are in EVERY mirror of the house. If you don’t have kids, well you just got less to clean weekly!

Clean coffee machine / water boiler

In most families, coffee machines and water boilers or electric tea kettles are in everyday use. So wipe the surface from any spills and stains, and boil water with some lemon juice and vinegar. Let it sit for a while. Rinse and boil twice with fresh water.

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Clean the dryer lint trap (or after every use)

I suppose in this list that laundry is done weekly. The lint trap of the dryer is a fire hazard and should be cleaned after EVERY use. Luckily the lit traps are mostly just pull and wipe and put back again. Make the habit of cleaning it the minute you open the dryer door, then you don’t forget to do it.

Use the memory hacks with similar cleaning tasks: always when A happens I do B. Then you need to rely on the list less in the future.

| RELATED: Weekly Cleaning Schedule Template (FREE)

Monthly cleaning chores

Do monthly a deep clean for the most used things and places at home. Clean the things that get dirty slowly but will need some refreshment. In the Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home these are the following:

Deep clean the fridge

Make the habit of cleaning spills when you do or see them in your fridge. Monthly choose a day when the fridge is as empty as possible and take off the shelves and wash them one by one. Depending on the amount of products you have in the fridge you can just move them to another shelf for a moment or on a countertop on the side.

This cleanup might take up to 20-30 minutes depending on the size of your fridge and how full it is. Detach also the vegetable drawers and wash them. Remember to wipe all the parts well before putting them back to the fridge – if they are wet they will add moisture to the fridge which might make some products spoil faster.

When cleaning the fridge, check the best-before dates and the state of the products. Monthly inventory makes it easier not to forget something hiding in the back of the fridge

Deep clean the shower

We had the shower already in the weekly chores, right? So once a month make one of your weekly cleans a bit deeper. Scrub with the brush the corners and the seams between the tiles, move the mats and other movable things, and mop the floor. Put the shower curtain into the washing machine or wash the glass door of the shower.

Deep clean the toilet

Likewise do once a month one of your toilet cleanups more profoundly. Clean behind the toilet seat, and wipe and clean the foot of the seat and the floors around it. Empty the odor lock of the sink if needed (check how many hairpins and rings you can find in there!).

Airing the blanket, mattress & change the sheets

When changing the sheets and bed linens it is good to put the blanket out for a few hours. In the springtime, when the pollens of the trees are in the air, you may need to skip this – or you will maybe be sneezing a few following nights.

If you can take the mattress outside for a few hours it would be good too. You can also flip your mattress to keep it in better form and condition longer.

Hoover behind the appliances (freezer, fridge…)

Do not forget to hoover behind the appliances like freezer, fridge, TV, etc. Electric appliances gather dust and will be a fire hazard when covered with dust. Make a habit of hoovering monthly behind them.

Clean washing machine filter

The washing machine has a small hatch that you can open and pull out the filter (depending on the type of your machine) to clean it. By keeping the filter clean you get fresher and cleaner laundry and your machine lasts longer when you take good care of it.

Every second month cleaning tasks

Ovens and drains are things that many (including me) forget to clean regularly. That’s why they have their own place in this Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home.

Cleaning the drains

Clean the drains of the sink when you do your normal cleaning routine, but the drains on the floor, like the one in the shower, would be the ones to clean now. You should use gloves because the drains are generally quite yucky – just warning you. Remove the lid and brush it on both sides. Take off any loose hair you find and toss it in the bin. If you have a disposable shower drain hair catcher change it, or if it is not that bad just rinsing it might do.

If you have a reusable drain hair catcher remove the hair attached to it, rinse, and brush it with a spray to clean it thoroughly. Then brush and clean the drain itself. Start with cleaning any hair or excess blockage, then brush with the help of the cleaning spray. Close the drain with the hair catcher and the drain lid.

Deep clean the oven

Choose a day when you are not using the oven or you will use it later – for the oven should be cold. If you have an oven with a removable oven door, detach the door and clean it over the sink. Clean the inside of the oven as well. Remove the knobs with the help of a knife and wash them with dishwashing soap. Clean the stove and front of the oven, dry the knobs, and place back. Hoover behind the stove if removable or do it on one of the hoovering days.

Seasonal wardrobe check

When you have four clear seasons the clothing needed is different four times a year. When changing the season it is good to check through the clothes that are too small, too broken, or something that you do not want to continue with to the next year. Sell them, donate them, or toss them. Go through the wardrobe to see if you need some new clothing too to update it to your needs. In the Cleaning Schedule, you have four seasonal check-ups. If you live in the zone where you have only two clear season changes, then narrow it into two.

What should be cleaned twice a year?

Twice a year cleaning chores are those things and places that shouldn’t be forgotten to clean but do not need special attention all the time. Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home has six different chores to be implemented twice a year.

Degrease and clean the cooker hood

The need to degrease the cooker hood depends on how much you cook and which type of food you prepare. You might need to shift the cleaning to do it more often or seldom.

Most cooker hoods you can clean easily yourself. Detach the first layer to access the removable filter paper. If you have a disposable filter, change it. If you have a reusable, use dishwashing liquid and fairly hot water to remove the grease before attaching it back to the place. Wipe and clean also the inner and outer surfaces before closing.

Check through products in the freezer

The freezer is a mysterious place that sometimes fills up with food that is difficult to follow and rotate. Twice a year is good to go through so that you have not forgotten anything hiding. Make a habit of marking and labeling things that go in. Frozen food is not easy to recognize and try guessing what was it before thawing it.

Dust and clean the air filters

Depending on your house you might have air filters in every room in your home, especially if you live in an apartment. They are up on the wall and look like a plate. Most people forget their existence (including me), but to maintain a good home and get the air fresher clean up those filters! It’s a quick thing to do, just rotate the lid open hoover it, or use a moist cloth to clean it well.

The first time cleaning with everything might be hard. When the maintenance cleaning mode goes on naturally, the well-adjusted cleaning frequency helps ease the amount of time you need generally in cleaning.

Cleaning windows

Here in the North, we have double windows, so window washing is not my favorite thing to do. For every window, I have to clean four window surfaces…? Nah. I get discouraged very easily. That’s why the timing is so good to have in early spring. Not too early, that the rain, road dust, and pollens mess them right again, but so that when that sun starts really shining it shines through the perfectly clean windows. That makes me feel joy and encourages me to dig in.

The second washing I do if it seems needed. If during the summer the inside or outside windows have stains I’ll wash those that clearly need the wash. If the Autumn rains start early – I might skip the second washing totally that is marked in the Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home.

Deep cleaning kitchen cupboards (best before date check)

Tidying up and clearing the cupboards is worth it. Check through any spices that are expiring or any other dry staples, that you notice you haven’t used yet. With the dry food, it’s not that strict with the date. That’s why they have the best before date. You can still securely use them after the date, they just start lacking flavor and nutrients so it is always best to use fresh.

Work with one cupboard at a time, and move things that don’t match with the cupboards or shelfs category to find them better when you need them. Use boxes or trays if you have many items to make the kitchen feel and look more collected and ease your ingredient rotation yearly.

Clean medical cabinet (best before date check)

Medicines do have expiration dates, and we tend to leave things in there when purchased – IF we still someday might need them. Medicines are not good to consume when they are outdated. Get rid of the expired ones and return them to the pharmacy to dispose of them safely.

Go the same time through your medical cabinet, thinking about what you need to add. Do you need more bandages or plaster to have them on hand when needed? Print out a Checklist for your first-aid kit to check easily what you have already and what you should have in your kit. Remember to put the date of the checkup so you can keep on track.

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Annually cleaning chores

Defrost the freezer before the new harvest. If you have an older type of freezer it gathers ice and snow so defrost it before you’ll probably fill the freezer to its maximum capacity. If I have had a busy autumn time, I’ll defrost the freezer when it is cold enough outside to just put all the freezer drawers on the balcony during the defrosting.

We recently invested in a no-frost freezer that has air circulation so that it doesn’t get frost. So now I’ll do an extra freezer checkup before the harvest time and clean the freezer surfaces quickly and wash or wipe the freezer boxes.

What are your favorite chores?

Let me know in the comments what are the chores you enjoy the most! And well you can tell me your dislikes too and we can check how those chores would work out easier! Are there tasks that you would add to the Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Home?

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