The Easiest Monthly Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms
When you’re a working mom, managing your household can be a little tricky – particularly when it comes to cleaning. If you’re spending all day working, the last thing you want to do when you get home is clean!
But, with kids making messes non-stop, keeping your household clean is a must. Just a few days without some type of tidying (especially if you have toddlers) can quickly turn any living space into a disaster area… This is why you need the easiest monthly cleaning schedule for working moms!
In reality, rather than just a monthly cleaning schedule, a weekly/monthly/quarterly/yearly breakdown works best.
You can identify the tasks that need to happen frequently – like picking up your toddler’s toys or washing the bedding in the house – as well as the ones that need to happen every once in a while – like dusting the walls, steaming the floors, and cleaning the windows.
Related Post: How to Manage Household Chores
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How To Keep Your House Clean as a Working Mom
To keep your house clean (and not lose your mind in the process) as a busy working mom, you need to be a bit proactive in setting up systems and methods in your home. You’ll want to keep things short and ordering to save time and reduce stress.
Keeping your home clean goes beyond keeping a monthly cleaning schedule or even a yearly cleaning schedule, it’s about creating a home that’s easy for you to clean even on tough days. You want to create an environment you can easily clean and a daily routine that allows you the energy to keep your home clean.
Some great tips for moms who are able to keep their homes clean include:
Declutter
Before you deep dive into a monthly cleaning routine, take the time to declutter your home. Decluttering you home can help you rid yourself of any items that don’t have a “home” or designated space. You will also be able to clear out any items that can no longer serve their purpose or are broken.
This is a great step for keeping spaces where your children play clean. Declutter their toys! You don’t need to get rid of much – try just weeding out broken toys, toys that are incomplete, and toys that are past their prime, like the music toys that now sound like they starred in a horror movie.
Helpful Resource: 30-Day Declutter Challenge Checklist + Planner
Organize!
Personally, I tend to do this randomly as I’m inspired or when I’m cleaning that specific space. Either way, you want to organize a space when you have the time and motivation rather than just “tidying” the area.
When you organize, you make a space for an item. Then, when you clean and tidy later down the road, you know exactly where the item belongs! Having organized spaces can also make it easier to get younger kids involved in cleaning as they can easily recognize where the item belongs.
Meal Plan
While the task of meal planning can be daunting to a beginner, it’s a great way to save time and energy through the week. You can meal plan and even meal prep if you’re feeling adventurous! Meal planning allows you to know exactly what you’re going to cook – or at least have – that night for dinner.
While meal planning as a working mom with older kids can be easier, you can absolutely meal plan with toddlers too! You just have to get a little creative in your planning.
Related Post: Top 5 Tips for Meal Planning for Toddlers
The Easiest Monthly Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms
Now that you know some our favorite tips and tricks to keeping a clean house, let’s look at why you’re here – the easy monthly cleaning schedule for working mom!
To really get the best schedule, we have to look at what’s needed in the home. Unlike some other schedules, we’re going to build backward! We’re going to start with the monthly tasks, then work our way into the weekly and then daily tasks!
I highly recommend keeping a notebook or checklist to track your cleaning tasks. You can also choose to use the lists in our printable household planner.
After you know what all has to get done, you can write it down for the month and have an actionable plan to keep your house clean!
Monthly Cleaning Tasks:
- Dust moldings
- Dust ceiling fans and vents
- Deep-clean stovetop
- Clean microwave
- Wipe down (and out) trash bins
- Wipe down doors and doorknobs
- Wipe down cabinets
- Vacuum couches and upholstery
Weekly Cleaning Tasks:
- Dust/wipe down tabletops
- Clean floors (including mopping)
- Wipe down appliances
- Clean kitchen sinks
- Clean bathrooms
- Change sheets and towels
- Clear the fridge of expired food
Daily Cleaning Tasks:
- Clear/make up beds
- Do dishes
- Tidy (toys, mail, clothes, etc)
- Wipe down counters and sink
As Needed Cleaning Tasks:
- Laundry
- Take out the trash
- Restock
Now that you know what needs to get done throughout the month, we can create the ultimate cleaning schedule!
You’ll have to tackle daily tasks every day, I recommend for “tidying” you spend 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening.
While you don’t have to limit yourself, 15 minutes is a great start and will keep your house relatively organized on days when you don’t have the energy for more.
For the “as needed” tasks, I recommend setting aside time every three days. At least that’s what my family of five needs!
Choose to tackle one-two monthly cleaning tasks each week. This prevents overwhelm while allowing your to still keep your house clean.
How Do I Keep Track of What I Need to Do?
Sure, I’ve described the easiest cleaning schedule to keep as a working mom – but how do you keep track of what you need to do? Ultimately, it’s you preference on the exact method, but I highly recommend keeping a tracker, planner, or checklist.
There are tons of apps on the App Store that allow you to create a checklist of what needs to happen each day, week, and month
Alternatively, you can use a digital notebook to write down your tasks and reference them on your iPad. if you’re old school and prefer the feel of a paper and pen, I highly recommend using a printable checklist.
You can do two different printable options – a printable cleaning checklist with the tasks already on there or a printable checklist that you fill out on your own! On your own is best for moms with schedules that are not a M-F as your off days may not align with one that has a pre-set cleaning checklist.
What do you think of our cleaning schedule? How do you think it will help you keep your house clean as a working mom?
