Spring is almost here, so I thought it would be a good time to talk about a little about cleaning today. I admit I am not one to go on a huge cleaning binge and tackle my entire home spring cleaning fashion, but I do like to try to get some projects done after the long winter to make our home feel fresh again. Today I am sharing the weekly cleaning routine I use in our home as well as a printable weekly cleaning list that helps me stay on track.
Weekly Cleaning and Monthly Cleaning Tasks
Over the many years as ‘the mom’ here I have developed a cleaning system that works for me. I have tried some of the more popular internet systems like doing a certain task each day of the week (like floors on Monday, glass and mirrors on Tuesday, bathrooms on Wednesday etc.) but I found that it was too easy to get derailed and then I’d just get really far behind. What currently works better for me is to keep up with the most essential jobs on a day to day to basis (like cleaning my counters and vacuuming up (at least the kitchen) floors daily) then cleaning one room at a time throughout the week to cover all the major tasks as I have the time.
Another thing that helps me keep up with cleaning tasks is by keeping our cleaning supplies organized and accessible. Our home is our biggest investment and I consider myself fortunate to have it so I do try to take pride in maintaining it. Last year I set up this ‘cleaning closet’ in our mudroom and it makes grabbing what I need to clean up simple. Even if you don’t have a dedicated closet like we do, these door rack systems can go anywhere and hold a ton of products.
For the purposes of this post today, I’ll share a bit about what I try to do each week then I’ll follow up with another post with what I try to do monthly (more of a post about spring cleaning and more major projects). If nothing else, I find things are generally pretty clean around here if I follow these guidelines even loosely. I thought maybe sharing my simple system would help if you were looking for a way to stay on top of your own cleaning tasks.
As we have two dogs and three kids there is always something here that needs to be cleaned. We have carpet throughout the upstairs of our home, so I now that I have my new Oreck Elevate Vacuum I store it right at the top of our stairs. The battery stays charged for up to three hours of use so I can easily clean everything in one quick session without a cord to hassle with. I raved about how much I love this vacuum and why I feel like it is truly worth the investment in this post here.
The Oreck Elevate vacuum is self-propelled so it glides along with little effort on my part, which makes keeping my floors clean simple and honestly, very easy. I couldn’t be happier with this vacuum and love that it only takes a few minutes to clean up all our floors. I use it throughout our bedrooms and even in our bathroom on the tile, it makes quick work of all the vacuuming that pretty much always needs to be done. It has HEPA Filtration, traps 99. 97% of unseen particles like pet dander, dust and molds spores and it is currently on sale HERE.
I have learned over the years that like most other home related things, keeping our house clean is easier if I stay organized about it. Not only do I have a vacuum on each floor, but I have a set of cleaning supplies on each floor too. I keep a stock of everything (I order online here) which makes it easy to have what I need) in our downstairs cleaning closet.
I also keep another smaller set of cleaning supplies in our upstairs bathroom so I can easily wipe down the mirrors and sink. This probably needs to be done more than once a week, I just do it as often as I can find the time after getting ready for the day.
I keep a supply of microfiber rags in bright colors, this way I know they are for cleaning when I do the wash. They work great on shining up mirrors and our chrome fixtures. This is the best product I have found for glass, though also vinegar and water works well too.
I recently started using these portable dusters, they grab almost all the dust on surfaces and they work especially well on electronics (like keyboards and screens). I also find them easy to use them on baseboards and along our stair railings to pick up the never-ending dog hair. I like that I don’t have to spray chemicals to dust on a day to day basis, and you just toss the duster when done.
Another cleaning task I do weekly is to change out our sheets. I have gotten into the habit of doing this every Saturday which is a day that works well for me. There is nothing like the feeling of getting into fresh, crisp sheets which is extra nice on the weekend. You can see my post about the sheets I use here, I also use this fabric softener on my sheets which also makes them even nicer when they are clean.
Below is a general list of what tasks I try to do weekly, I typed it up so if you want to print it off you can keep it on hand to refer to. I’ll follow up with a monthly list too in my next post. You can print and laminate this and use a dry erase marker to check off your tasks if you enjoy feeling that sort of sense of accomplishment or just use it to help keep you on track. Feel free to print as many as you need, just right click to save this file to your computer or click “download” below the image for the printable .pdf.
I hope this was helpful. If you have any suggestions for how you handle cleaning please tell me in the comments, I’d love to hear!
