Easy Cleaning Schedule Options for Busy Moms

Easy Cleaning Schedule Options for Busy Moms. Cleaning Routines and schedules for moms.

I love to clean. I really do. I don’t just love the result of cleaning, I enjoy actually cleaning. Even with that love, cleaning as a busy mom feels overwhelming and can at times be too much. As wonderful as children are, they make cleaning harder. They contribute to messes in a big way. They also take up your time in a big way. We only have so many hours in a day, so cleaning can be a big burden on our limited time to get anything done.

Easy Cleaning Schedule Options for Busy Moms

Over the years as a mother, I have changed up my cleaning schedule several times. What has worked in one stage of my parenting journey has not worked in another. My cleaning schedule has needed to shift to fit my current constraints and preferences. Below are the details of my different cleaning schedules, what worked with each one, and what I didn’t like about each one.

Cleaning Schedule Ideas

All At Once Cleaning Schedule

There was a time when my cleaning could be done all at once. Naturally there are things that have to be done each day, like making a bed and doing dishes. Before I had kids and when I had one and even two kids, my all-at-once schedule worked. I had my typical daily tasks, but other than that, I did all of the major cleaning all in one day.

I loved this because it left the house feeling clean. It was spic and span all at the same time. I also loved that cleaning was my focus that one day of the week so I could focus on other things the other days of the week.

At some point between one and two kids, I moved laundry to a different day of the week. Here is what my cleaning routine looked like:

  • Monday: Laundry
  • Friday: Bathrooms, dusting, vacuuming, mopping, cleaning kitchen, picking up

A Daily Task Cleaning ScheduleA Daily Task Cleaning Schedule

Once I had three children, my cleaning schedule of all at once started falling apart on me. Cleaning everything on one day a week wasn’t often enough to keep up with the number of young children messing up the house plus my time available for cleaning. It also was unreasonable for me to dedicate an entire day to one task, no matter what it was. Cleaning one day a week was also not often enough to keep things clean enough. I needed to spread things out more. This was my new weekly cleaning schedule:

  • Monday: Laundry
  • Tuesday: Put laundry away
  • Wednesday: Pick up entire house very well and dust
  • Thursday: Clean bathrooms
  • Friday: Floors
  • Saturday: Kitchen

This type of schedule worked well for me for many years. I was able to spend less time in one day to get the tasks done. I was able to do a bit of cleaning each day so things stayed in better shape. I was also able to easily teach my young children to do chores. On dusting day, I taught them how to dust. On bathroom day, I taught how to do the current bathroom task they were learning.

I did not like that the house never had that “Ahhh…it is all clean” feeling. I also did not like that I cleaned every day. I felt like I was always cleaning. I also didn’t like that if I missed one day for whatever reason, it put me behind and playing catch up. For more on this cleaning schedule and how I implemented it when I had young ones, see my post on how I did chores.

Mostly All One Day with 10 Minute Cleaning Schedule

Now that my children are older, I am back to my all in one day plan. With my children being older, they have more chores they are in charge of. This is LIFE CHANGING! I can’t encourage you enough as a mother to teach your child to do work and to give them chores. It is good for them to learn, good for you to lighten your load, and good for the family for mom to not spend all of her time cleaning. This is what my current cleaning schedule looks like:

  • Monday: 10 minute cleaning, Laundry (note, some people really prefer to do one load of laundry a day rather than all of it in one day)
  • Tuesday: 10 minute cleaning. Vacuum.
  • Wednesday: 10 minute cleaning
  • Thursday: 10 minute cleaning
  • Friday: 10 minute cleaning. Pick up house well. Dust. Bathrooms. Floors. Kitchen.
  • Saturday: Clean appliances. Declutter school papers. (Saturday tasks are things I am okay missing once in a while if Saturday gets too busy).

For my ten minute cleaning, I literally set a timer for ten minutes and clean as much as I can in that time period. I focus on a room or on a certain task. It might be general pick up that day or a deep cleaning task. I am always amazed at how much I can get done in ten minutes. This concept works well for moms who love to clean and those who hate it. For those who love it, it makes it so you can’t just clean all day. I have more opportunity to clean now that my kids are all in school, but I have much more than cleaning I need to get done each day. I can’t let myself get swept up in the never-ending hole of cleaning. For the mom who hates to clean, ten minutes is easy to sacrifice to get some cleaning done (you easily spend 10 minutes a day on social media or some other time suck that doesn’t need to be spent). That ten minutes can go a long way to get things in much better shape.

Involve the Family

As your children age, instill chores your child is responsible for. I have a series of posts detailing what chores children can reasonably do per age. Also, each night as part of our bedtime routine, we all work to pick up the house. The entire family does this. Kids pick up their rooms and all other messes in the home. We have an everybody cleans policy, so we all clean no matter who made the mess. This really helps me out so I am not cleaning up after 6 people each day (well…as much 😉 ).

Deep Cleaning

Deep cleaning is a whole other ball game. There was a time in my life when my time was free enough and my house small enough I could deep clean the entire hour every month. Every month! That meant my blinds were cleaned monthly. Now, frankly, I am happy to get that done once a year. I have deep cleaning tasks divided up by month so I have a few things to focus on each month. When I was in the thick of lots of young kids, a lot of times it really came down to just what seemed to need attention the most at the time.

One of my favorite books for cleaning is How the Queen Cleans Everything Affiliate link. It is amazing! I can’t recommend it enough. She has how she cleans and also when she cleans what.

Conclusion

In the end, you need to find what works for you. This might change as your family dynamics change. Do what feels good to you and what works for your time constraints right now. Make your cleaning routine something you can do now. Do not worry about it working in a year–just what works now. You can change it up in a year. Whether you love cleaning or hate cleaning, you can create something that fits you best.

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2 thoughts on “Easy Cleaning Schedule Options for Busy Moms”

  1. I have come to love your blog! Just had twins, so had to brush up on my baby wise knowledge, and found your blog through that. Greetings from Norway

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