How to Keep Your Home Clean – And Just Make Life Easier (With Printable Weekly Schedule)

Many years ago, (let’s not talk about just how long ago it was) I sat down with an old cookbook that someone let me borrow. I loved the vintage images and illustrations, the classic cooking. And hidden here and there through the cookbook, was blocks of tips.

Tips like: “To tenderize the meat of an older animal, marinate it in buttermilk overnight”

and

“to make cold brewed ice tea, use double the tea bags you normally would for the amount of water, and refrigerate it for 24 hours.”

One of the tips that I read in the cookbook, was to have a cleaning schedule. I thought it was a great idea, and created one that very week. I realized that by having a schedule for my weekly chores, it really made things so much easier.

I found that I didn’t have to panic when unexpected company showed up at the door. At the time, being a mother of three young children, I was able to often do many of my cleaning chores while the kiddos took their naps. It made keeping my home clean much simpler and stress-free.

As of late, I have been so busy with mowing the pasture, working on projects, caring for chickens (recovering from an illness) and everything else, that it feels like my house has been neglected.

Over the years, at some point I fell away from maintaining that cleaning schedule, but I recently picked it back up again. I don’t know why I ever quit, but I’m so glad to have it back.

So here is what my daily schedule looks like:

MORNING ROUTINE

• The morning regulars – feeding the animals, having my coffee, breakfast!!!, checking my calendar, reading e-mails, etc.
• Get fully dressed – hair and make-up done. If I look put together, I feel put together. NO SHOES*
• Make the bed
• What am I making for supper tomorrow? Do I have everything, or do I need to make a run to the store today? (See my menu planning post about how I reduce excessive store trips.)

DAILY ROUTINE

• Vacuum the high traffic areas – entrances, living room, etc.
• Sweep the kitchen.
• Each day I have a specific “chore” to do in my weekly schedule. My schedule for these are Monday through Friday. I intentionally leave the weekends free for family time, rest or other activities.
• My “assigned” chore of the day (more on that in a future post!)

EVENING ROUTINE

• Figure out what I am wearing the next day – anything need ironing?
• Take anything out of the freezer that needs to thaw for the next day’s supper.
• Spend 15 minutes doing a general “tidy” of the house – especially my desk which seems to be a magnet for everything.
• Wash all of the dishes and put them all away. I love walking into a clean kitchen in the morning and starting the day off right.
• Set up my coffee maker for the next morning.
• Wash up and get to bed – preferably on time!

* There is a popular sentiment out there that when you get dressed in the morning, you have to put your shoes on too. That is not my philosophy at all. First, I love to be barefoot in the house. Second, we don’t allow shoes in the house.

Why? For a couple of reasons, but a biggy is the fact that I HAVE CHICKENS. My chickens are truly free-range/pastured. That means they can go anywhere they want. And you know what? Chickens poop.

Yeah, I went there. You think I want chicken poop tracked all over my house? Oh, I don’t think so! No…shoes are NOT welcome in this house. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

So the above is my daily “to-do” list. Now for the weekly routine. Each day I have something that is done on that particular day, each week. Here is what that looks like:

MONDAY

• Thoroughly vacuum the house, including along baseboards.
• Mop the kitchen & bathrooms.
• Do my laundry (clothes hamper contents)

TUESDAY

• Dust and tidy the living room
• Clean all the windows (I use my homemade glass cleaner)

WEDNESDAY

• Clean the all of the bathrooms
• Wash the linens (sheets, blankets, towels, etc.)

THURSDAY

• Dust & tidy the bedrooms *
• Dust & tidy my office

FRIDAY

• Tidy the kitchen (wipe down counters, cabinets, appliances, etc.)
• Do my laundry (clothes hamper contents)
• Sweep & tidy the porch/outdoor areas and entrance

* When my kiddos were little, this was broken down by my room one day, kids’ rooms another day. As they got older, their rooms were their responsibility.

As I said previously, I don’t schedule big chores on the weekend, because that is dedicated to family time or other activities.

To make things simple, I have a PDF of this schedule. Feel free to download it and use it as a starting point in your own home.

Get it here: Cosmopolitan Cornbread Weekly Cleaning Schedule

I encourage you to come up with your own schedule that works for your family. Do you have a particular day that you are insanely busy? Schedule less for that day and move things to another. No problem! The point is to come up with a routine that works for you.

It’s all about making life easier!

Look forward to more Homemaker Help posts like this in the future on Cosmopolitan Cornbread.