Have you ever wondered how working moms keep a clean house?
The secret often lies in having a realistic cleaning schedule that you can stick to, even when things are consistently busy and hectic in both your work and home life.
The truth is that whether you’re a single mom with several children and a full-time job, or you work part-time and have a partner who can help out around the house, the only reliable way to keep your home clean, tidy, and organized is to find, use and stick to a cleaning schedule that works for you.
Now, I want you to know that I was in the exact same position as you a few years ago, struggling to keep my house clean and tidy while working full-time at my job five days a week.
That’s when I started to research what other moms do to keep their houses clean without feeling overwhelmed, and eventually I landed on a cleaning schedule that is achievable, realistic and above all – works!
So without further ado, let’s check it out along with some useful tips, hacks, and other useful advice.
Table of Contents
Cleaning Schedule For Working Moms
As a full-time working mom, it goes without saying that your house cleaning schedule needs to be as simple, achievable, and realistic as possible.
For this reason, you will probably find it helpful to break down your tasks into the following three categories:
- Morning Tasks (several important daily jobs to do at the start of your day)
- Evening Tasks (several important daily jobs to do at the end of your day)
- Weekly & Monthly Tasks (important things that still need to be done, but are less time-sensitive)
Let’s take a look at each one in more detail.
Daily Tasks
Think of these as your must-do tasks that you simply have to find a way to complete each day, or else your whole system may come crashing down!
Mornings
- Unload dishwasher.
- Tidy up after breakfast, wipe floor, counter, table, other surfaces
- Make beds.
Evenings
- Tidy up after dinner, wipe floor, counter, table, other surfaces.
- Load and turn on dishwasher (tip: if it’s half full or more, it’s best to run it!).
- Quick tidy up of toys, put loose items away (especially in your living room and kitchen).
- Take out the trash (especially if it has bad odors from food or diapers if you don’t use a diaper pail).
Other Times During The Day
If you have a spare few minutes here and there, particularly on those days you may be working from home, you may also want to:
- Do laundry: gather dirty clothes and place in the machine, run a washing or drying cycle, hang clothes on a rack if air drying.
- Fold clothes, put them aside or away in drawers or closets if you have time.
Weekly Tasks
These tasks need to be done, but it’s not a disaster if you can’t do them on the set days below for whatever reason.
- Monday: Clean bathrooms.
- Tuesday: Clean bedrooms (dust and vacuum).
- Wednesday: Clean all floors (mop and vacuum).
- Thursday: Clean all other rooms (living room, office, utility room) and hallways.
- Friday: Clean kitchen.
- Saturday: Change bed sheets, clean bathroom towels, vacuum car.
- Sunday: Take a well-earned rest!
Monthly Tasks
There are also some tasks that take a bit longer, but thankfully don’t need to be done very often.
You might not need to do all the tasks below every single month, but here are some things you’ll probably want to do every 4-8 weeks:
- Deep clean your car (inside and out).
- Garden / lawn work.
- Deep clean appliances (clean and descale bottle warmer, clean and descale sterilizer, clean refrigerator, defrost freezer).
- Declutter, rotate toys in and out of storage (if space is limited).
Other Tips To Help You Stay On Track
Find A Schedule That Works For You
Do you have more energy in the mornings rather than evenings?
Prefer to blast through your chores over a shorter period rather than spreading them out over a whole week?
We all have different likes, dislikes, and preferred ways of doing things, so make sure you take these all into consideration when you are setting your schedule.
Be Realistic
One of the best ways to stick to a new habit and build consistency is to set yourself realistic targets that you know you can stick to.
If your schedule is too difficult to maintain, you’ll likely find yourself becoming overwhelmed and will want to give in rather than staying the cause.
Stay On Top Of Laundry
Given how much laundry moms need to do, if there’s one thing you’ll always want to stay on top of it’s cleaning clothes.
Just 10 minutes per day can help ensure you and your kids always have clean clothes in your draws and closets, and you never run out of essentials like socks, underwear, or t-shirts.
There’s No Shame In Using A Cleaner
Finally, remember that there’s absolutely no shame in using a cleaner if you can afford to.
In the past, I’ve found that even having someone clean your house for a handful of hours every two weeks is enough to lighten your load whilst not breaking the bank.
