Home cleaning schedule: what to do daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally

A household cleaning schedule divides the work into four rhythms. Every day, short tasks are enough to stop clutter from building up: dishes, the kitchen counter, rubbish and tidying things away. Once a week come the bedding, vacuuming, dusting and the bathroom. Once a month, appliances and forgotten spots; seasonally, windows, textiles and wardrobes. A plan works when it is written down, shared between people and adapted to your home.

Why write the plan down

Without a plan, cleaning usually piles up for the weekend and ends in several hours of work that nobody feels like doing. A written schedule has three advantages: everyone knows what to do and when, nothing important is missed, and it is easy to see where there is too much work.

The plan does not have to be perfect. Start with a simple version, try it for two weeks and then adjust whatever does not work. If you are not sure how often to do individual tasks, you will find a detailed overview by room in the article How often to clean a flat.

Daily tasks: 10 to 20 minutes

The daily part should be short. The aim is to stop clutter from settling in, not to clean thoroughly.

• Wash the dishes or load them into the dishwasher, and wipe the kitchen counter and hob.
• After preparing raw meat, wash the chopping board, knives and work surface with hot water and detergent. The US CDC recommends washing utensils, chopping boards and counters with hot soapy water after preparing each food item and using a separate board for raw meat.
• Take out the rubbish if the bin is full or contains food scraps.
• Quickly put things back in their places (living room, hallway, desk).
• In the bathroom, ventilate after showering and squeegee the water off the glass or tiles.

Weekly tasks: the core of the whole plan

Weekly cleaning keeps the home tidy and also reduces the amount of dust and allergens. In its recommendations for households with asthma, the EPA recommends washing bedding once a week in hot water, vacuuming carpets and upholstered furniture every week and dusting frequently with a damp cloth.

• Change and wash the bedding, and change the towels.
• Vacuum all floors, carpets and upholstered furniture.
• Mop hard floors.
• Dust with a damp cloth, not a dry one, which only stirs the dust up.
• Clean the sink, bath or shower, toilet and mirror.
• Wipe frequently touched places: door handles, switches, remote controls, appliance handles. The CDC recommends regularly cleaning frequently touched surfaces, such as switches, handles and countertops.
• Throw out expired food from the fridge and wipe any shelves where something has spilled.

Monthly tasks: appliances and forgotten spots

Once a month, go through the things that get dirty slowly but take a lot of work to clean if neglected.

• Fridge: take out the food and wash the shelves and drawers. For its fridges, Bosch advises to switch the appliance off before cleaning, use a soft cloth, lukewarm water and a roughly pH-neutral product, and clean the door seals with water only.
• Cooker hood grease filter: some manufacturers allow the metal filter to be washed in the dishwasher; Bosch states this for a wash programme without other dishes. Check the manual for the procedure for your model.
• Microwave, oven and baking trays, depending on how dirty they are.
• Dishwasher filter, if you have not cleaned it more often.
• Washing machine door seal and detergent drawer.
• Dust on wardrobes, skirting boards, picture frames and lamps.
• Rubbish bins: wash them and leave them to dry.

Quarterly and seasonal tasks

These tasks are best put in the calendar for a specific weekend, otherwise they are easily postponed.

• Washing machine: Bosch recommends cleaning the drum about once every three months with a special programme; for other brands, follow the manual.
• Windows, frames and window sills, ideally in spring and autumn.
• Curtains, drapes, bedspreads, pillows and duvets, according to the label.
• Swapping seasonal clothing and sorting out things you do not use.
• Thorough cleaning of the oven, the inside of kitchen cupboards and the tiles.
• Balcony or terrace, cellar and storeroom.

If you want to get through seasonal cleaning in one go, a room-by-room deep cleaning checklist will help.

Printable table

Print the table and fill in names in the last column. Treat the schedule as a starting point, not a rule.

How to divide tasks between members of the household

1. Write down all the tasks from the table and estimate how much time each one takes.
2. Divide them so that everyone has a similar share of time, not the same number of tasks.
3. Assign each person whole areas (for example, the bathroom and laundry), not individual steps. It is then clear who is responsible for what.
4. Agree on the day by which the weekly part should be done.
5. After a month, review the division and swap tasks if necessary.

Small flat or studio

In a small flat clutter shows up faster, but cleaning takes less time. You can manage most of the weekly part in one afternoon. It pays to have a fixed place for everything and not to skip the daily tidy-up.

Family with children

Children can manage tasks suited to their age: tidying toys, setting the table, taking out sorted waste. Store cleaning products out of their reach, as the CDC also advises for household chemicals. Plan for more frequent cleaning of the kitchen and floors.

Household with pets

Fur means more vacuuming, often even twice a week, and regular washing of the pet's bed and the blankets it lies on. Wash pet bowls separately from your dishes. Do not use disinfectants on the animal itself; the CDC expressly states that they should not be used to wipe or bathe animals.

Supplies worth keeping to hand

A plan is easier to follow when you do not have to search for supplies. A basic set kept in one place is enough, ideally in a lockable cupboard out of reach of children.

• Several microfibre cloths, colour-coded for the kitchen, bathroom and toilet.
• A vacuum cleaner, a mop with a bucket and a window squeegee.
• All-purpose detergent, a bathroom cleaner and a glass cleaner.
• Rubber gloves and a soft brush for grout and hard-to-reach places.
• Bin bags and a box for things that belong elsewhere.

Read the label of each product, ventilate while you work and never mix products. The article Which cleaning products should never be mixed explains why this matters.

When to change the plan temporarily

When someone in the family is ill, add disinfection of frequently touched surfaces to your regular cleaning. Under normal circumstances, according to the CDC, disinfection at home is mostly not necessary. The difference between the two approaches is explained in the article Cleaning or disinfection.

Also adjust the plan when your routine changes, for example after the birth of a child, when working from home or when you get a pet. If you do not have time for part of the cleaning, you can hand over weekly or monthly tasks to a company; Úklid 1-2-3 offers regular home cleaning, and you can calculate an approximate price in the enquiry calculator.