Have you ever wanted a clean house without feeling like you’re spending all day cleaning? Enter the bare minimum weekly cleaning routine! You don’t have to spend all day cleaning to have a house that is clean enough to make way for finger painting, glitter, puzzles and crafts.
Listed below are the chores that I complete on a weekly basis to keep the house up and running. The goal is to spend the least amount of time cleaning so that I can go do all the fun things of being a stay at home mom.
Weekly Cleaning Routine of a Stay at Home Mom
Monday:
- Clothes (wash, dry, fold, put away)
- Vacuum living room, front room, and playroom
- 15 minutes(ish) of dishes
- 15 minutes(ish) of decluttering
Tuesday:
- Brush dogs
- Brush dogs’ teeth
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Wednesday:
- Sheets (wash, dry, make beds)
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Thursday:
- Vacuum living room
- Brush dogs
- Brush dogs’ teeth
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Friday:
- Husband’s work clothes (wash, dry, fold, put away)
- Heavies — towels, sweatshirts, etc. (wash, dry, fold, put away)
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Saturday:
- Cut dogs’ nails
- Brush dogs
- Brush dogs’ teeth
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Sunday:
- 15 minutes of dishes
- 15 minutes of decluttering
Monthly chores:
These are the chores that I only do once a month. I used to pick the same day each week to do the monthly chore. First it was Thursday, then Tuesday, then Friday. I found that this consistently led to me being inconsistent in getting the chore done. Playdates and special events would pop up on those days and I’d end up perpetually pushing the monthly chore off.
Now, I schedule the monthly chore on the fly. At the beginning of each week, I sit down and figure out my least busy day that week. That is when I will schedule the monthly chore for that week. This flexibility leads to a much higher success rate.
- 1st week: Mop kitchen and entryway
- 2nd week: Wash dogs
- 3rd week: Mop kitchen and bathroom
- 4th week: Vacuum bedrooms
Bare minimum cleaning routine
You may notice that I don’t have a whole lotta things scheduled to clean. There’s no mention about wiping down the bathroom counters or dusting the fans. That’s because they’re just not that high of a priority to me. My goal with cleaning is to address the items that will grow out of control if I look the other way. For us, that includes laundry, dishes and dog fur (brushing and vacuuming). Those four things have to be done on a weekly basis, everything else can wait.
You see, I tried other systems that call for regular dusting and washing the windows. And I just found that while my house started to look sparkling, I was spending all my mornings cleaning.
Why did you become a stay at home mom?
I didn’t leave a career I loved to stay at home and clean all day. Why did you become a stay at home mom? Was it so you could spend hours every day cleaning? Or was it so you could spend time with your precious little babies? I’m going to guess it was the latter reason.
It’s all about balance.
We know we don’t want to spend all our time cleaning toilets and dusting the molding. However, if you put cleaning so low on the list of priorities, you’ll end up with a house that’s cluttered, inefficient and frustrating. That leaves you spending all your time trying to find things and no time to do the fun messy things that are all part of childhood. You can’t possibly do finger painting at the kitchen table when it’s filled with bills to be paid and other important papers.
Pick the things that are absolutely necessary to do on a daily or weekly basis. Do the rest as needed.
Tell me in the comments below, what is the bare minimum you need to clean to keep your house from exploding in chaos?
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