How To Create A Weekly Cleaning Schedule (Free Printable Checklist)
A weekly cleaning schedule helped my wife and me to share chores and have fun doing them.
For some people cleaning is a breeze, and they can’t understand the problem for others.
The reality is that keeping a house tidy and clean, work full-time and taking care of kids is draining.
Even before our son was born, both Mrs. CBB and I had somewhat of a weekly cleaning schedule.
There are apparent daily chores to be completed, and a weekly cleaning schedule is golden for working moms and dads.
As you know, we here at Canadian Budget Binder love to use lists to keep our days organized.
The stress of having a child, working full-time, and blogging can sometimes get the best of me.
Starting a financial blog was meant to help us meet our goals, and now it’s an income source.
What I find helpful is that the blog helps keep us accountable from finance to food and home life.
Also, having a wife that struggles to clean with a disability, we both created a weekly cleaning schedule.
Let’s talk about our free weekly cleaning schedule that you can print and put in your Budget Binder.
How A Weekly Cleaning Schedule Helps Our Family
For today, it’s all about keeping the inside of your house, apartment or condo clean and nothing more.
I’ve talked about home maintenance before and what needs completion when you own a home.
Related: Must-Do Outdoor Fall Maintenance (Free Checklist)
The outside of your home is the shell of your living space, and very important to keep it clean.
I’ve been in houses where the outside is pristine, but you are hit with dust bunnies once you walk in.
You don’t want to take your shoes off because the floor is dirty, not to mention the kitchen is in an uproar.
We call this the lived-in look, which can be clean, although it’s challenging to figure out what to clean first.
Sometimes cleaning can be so overwhelming it can turn to a hoard which can be devastating.
These days we use a checklist for fall and spring and, just recently, a weekly cleaning schedule.
Cleaning Essentials For Every Room In Your House
Before you can even create your weekly cleaning schedule, there are items you need to purchase.
Whether you agree or disagree with our cleaning supplies, get what works for you.
Below are the cleaning essentials that we have in our house.
- Broom and dust pan
- Mop and Bucket
- Vacuum
- Hand Vacuum (we use this often)
- Reusable Cloths
- Vinegar and Water Spray bottles in every bathroom and kitchen
- Swifter Duster
- Pledge for wood surfaces
- Staineless steel appliances cleaner
- Dish cloths
- Bathroom cleaner
- Toilet Brush Scrubber
- Windex
- Sponges
- Dish soap (best price even beats Costco)
- Scrubbing brush for dishes, pots, pans and glasses
- Dishwasher Cleaning tablets (we don’t own one but for those of you that do.
- Pinesol
- Bleach
- Laundry Detergent
- Fabric Softener
- Laundry Baskets
- Loud Music. Haha!
That’s a big list, however, as we like to keep our house as clean as we can.
We often use vinegar and water for cleanups but find it doesn’t help clean windows.
What else would you add to this list of cleaning supplies and tools?
Comment below, especially if you use homemade cleaning products.
Day By Day With No Weekly Cleaning Schedule
With schools going online the last year, keeping our house clean was a day-by-day process.
There were times where we would put chores off because it wasn’t our priority at the time.
That’s when we decided to create a weekly cleaning schedule to simplify our life.
We know the Queen isn’t coming over to visit, nor do we care if people don’t like our decor.
What we do care about is making sure that our house is clean and smells like flowers. (kidding).
Essentially you would want no funky odours in your home if someone were to come over.
You don’t want to run your finger over a table and leave a dust line, either.
I think most people can appreciate a lived-in home rather than a home where you can’t touch anything.
Do you know the homes that look like a magazine cover where the rules of visiting are overwhelming?
Everyone has different rules when it comes to cleaning their house.
For those of you looking for a weekly cleaning schedule that you can print and fill in, we’ve got you covered.
I purposely left it blank because I don’t know what you need to clean, but I’ll tell you what we clean.
Clean One Room A Day
Keeping our house relatively clean is essential to us even if our house IS cluttered.
We’ve been using the Marie Kondo way of decluttering to eliminate stuff that has no purpose.
Since our son is growing up, we have many toys and educational materials that he no longer uses.
We’ve been giving it away or charge a small price to allow other families the opportunity to use them.
In the process of decluttering, we’ve been cleaning each room in our house day by day.
What we write into our cleaning schedule for the week is which room we will tackle first.
After a significant cleanout, it makes scheduling your weekly chores easier.
You can print two cleaning schedules, one for deep cleaning a room and for general weekly cleaning.
So we start by decluttering, end the room with a full clean, and move on to the next.
Kitchen Cleaning Schedule Checklist
The kitchen is another big piece of property that needs attention every day.
This means that the kitchen is never left in an untidy state before we go to bed.
We have the kitchen scheduled for cleaning once a day, including sweeping and washing the floors.
Earlier this year, we had ants in our house who made their way in for an open packet of sweetener.
Now we take no chances as it wasn’t fun getting rid of the ants.
Anything in our cupboards has been secured in a Ziploc bag, bag clips or storage containers.
Cleaning the kitchen can be divided into daily, weekly or even monthly cleaning on your schedule.
Deep cleaning means cleaning the baseboards, windows, walls, blinds (hate blinds), and under the stove and fridge.
Once a month, we tackle the cupboards to give them a deep clean and get rid of expired or no longer needed.
Roommates Cleaning Schedule
Whether you are away at school or rent together, living with roommates, a weekly cleaning schedule is needed.
When living with roommates, everyone must pull their weight around the house, including chores.
Related: The Ultimate Off-Campus Living Guide
Before you start dishing out chores, it’s also important to consider what everyone prefers to do.
Come up with a master weekly cleaning schedule and keep the list revolving, so the chores vary.
Free Weekly Cleaning Schedule
I’ve added the Weekly Cleaning Schedule to the free tools page for those who enjoy being organized.
Go ahead and print a few copies and add them to your budget binder.
The weekly cleaning schedule is pretty simple to use. Please fill out the date, task and checkmark when it is done.
If you plan as we do when a chore pops into your head, whether seasonal or weekly, add it to the list.
There have been times that I’ve forgotten what I needed to do because we didn’t document it.
When this does happen, it becomes another chore that is unfinished and needs to get done.
How To Apply A Weekly Cleaning Schedule
As dull and boring cleaning can be, keeping an updated weekly cleaning schedule is manageable.
There will be no more arguing over who does what because it’s documented.
If you have kids involved with the cleaning schedule, don’t forget to add their chores to the list.
Encouraging your little one’s the basics of cleaning and organization of their room is essential.
Whatever we learn at home from our parents, the child will likely carry it over into adulthood.
Print the weekly cleaning schedule from the Free Tools and Resources page.
Discussion: Would you use a weekly cleaning list in your house?
Please leave me your comments and suggestions below.
Thanks for stopping by, and don’t forget if you like what you see and read, subscribe to Canadian Budget Binder.
Mr.CBB
