Daily Cleaning Routine Checklist

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Keep your home looking tidy throughout the week by adding this 20-minute daily routine to your house cleaning schedule.

A Daily Cleaning Schedule

You do not need to clean your entire home every day. The key is focusing your attention on areas that make your entire home look messy if they’re not dealt with, like unmade beds, a sink full of dishes, and trash left sitting around. For health reasons, it also includes disinfecting high-touch spots like faucets, toilet seats, and appliance handles, and wiping food preparation surfaces. If you have time, picking up clutter and vacuuming high-traffic areas come next. This daily cleaning routine addresses all of those areas and a few others to help your home look nice all week long.

Before you begin

Cleaning goes faster when there’s not a lot to clean. So, if you haven’t been in the habit of tidying, it may take longer the first time you go through this checklist. But the next day, things will go faster and after several days of repeating it, you can get it down to 20 minutes or so.

Bedroom

• Make your bed every morning. A rumpled bed makes even the cleanest rooms look like a disaster.
• Pick up all clothing. Fold or hang clean items and put dirty clothes in your hamper.
• Put away your jewelry, hand lotion, and other items that are on your nightstand.
• Check the floor: vacuum or mop high-traffic areas as needed.

Bathroom

• Wipe the sink basin clean after you’ve used it.
• Buff water spots from the mirror and faucets.
• Wipe the toilet seat and rim with a disinfecting cloth.
• Spray the shower, tub, and shower door/curtain with the homemade daily shower spray.
• Replace any makeup-stained towels or washcloths with clean ones.
• Check the floor — sweep or vacuum as needed.

Kitchen

• Empty the dishwasher if it’s full.
• Empty the sink of any dirty dishes, and give it a quick scrub.
• Get your kitchen sponge wet and microwave it for 2 minutes.
• Spray and wipe counters and appliance fronts.
• Put away clutter.
• Use a damp microfiber cloth to wipe up any splatters on the floor.
• Toss the dirty dish towel in the wash, and put out a clean one.
• Give the floor a quick sweep.

Living Room

• Straighten all pillows and blankets on the sofa, which is one of the room’s focal points.
• Neaten magazines, books, games, and DVDs that are sitting out.
• Wipe crumbs and fingerprints from tabletops.
• Check the floor. Use a carpet sweeper or hand vacuum to pick up any messes from the floor.

Laundry

If you’re fortunate enough to own laundry appliances, try to wash a room’s laundry on the day you clean it. You’ll find there’s a note on the daily cleaning checklist to remind you about this — don’t ignore it! Staying on top of laundry throughout the week can help protect your weekends, so you have more time for fun.

Example House Cleaning Schedule

If you’re in the habit of cleaning your home on the weekend, you’ll find it goes much faster once you’ve started tidying things daily. But if you’d rather spread cleaning throughout the week, you can do that by doing the daily cleaning tasks for the whole house, then each day doing the weekly cleaning tasks for one room.

Monday: Daily + Weekly Kitchen Cleaning
Tuesday: Daily + Weekly Bathroom Cleaning
Wednesday: Daily + Weekly Bedroom Cleaning
Thursday: Daily + Catch up on Laundry
Friday: Daily + Weekly Living Room Cleaning
Saturday: Daily + DIY / Outdoor Tasks
Sunday: Relax + Plan Weekly Menu