Deciding Which Frequency of House Cleaning is Right For You

In our many conversations with clients at Maid To Clean, the inevitable question always arises: how often should a house be cleaned? Indeed, how often has this question crossed your own mind? Regardless of whether your house is a one-bedroom apartment or a three-storey townhouse, the simplest way to keep your house reliably clean is to stick to a cleaning schedule.

It’s not as daunting as it sounds. Once the schedule is set up, things generally fall into place and your home cleaning process will run like clockwork. An infographic from the magazine Good Housekeeping suggests that small tasks—such as sweeping the kitchen floor or wiping down surfaces—should ideally be done every day, but in the modern world, it’s difficult to imagine those who have time to clean consistently, particularly if you work full-time, have an active social life, or have kids at home. For some, it’s all of the above.

But creating a realistic cleaning schedule is possible. Depending on your lifestyle, the size of your home and how you feel about cleaning itself, it’s possible to tailor a cleaning schedule that suits you and your home. It’s not necessarily about making sure it’s perfect, it’s about making your home clean enough for you at any given time, so you can continue living the life you want and also come back to a house you feel comfortable in.

Read on for some simple steps to set you up for a stress-free cleaning experience for your home.

What Needs to Be Done

Before you can decide on a realistic cleaning schedule for your home, you need to know what you have to do to clean it in the first place.

It sounds obvious, but not many people tend to sit down and think about all the jobs that need doing—according to studies, we are much more reactive and do what needs doing whenever we have time. But without a clear plan, things can get missed and you can end up feeling stressed because it never feels finished.

To start, go around your home and for each room create a list that would work for you in an ideal world. Next, ask yourself: how often would you like to clean them?

An example for your bathroom may look like this:

Wipe all surfaces – Daily
Empty the bin – Weekly
Clean the bath and shower – Weekly
Clean the toilet – Twice a week
Mop the floor – Weekly
Change the towels – Weekly
Descale the shower head – Monthly
Declutter the bathroom cabinet – Annually
Clean the bathroom cabinet – Seasonally

Tasks By Frequency

Of course, no two lists will look the same—what works for you may not work for someone else. Focus on your individual priorities and figure out how to group tasks by frequency. This way, you can get a better understanding of what you will need to do each day, week or month.

Here’s another example:

Daily: wipe kitchen surfaces, wipe bathroom surfaces, empty dishwasher, laundry, empty kitchen bin
Fortnightly: vacuum, mop kitchen floor, water plants, clean toilets
Weekly: change towels, change bedding, empty other bins around the house, mop other floor surfaces
Monthly: clean windows inside and out, check smoke alarm, dusting all surfaces, clean inside oven

How Much Time Do You Have?

It’s important to note that there is no right or wrong way, just what works for you and what makes you feel best about how often things are cleaned. Some people need to clean a lot more frequently than others, some have less people in their home so it needs less cleaning—everyone’s needs will be different, and your ideal timings for how often they are done may also be different as a result.

This is of course contingent on what you do outside of home, and how much time you have. Having a weekly schedule for an average week is key to understanding what works. Be realistic about what time you have available, and how you like to arrange your cleaning and household jobs to suit your way of living. If you have a cleaner, this schedule can act as a guide for them to tick off too.

Creating the Perfect Schedule Tailored For You

For any schedule to be effective, you need to work with your lifestyle and personality. Decide on the best times of the week that you would prefer to do the chores you have listed. If you have a cleaner, give them your list so they can suggest what works best.

Here are some tips:

If you find that you simply can’t fit everything in, prioritise. Ask yourself: do you really need to vacuum every day or would a quick one twice a week with a thorough vacuum once a month be sufficient?
Think about delegating tasks. This includes getting a cleaner to do the deeper cleans, or delegate more to others in the house.
Don’t be too strict on when you do things. You may find that having times to do specific things works better for you while you get used to everything, and then slowly you’ll start to know what’s required and it becomes routine.
Use your free days to get more done. A lot of months don’t fall exactly into 4 weeks, there are usually a couple of days left over, which you can use as “bonus” days. You can either have a rest and get a cleaner to come in, or you can get ahead with some tasks for the following month, which is great if you are going to be busier than usual, or away from home.

Happy cleaning!