How to Create a Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms

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As a working mom, your typical day is probably split up working and tending to your family, with little time to keep up with home maintenance. As the laundry and dirty dishes pile up, so might your stress and anxiety! And that’s where a weekly cleaning schedule for working moms would be useful.

Feel free to jump right in and find out exactly what you need to do finally create a cleaning routine for yourself that is easy to follow and realistic:

I’m a full-time working mom of two kids and feel like I’m always being pulled in a million directions. I work from home between 6-8 hours per day, and otherwise I’m either cooking or tending to my kids.

Clearly I have very little spare time, so it’s hard for me to figure out when to clean my house and what to even focus on. My home has multiple rooms, bathrooms, and floors, and as blessed as I feel to have this home, it’s A LOT to clean and maintain. I do try and get a cleaning person to come once in a while for a deep cleaning, but there’s still a lot of tidying up and laundry I do in between visits.

The fact is you don’t have time to clean every day and hope for the best. That’s a quick recipe for burnout. It’s already bad enough that 92% of working moms feel overwhelmed by all of the work and home responsibilities they carry on their shoulders.

I took matters into my own hands and created a list of cleaning chores that need to be done every week, as well as some cleaning tasks that should be completed each day. It’s allowed me to keep a clean house and stay on top of laundry, so that I have more time on weekends to focus on other things (like doing something fun with my family).

With a cleaning routine like the one I’ve laid out below, these things become possible:

• Your house is tidy every day.
• You’re not overwhelmed cleaning your entire house in one day.
• You can have peace of mind knowing exactly what chores need to be completed each day.
• You can decide in advance what chores can be delegated and your family will know what to expect.
• Finding time to do the cleaning will actually be easy!

Grab your FREE printable and editable cleaning schedule so you could build your own!

Daily Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms: A Sample Routine

This list of chores is a sample, but realistic cleaning schedule for working moms. It can serve as a daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning schedule. To create your own cleaning schedule, all you have to do is swap in the cleaning tasks that work best for your family and your lifestyle:

DAILY CLEANING TASKS

Morning Tasks (approx. 30-35 mins):

• Make bed
• Wash load of laundry, add to dryer when done
• Empty dishwasher

Evening Tasks (approx. 1 hour)

• Load and run dishwasher and wash pots and pans
• Clean kitchen countertops
• Fold load of laundry (while watching TV)
• 10 minute Tidy-Up

WEEKLY CLEANING TASKS

Monday- Your bedroom

• Tidy bedroom
• Move dirty laundry to laundry room
• Remove sheets to be washed

Tuesday- Kid’s bedrooms

• Tidy kid’s bedrooms
• Move dirty laundry to laundry room
• Remove sheets to be washed

WEDNESDAY- Buffer

• Catch up on cleaning you may have missed on other days or just take a break

THURSDAY- Living room and playroom

• Tidy living room and kid’s playroom
• Wipe down any surfaces, such as coffee tables

FRIDAY- Bathroom #1

• Pick up towels and put them in the laundry basket  
• Wipe down mirrors and counters
• Clean toilet, bathtub and sink

SATURDAY- Kitchen and Bathroom #2

• Wipe down inside microwave, stove, countertops in kitchen  
• Wipe down mirrors and counters in bathroom
• Pick up towels and put them in the laundry basket
• Clean toilet, bathtub and sink

SUNDAY- Dust and Floors

• Dust and polish surfaces
• Sweep, vacuum and mop all floors

MONTHLY CLEANING TASKS

• Vacuum in between and under couch cushions
• Deep clean kitchen by cleaning inside oven and fridge and organize pantry
• Dust and wipe ceiling fans, blinds, and light fixtures
• Wipe baseboards
• Wash bath mats

Recommended post: 7 Secrets to Creating a Family Schedule- That You’ll Actually Stick To!

How to Use the Sample Working Mom Cleaning Schedule

The easy cleaning schedule that I’ve created above is adaptable to fit into even the busiest of schedules. I’ve tested it out myself with my jam-packed schedule and have found it to work nicely!

Each day of the sample schedule includes daily cleaning tasks, broken up into morning (pre-work) tasks and evening (post-work) tasks. I recommend you wake up earlier than your kids and at least an hour and a half before needing to leave the house so you can finish all morning tasks. That should give you enough time to put in a load of laundry first thing in the morning, and then throw it in the dryer before you leave the house.

Each day I’ve also included a 10-minute “tidy-up,” in which you time yourself for 10 minutes to tidy areas of your house that need it. Believe me, this 10 minute tidy-up is incredibly effective. I do my 10-minute tidy-up right before bed because I love waking up to a neat home.

Then I list the weekly tasks, which typically involves cleaning one room or set of rooms per day (such as cleaning the bathroom Friday and deep-cleaning the kitchen Saturday). I leave the floors and dusting for the weekends when I have more time to focus on that.

I’ve also added a list of monthly cleaning tasks to do once a month. These are typically areas that receive less traffic or are not so noticeable if they are dirty or dusty. Therefore, they can be cleaned less frequently.

Once a week, give yourself a “buffer” day so you can catch up on any cleaning you haven’t done or just take a break. I added this buffer day in the middle of the week on Wednesday, but you could choose to do this on a different day that might work better for you.

Feel free to delegate any part of the cleaning schedule to your spouse or older children. Even my 4-year old daughter does her share. She puts away dirty laundry in the hamper, fixes her bed, takes her dishes to the sink when she’s done eating, and picks up her toys. Everyone in the house, including younger kids, should do their part.

After you’ve mapped out your cleaning schedule for each day of the week, you can continue to adapt it as you see fit. For example, if you’re not able to complete all cleaning tasks in one day, simply move on to cleaning another room or area the following day (life happens after all!).

You may also need to adjust some of these cleaning tasks for your own personal preferences. Perhaps there are some rooms that barely anyone enters, like a guest room or dining room, that can be cleaned every other week, instead of weekly. Or maybe you don’t have a washer and dryer in your home, making it too difficult for you to do laundry every day.

Overall, the key is to be consistent and tackle a little every day. By spreading out the work and adjusting as needed to suit your schedule and your family’s needs, you will find a schedule that finally eases your stress and relieves your cleaning burden.

Recommended post: The Perfect Morning Routine for Working Moms in 9 Easy Steps

How Busy Moms Clean Their House Fast

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Here are some tips to get your house clean FAST:

• Cleaning as you go. So let’s say you’re cleaning your house after dinner and it’s time to do dishes. Just pull them out of the dishwasher and put them away. If you make lunch for yourself or your kids every day, wipe down the counters while your lunch is cooking. This will help avoid the mess from piling up throughout the day.

• Cleaning before bed or cleaning first thing in the morning. Another idea is to clean without distractions by waking up a little earlier than your kids or right after putting your kids to bed. I usually do a quick load of laundry in the morning and clean the kitchen and the kids’ playroom at night. Cleaning without your kids distracting you can make a huge difference in how much you actually get done.

• Cleaning several small sections each day. Cleaning your entire house in a single day doesn’t work long-term because there’s no way to get everything done without burning out. However, cleaning several smaller sections each day goes a long way. For example, dishes and laundry may take less than an hour each day while dusting and vacuuming might take longer to complete. You can leave more time-consuming tasks for the weekends when you have more time and help.

• Set a timer. If you’re in a time crunch, set a timer for 10-20 minutes and focus on just one simple task at a time. You’ll be surprised at how much you can accomplish in such a short time.

• Keep clutter to a minimum. There’s a reason minimalism has become so popular. The less you have, the less clutter, and the less you have to tidy up and clean. One of the reasons my home always “appears” clean even when it might not be, is because I try not to keep too much stuff in each room. I’m constantly donating items and trying not to purchase things that serve no purpose. To learn more how to declutter your home step-by-step, check out the book that literally changed my life (or at least my home), The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing.

• Delegating to “robots.” I swear by my Roomba! It’s a great way to get my floors clean fast, because you can program it to vacuum all of your floors while you’re at work. It’s so effective at removing dust and vacuuming my area rugs, that I got one for each floor! The Roomba saves me SO much time sweeping every room myself and on weekends, I basically just have to mop. There are even some robot vacuums, like this one, that will also mop the floors for you. GENIUS!!

If you make cleaning a priority and work cleaning into your schedule, cleaning doesn’t have to take up a lot of time. Follow these tips, reduce the stress that comes with cleaning your house, and spend more time doing the things you want to do.

Recommended post: How Savvy Working Moms Get Help with Household Chores

Download your FREE Cleaning Schedule

Now that you have an idea of how to create a cleaning schedule, here’s your own printable cleaning schedule that you can edit and fill in what works for you!

Conclusion

Hopefully, this cleaning schedule has helped you find a cleaning routine for you that works. I know it took me a while to fully organize and understand my cleaning tasks around the house, but once I did it changed everything. I can finally keep a tidy home with ease.

Not only did I save money by not having to hire professional cleaning help more frequently, but I’ve also saved my sanity. Since cleaning is no longer an uphill battle for me, I have more time to focus on the things I really care about. And now so will you!

Frequently Asked Questions

Hi, I’m Yesenia

a working mom of two kids. I’ve experienced all of the beautiful and crazy moments of early parenthood: breastfeeding, picky eaters, toilet training, balancing work with kids, and the list continues!

I created Hard Knock Mama to help working moms navigate through their child’s early years and find a successful balance in their home, work, and life.

Learn More