Struggling to keep up with housework? Follow this simple 2-hour cleaning schedule to efficiently tackle all your household chores and maintain a clean and organized home.
Yes, I really do clean my house in about 2 hours every week. I only clean on Mondays and Fridays otherwise it’s just the normal make-your-bed and pick-up-after yourself.
Laundry too? Yes, but I do use the speed cycle so each load is only 30 minutes. I use it as my timer in a way. I start a load, start cleaning the house and go back to the wash to fold and put away then keep cleaning as the next load cycles.
WEEKLY CLEANING SCHEDULE
Our major cleaning days start the week and weekend with a clean house so we are always free to get other cleaning tasks done or to play. That means only two days a week are actual cleaning days. During the summer, kids don’t play on Mondays or Fridays until the house is cleaned. I give them one job at a time and they keep coming back for more until it’s done. They live here too, so we work together and play together.
Monday
Clean your entire house and do all the laundry in one day. It takes me two hours; you can do it too and enjoy freedom all the other days!
• Start top to bottom and by room, using the washer and dryer as your timer.
Once a load ends, stop wherever you’re cleaning and change the loads, fold any dry clothes, put them away and for the kids lay them on their beds so they can put them away, and head back to cleaning. See laundry tips section for more info.
• Bathrooms
Bathrooms get cleaned starting with showers and mirrors, working down to counters and toilets, and ending with sweeping and mopping. That means if you have three bathrooms all three get tackled vs cleaning all upstairs and starting over downstairs.
PRO TIP- Try keeping cleaning supplies in each bathroom or close by to make it faster rather than hauling buckets of supplies around.
• Pick-Up, Clean-Up, Put Away
Do a quick sweep of the house and pick up anything on countertops.
• Kitchen
Clean the kitchen, starting with any dishes that need to be put away and kitchen counters wiped down, and finishing with sweeping and mopping.
• Dusting
Dust the house so any dust that falls gets swept or vacuumed.
• Last is VACUUMING!
Vacuum the house, leaving bedrooms for whoever sleeps there.
That’s it!! You just got it all done and you remembered to listen for the wash and got it all done too. Listen, it will take time to make a habit, but I can drop anything at any time and just go play or run an errand because there’s never a bunch of cleaning. We pick up after ourselves, we help each other, and we are always feeling safe and peaceful in our house because there is no excess of chaos other than laughter and children.
Tuesday
Wash days for towels or any additional linens.
Friday
Do Monday’s house cleaning schedule all over again. Enjoy the entire weekend without a single chore.
RULES FOR A CLEAN HOUSE WITHOUT THE STRESS
- Everyone makes their bed every day. Google it if you don’t know why making a bed is so important, and that goes for you too, Mom and Dad! You CANNOT get annoyed with kids if you’re not going to live it yourself. Teach by example.
- Kids put away their own laundry. Yes, even toddlers love to carry jammies and put them away. That’s not your job, Mom, that’s their job. 🙂
- Every day encourage people to put things in their proper places versus waiting for a cleaning day to pick up. Trust me, a little mindfulness every day is so much easier than long cleaning days.
- Bin and Label. Everything has a place in our house. Pantry items have bins and labels, as do many closets and toy areas. When kids know exactly where something goes, it’s so much easier on their minds to get the task completed. And it helps adults keep things put away too. How many times have you said, put such and such away, only to later find it merely thrown on the bedroom floor? Think of your home like a classroom: teachers label and organize for a reason!
- Cleaning is all you do while cleaning. Starting and stopping, talking on the phone and scrolling Instagram make you delay, and you’ll feel like you’re cleaning all day.
- Most important of all, don’t complain about chores or be a dictator. Treat it like breakfast: you just get up and eat, right? So just get up and clean the house. Make it the norm. Give lots of praise and encouragement and occasionally put the kids’ laundry away for them as a little surprise.
- I never clean up when the kids are in bed. I don’t want them to ever think it “just happens”; they need to participate and help. If the playroom is a mess after dinner I KINDLY ask the kids to work together to get it cleaned up. I gently remind, “Oops, you forgot to put your hairbrushes and doodads away, can you run up and do that?”
- Each person cleans their own room. But until they are teens, kids really can’t just head into the bedroom and “clean their room.” It’s overwhelming. Think of how big your room used to feel to you! So, in the beginning, plan on kneeling by them and making it fun, working as fast as you can so it’s like a game. A little effort to teach and set a good example in the beginning PAYS OFF. I never clean and cook alone. Why? Because my kids know we work together.
TWO HOURS TO A CLEAN HOUSE
It only takes me two hours to clean a house, and let me tell you what, it’s the best thing you can do for yourself and especially for your children. Kids need and want structure and responsibility. They also need a place that’s free of stress and clutter. Don’t you remember how exhausting and long school was? How hard emotionally and mentally it was at times? Give your children a safe place to come home to and, bonus, they will sleep better and be more obedient.
Cooking is for sure important to teach your kids, but so is loving and caring for the home that keeps them safe. Treating my home like it is living, loving, and protecting and caring for us has been life-changing.
Do Your Kids Help?
You better believe it!!! During the school year they help less as going to school is already a lot on their shoulders but they always make beds, put away laundry and help with dishes after their meals. Otherwise Monday and Friday they each just vacuum a room or mop floors etc. Dusting is perfect for little ones!
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START.
Do it with the right attitude, and in no time everyone will be happier and less stressed out.
Stripping Laundry
I only Strip Laundry about 1-3 times a year but you could totally do it more! Head to that post for all the details.
LAUNDRY
Laundry is separated the night before by each family member into:
Each color is piled up in the laundry room. It takes 2 minutes to carry your laundry and sort it.
Start Your Laundry
Start a load of laundry on a speed cycle if you have it. While it’s washing, use the time to start cleaning the house. Once the cycle stops, go straight to the washing machine, move the clothes to the dryer, and start a new load.
- Continue cleaning the house.
You’ve got at least 30 minutes, just stay focused, leave the phone on the bed and get cleaning.
If everyone is tackling their own rooms and helping pick up throughout the week then it’s not overwhelming.
- Repeat the change in cycle again,
As you now have dry clothes, plus a wash load and the dryer going, sit down and fold the laundry right now before anything wrinkles and the mere sight of the pile weighs on you.
Place folded clothes on beds for the kids to put away their own laundry, and continue cleaning. Repeat until all the laundry and house is done.
During the summer, our kids also help fold their own laundry.
If I’ve warned too many times and they aren’t putting away laundry, or if they’re throwing clean clothes in the hamper too much, the known rule is that they have to put away their own clothes AND their siblings’ clothes that week.
If the problem continues, then I take the clothes hostage. Slowly but surely, we get to talk about how having a home, clothes to wear, and laundry machines to wash them are privileges not all people in the world have. I believe we show our gratitude when we care for our things. It only takes once or twice of forgetting and they never do it again.
All My Favorite Cleaning Products and Appliances
After posting about our cleaning routine, I received so many questions about what products and appliances we use. So here’s a list:
Laundry
LG Washer & LG Dryer – Both have wifi and speed wash as well as tub cleaner, sanitize, delicate, etc. so the cycles are awesome.
Dryer Balls – I DO NOT believe in dryer sheets. They leave residue and chemicals, break down your clothes and are expensive.
Bathrooms
Scrubbing Bubbles – Helps kids to clean and see where they missed
Meyers – Doesn’t leave residue and smells good
Microban
All Purpose Wonder
Campanelli’s Cleaning Paste – For getting fixtures shiny again
Toilet Bowl Cleaner
The Works Toilet Bowl Cleaner – I use this one more
Ecos Shower Cleaner
Pumice Stone – Plunge the toilet wand down the hole a few times to force water back and then scrub the toilet ring
General Cleaning
Norwex Cloths – Windex streaks so badly I prefer these clothes. I use the Enviro wet on glass doors, mirrors and windows and wipe dry with the purple cloth.
Bar Keepers Friend -The BEST for kitchen sinks, pots and pans, tub and toilet rings etc!
Bar Keepers Friend (Soft Gel and Scrub Cloth Version)
Biokleen All Purpose – ALL NATURAL
Floors
Mop
Wood Floor Cleaner
Hard Surface Floor Cleaner
Broom
Grout Cleaner
Dyson V7 Version – BEST Vacuum – you save so much time without cords, all the attachments come in so handy and even toddlers can push it around
Dyson V8 Version or the newest V10 Version which we will switch to when ours dies.
I Run My Life; Life Doesn’t Run Me
I run my life; life doesn’t run me. You can do it. I promise it’s worth it. And it’s easy, oh, it’s so, so easy. I absolutely believe that cooking becomes easier when you get into the rhythm of it, maybe with the help of a little whistling or just turning up the tunes. Stuff is simmering on the stove, you start putting away the knife and spices; something is baking in the oven, and you’re scrubbing out mixing bowls.
Trust me, no one wants to spend their day cooking and cleaning, but cleaning up dishes on the spot is a lot faster than scrubbing out stuck-on food, and you’d be surprised how much you enjoy food when there isn’t a pile of cleaning waiting to be done after you eat. So maybe “whistle while you work” isn’t just a silly song, maybe it’s a reminder to get the job done because it’s not a hassle, it’s a life you’re living, and kids deserve to come home to a place of peace, not chaos. Heck, you deserve it too!