A Room (or Two) a Day: Decide how many days you'll clean. Then, assign specific areas to specific days. For example, Monday: clean the kitchen, entry, and laundry room; Tuesday: living room and dining room; Wednesday: bathrooms; and Thursday: hallway and bedrooms.
WEEKLY CLEANING TASKS
These tasks should only take 10-15 minutes once you get in the swing of the routine. On Monday we clean the bathrooms, Tuesday we dust, Wednesday we vacuum, Thursday we wash the floors, Friday we do anything we didn't get to and on Saturday we tackle sheets + towels.
The trick is to use each day to work on a different level of each room. Day one is centered on cleaning things at the top of your rooms like your ceilings and lights. On day two, it's everything at the mid-level such as furniture and counters, and day three focuses on your floors.
“This simplistic approach helps you stay focused and prevents the overwhelming pressure we sometimes face from managing our households.” The six daily tasks include making the bed, washing dishes, scrubbing the sink, wiping down counters, vacuuming floors and doing a load of laundry.
You will need to include things like the walls, floors and ceiling, as well as all equipment, fittings and fixtures. It is important to include all items, including those that are not cleaned frequently.
A Room (or Two) a Day: Decide how many days you'll clean. Then, assign specific areas to specific days. For example, Monday: clean the kitchen, entry, and laundry room; Tuesday: living room and dining room; Wednesday: bathrooms; and Thursday: hallway and bedrooms.
Rule #1: Clean Up Messes Immediately
So, whenever you make a mess, you want to clean it up as quickly as possible. Right away is ideal. If your space is clean, you're more encouraged to keep it clean. Alternatively, if you have little messes everywhere, a little bit more here or there doesn't make much of a difference.
I call it the 5 x 5 system. You start by choosing 5 spaces in your house (similar to the Flylady's zones) and you spend 5 minutes in each one. The rule is: you cannot leave that room until the 5 minutes is up OR unless it's really super clean.
Cleaning as Part of Your Daily Routine
Wipe down wet bathroom counters. Squeegee the shower doors, walls, and floors after every shower. Wash dishes after each meal. Sweep or use a cordless vacuum on the kitchen floor and any other heavily trafficked spots.
Once a week at least.
Tetro says your bathroom is the ultimate bacteria host; E. coli can be found within six feet of the toilet and in the sink. To keep it at bay, disinfect the toilet and sink at least once weekly, and the bathtub every two weeks — more if you shower often.
Best time of day to clean the house -- 4 p.m.
If anyone in the house has allergies or asthma, avoid insomnia-hour and morning cleaning sprees (nasal-allergy symptoms are most severe between 6 a.m. and noon, asthma attacks more likely between midnight and 6 a.m.), and finish well before that person walks in the door.
Spills and trash get taken care of on an as-needed basis every day or two. Vacuuming and mopping should happen at least once a week. Clean carpets every three to six months. Living rooms and bedrooms should be attacked at least once a week.
Determining how often to clean a house depends on size, how often rooms are used, and the types of furniture and surfaces you have. Some things need to be cleaned every day, while a general clean can be done once a week, and deep clean every few months or annually.
How often should you mop? To put it simply, you should mop when the floor looks dirty. For small households, this may be every other week; for households with kids and pets, it may be once a week or more. Aslett suggests using doormats at entry doors to keep floors cleaner for longer.
Professional cleaners don't circle a room more than once. Taking their place before the bathroom sink, they'll spray and wipe the mirror, scrub the sink, wipe down counters and polish fixtures before they move one inch to the right or left. Don't get physical with your cleaning sessions—make every movement count.
In addition to the daily six, there are 10 weekly tasks that are also part of the 6/10 cleaning list. These tasks include wiping out the fridge and microwave, tidying the pantry, mopping the floors, and cleaning the bathrooms.
Begin AND end your day with a 10 minute pick up. Go through each room and put things back where they go. Take only a minute or 2 in each room. Use a laundry basket or a basket with a handle to collect things.
Step 1: Dust
Dust each room, including the topsides of all the furniture, undersides of shelves, and all handrails, as well as picture frames, TV screens, and knickknacks. "When it's possible to dry-dust, I do — getting something wet makes it harder," Romero says.