Houses are a lot of work, what tasks should we be doing daily, weekly, monthly and bi annual/annually?

Daily

  • Kitchen surfaces or anything food and dirty hands will touch
  • Dishes, no one wants a pile of dishes to greet them in the morning
  • Laundry, try to do at least a load a day (if you make that much laundry)
  • Messes, any mess that was just made that can be cleaned now should be cleaned now (yes easier said than done)

Weekly

  • Bathrooms:
    • Toilets
    • Sinks
    • Shower/Tub
    • Floors
    • High touch areas like door handles, cabinet pulls mirrors etc.
  • Kitchen:
    • Wipe down surfaces that may have not been cleaned daily
    • Clean high touch areas like switches and door pulls
    • Scan the fridge/pantry for expired food
    • Check places like the microwave, oven, and small appliances and clean if needed
    • Clean the floors
  • Bedrooms:
    • Bedding should be changed weekly (or at least twice a month)
    • High touch areas like switches, door knobs, pulls etc.
    • Clean up any stray laundry
    • Clean floors
  • Other areas:
    • Pick up any messes or things that don’t belong in each room
    • Clean high touch areas like switches, door knobs, remotes etc.
    • Dust (start high work lower)
    • Vacuum and/or sweep
    • Mop

Monthly

  • Ceiling fans
  • Light fixtures
  • Baseboards (at least hit them with a duster or your mop)
  • Cabinet doors
  • Regular doors
  • Windows and window trim
  • Dishwasher and Washing machine filters if you have them
  • HVAC filters
  • Run a washing machine cleaner and cleaning cycle
  • Same with the dish washer

Bi Annually and/or Annually

  • Smoke detectors! Not cleaning but, check them make sure they work!
  • Carpets and/or rugs. Hit them with a carpet cleaner or hire someone
  • Windows, do a full clean inside and out of your windows 1-2 times a year. Some climates lend well to mold and mildew and may need to be done more often
  • Curtains and blinds, they get dirty too! This is very important if you have allergies
  • Your furniture, make sure you’re hitting it with an upholstery cleaner every so often if it’s fabric
  • Pantry/Fridge/Cabinets: Semi or annually pull out everything, see what you have, what you forgot about, what got pushed to the back and missed during your weekly checks
  • Cabinets: Take everything out and wipe everything down. Dust settles in there too. If you have shelf liners, this is a great time to replace them if needed.
  • Oven: If you haven’t been keeping up on it, now is your time. Deep clean that bad boy.
  • Fridge: Pull it forward, clean the coils on the back (consult your user manual for any other cleaning you may need to do) -Oven Vent: If you have an oven vent, it probably has a filter and that filter needs to be changed or cleaned 1-2x a year, more if you cook a lot.

And finally

If you have any places you don’t go often, garage, under a specific sink, in the basement etc. Check those out at least twice a year. A slow leak over 3 years will do a lot more damage than a slow leak over 3 weeks!

Please share any tips or tricks you have, anything you would add even if it’s not for the home.