After the year of 2020 and spending more time than ever inside of our house, I realized my anxiety was even worse when my physical environment was a mess. I would spend an entire day cleaning, feel completely exhausted, and things would just get messy again a few days later. I knew there had to be an easier, more efficient way to keep things clean. Enter: a weekly cleaning routine.
Gone are the day of letting the messes build up and having to spend an entire day getting everything cleaned and organized! Here are 3 reasons why you should start a weekly cleaning routine:
- Cleaning your house will take less time when you keep up with it every week because there’s less time for the mess to build up.
- When real life comes up and you don’t have time to complete your daily chore, you won’t feel as stressed because you know you have a set time to get it done the following week.
- If guests show up unexpectedly you won’t feel embarrassed by the state of your house.
When creating your weekly cleaning routine, pick out the chores that will help you feel like you have the most control over the state of your home. Target the areas of your house that get messy the quickest and save the deep cleaning tasks for a day you can commit to tackling them. I try to do a deep clean of our house at the beginning of every season. My weekly cleaning routine is made up of a morning tidy, a nighttime tidy, and one main chore per day. I am definitely not perfect at this, but it’s my goal to get this done everyday to keep our house in order. Here’s an example of my weekly cleaning routine:
Monday – Laundry Day
I like to get all of our laundry done in one day: sheets, towels, clothes, etc. If I randomly throw a load in on any other day of the week, I can guarantee I will forget about it and it will sit in the wash for days. This is a complete waste of my time and effort because I’ll have to wash it again to get the gross wet clothes smell out. Try to commit an entire day to doing laundry! Catch up on all of your favorite shows as you fold, it’s actually kind of therapeutic!
Tuesday – Bathrooms
I was so excited when we upgraded from 1 bathroom in our old house to 3 bathrooms in our new house when we moved. Turns out cleaning three bathrooms is a freaking lot of work! This is where having a weekly cleaning routine is a game-changer because the bathrooms don’t get very dirty when you keep up with cleaning it every single week! Turn on a podcast (I recommend The Morning Toast or The Skinny Confidential) and do a quick wipe down of everything with Thieves house cleaner. This cleaning concentrate is made up of a powerful blend of essential oils like clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus and lemon. Hot tip: add a few drops of grapefruit, it smells so good! I love it because it’s all natural and doesn’t irritate your skin or give you a headache when cleaning.
Wednesday – Dust
This tool is my favorite thing for dusting! I love that it extends so you can reach corners of the ceiling (where you sometimes get gross spiderwebs) and the tops of fans. I’ll even use it along the corners of the floor and under our fridge and it grabs all of the dog hair! Trust me on this one, you need it.
Thursday – Windows & water plants
We have two dogs that get nose and paw prints all over our front and back windows, so I like to wipe our windows down weekly. I use the same Thieves household cleaning concentrate that I mentioned above, but I like to add a little more lemon essential oil and a splash of distilled white vinegar. It gives the windows a streak free shine. Since I have tons of houseplants, I go around and check on them after I clean the windows to see if they need watered and make sure they’re getting enough sunlight.
Friday – Floors
Since I have two large shedding dogs I should really keep up with this every single day. I’m still on the hunt for the best vacuum, so please let me know if you have any recommendations. Currently I’m using the iRobot Roomba and while I do like it, the dog hair gets wrapped around the brush and it’s just such a pain to clean. Are there any vacuums out there where this is not an issue?! I also like to mop our wood floors using this refillable spray mop with Thieves household cleaner. I’m telling you, I use it for everything. It’s that good.
Saturday – FREE DAY!
I think it’s really important to give yourself a day off from cleaning your house. I don’t plan anything for myself on Saturday because I know we are going to be out doing fun things. If we are home, it gives me a chance to catch up on any cleaning that I didn’t get done during the week.
Sunday – Kitchen
We cook all of our meals at home Monday – Thursday so our kitchen gets pretty messy throughout the week. On Sundays after I plan our grocery list, I clean out our fridge and pantry to make room for the new food. I also like to clean and put away any of the dishes that didn’t get done throughout the week, clean out the microwave, and give the stovetop and counters a good wipe down. Here’s the thing – I’m usually doing this all while my husband is out doing the grocery shopping. It takes teamwork to keep your house clean and organized!
We are all busy people but our homes don’t have to suffer because of it! Having a weekly cleaning routine will help you feel like you have control over your surroundings and reduce stress and anxiety because having a clean space = a clear mind. I hope this post was helpful! I created a free printable for you to plan your weekly cleaning routine and you can download it here.
Thanks for reading!
Xo, Ciara
