I’m a working mom, and I can categorically tell you that the “cleaning schedule for working moms” that I have tends to change quite a bit depending on how much help I have around the house and how much time I need to spend away from my home due to work.
My kids help quite a bit, actually. Ever since I created a family chore chart, everybody but the family dog pitches in and does their part.
Despite all this, however, the bulk of the responsibility falls on my shoulders. Imagine juggling all that: work, homework, soccer, and karate practice on the weekends, as well as trying to have a semblance of a social life. It can, quite frankly, be a little overwhelming.
Look who I’m telling! You probably go through the same thing or even more!
I mean, they don’t call us superhuman for nothing.
Anyway, enough about our special skills. Let’s take a quick look at how you can create an efficient cleaning schedule for working moms that works for you!
Assess Your Home
Each family’s home is different. Small family homes (three to four members) aren’t going to need as much cleaning attention as big family (five and above) homes. Just as families with toddlers will need a different kind of attention than families with teenagers or young adults.
So start by assessing your unique family cleaning needs. This is what I do:
- Pay close attention to the places that get the most traffic, like the kitchen, bathrooms, and living room.
- Give a realistic assessment of how often those spaces need cleaning (both regular and deep cleaning).
- Find little, simple cleaning tasks that can be done on the fly every day.
The idea here is to get a big picture of your cleaning needs so you can organize and prioritize certain aspects of them daily.
Create an Organized Chore Chart
“For every minute spent on organizing, an hour is earned.”— Benjamin Franklin
I’ve already told you about my family chart; I can’t express how important that chart has been to my sanity!
Keeping your house clean is like taking on any other project, except this one requires you to put in some work daily. You need to break it all down to bite sizes because you are probably going to be exhausted on most days. What with work and all those people (read: adorable family) depending on you?
Start by breaking down the tasks into daily, weekly, and, finally, monthly segments.
Daily Tasks
These should include essential chores that help keep your home tidy.
- Making the bed: everyone should make their bed when they wake up
- Doing dishes: create a chart for people to take turns—whoever cooks doesn’t do the dishes
- Picking up after themselves
Weekly Tasks
These should cover some heavy-duty cleaning chores, such as:
- Vacuuming the living area and anywhere that has a rug
- Mopping the floors and wiping down most surfaces
- Thoroughly cleaning the bathrooms and the mirrors
Monthly Tasks
These should include things like:
- Decluttering your home from the kitchen to the bedrooms and even the toys.
- Organizing various storage spaces such as your kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, and garage.
- Deep cleaning of the home and various appliances, such as your refrigerator and oven.
Also see: The Essential List of Household Chores
Find Ways to Save Time
I think you’ll agree with me that the biggest issue here is time. You need time for everything, including work, rest, and spending quality time with your family.
Since we all have 24 hours in a day, as a supermom, it’s your job to find ways to save as much of that time as possible, which means using it efficiently. Here’s one trick I use with my family: The 10-minute Tidy-Up Rule.
It’s quite simple: every day, before we go to bed (9 pm), everyone takes 10 minutes to tidy up the house. Just quick chores like putting their toys away, straightening up the common areas, folding the laundry, and such.
I’ve found that over time, this daily cleaning schedule helps to keep the house neat.
Another nice trick is to use multi-purpose cleaning detergents or products. This way, I don’t have to keep switching between different solutions during my cleaning routine.
Tips on How to Make Cleaning Easier for Working Moms
While creating a weekly cleaning schedule is important and does work for me, the simple truth is that sometimes I’m just too knackered, and all I want to do is lay down and take a quick nap (which often ends up sweeping me through half the night).
So, I came up with some ways to make the entire cleaning process a bit lighter these days.
Get Everyone Involved
Since there’s already a set schedule, everyone is already involved in the cleaning routine. However, we have an addendum to this family constitution: whenever a family member is unable to complete their daily task, they can either leave it for tomorrow (no later than) or ask another family member to take it over, and in return, they’ll take over that family member’s cleaning task for the next day.
Be Flexible
There are going to be days when you just can’t get all the house cleaning done. That’s okay. You can skip those days and take it all up again tomorrow.
The beauty of it is that with the 10-minute Tidy-Up Rule, the house is mostly clean anyway. At some point, it’s just about maintenance, which makes it easier to keep a clean home, even with a busy schedule.
Get Professional Help
Yes, sometimes we hire professional cleaners (mostly on the weekends) because of the busy schedule we often keep. However, this is done with the consent of the entire family, as the cost is shared with everyone.
And trust me, my little rascals would give up their lunch money or allowance to have someone else do their chores for them.
Also see: 11 Lifestyle Tips from Organized Moms
There you have it, my tricks for creating an efficient cleaning schedule for working moms! What are some of the tasks on your weekly cleaning checklist?