We’ve all heard an awful lot about cleaning schedules. But aren’t they more trouble than they’re worth? Answer: no! There are so many benefits to using a cleaning schedule - the trick is finding one that works for you.
Let’s start with why you should be motivated to prioritize cleaning in the first place.
1. A clean space can improve mental health. Many psychology studies have shown that, simply put, we feel happier and less stressed in clean, uncluttered spaces. That makes sense to us. The feeling we get coming into a clean, fresh-smelling home at the end of a long day is much different than the feeling of facing a cluttered, messy kitchen.
2. A clean space can improve physical health. A dirty house can be full of allergy triggers! Dust, dander, pollen, pet hair… it’s all swirling around in your home until you clean it out. And certain areas of the home, especially kitchen and bathroom surfaces, can be magnets for germs. Regularly cleaning can prevent sickness by removing viral particles from surfaces.
So, why you should create a cleaning schedule?
A cleaning schedule is any tool that you create — a checklist, a spreadsheet, or full-fledged calendar — that indicates when and how frequently to clean the different areas of your home. It also indicates who is responsible for those chores.
1. The key benefit here is that once that cleaning schedule is created, and everyone in the home has agreed to follow it, the daily and weekly burden of planning is lifted. You simply print out the checklist again for the new week. There’s also no question about who did it last time — you can look at the sheet to see who cleaned the bathroom on Wednesday.
2. A cleaning schedule can help close the chore gap. If you’re reading this article, you’re probably the person in your home who thinks about chores the most. Do you feel like your cleaning workload is heavier than your partner’s (or your roommate’s’)? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, in 65% of households, the responsibility for most chores still falls on one person. This is called a “chore gap.” A cleaning schedule can help distribute household chores more equitably.
3. A cleaning schedule saves time (and money) in the long run. If you’re on top of quick cleaning chores throughout the week, you’re preventing big baked-on messes. For example, if you do a quick tidy and wipe down of the bathroom a few times a week, and clean the toilet once a week, you are saving yourself from a gross monster clean once a month.
4. You could also be saving money. Regularly vacuuming your carpet and semi-annual deep cleans can mean actually extending the life of the carpet — and extending your budget.
