Let's Design a Cleaning Routine that Keeps Your Home Consistently Tidy (without having to think much about it)

...or at least 15 minutes away from being tidy at all times

Welcome to Marusya’s World, a newsletter on simple living, motherhood, and mindful spending. Subscribe below for practical tips on simplifying your home, habits, and budget.

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The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul than their simplicity might suggest. - Thomas Moore

Let me guess, you don’t like cleaning, but you love the way a clean and tidy house feels.

I’m the same way. I’ve never been someone who’s naturally neat or organized, but at the same time, I’m easily affected by my surroundings. One too many things out of place, and I can quickly spiral into thinking I’m failing at life. But when my environment is orderly, reasonably clean, and with a few vignettes I find beautiful, I can relax into living. Motherhood becomes more enjoyable, I feel more creative and clearheaded, and all of it adds up to a better quality of life.

Because of that, I don’t see cleaning routines or talking about them as trivial. I genuinely find conversations about how we tend our homes to be quite interesting. We all have to clean and tidy our spaces, so might as well make the practice as streamlined and enjoyable as possible.

This past summer, with the idleness brought on by heat waves and spontaneous beach days, I lost any sense of a cleaning rhythm. This turned out to be the perfect opportunity to revisit the way I clean and create a new system that my brain could run mostly on autopilot. I’m happy to report that I’ve stuck to my routine since then, and that my house has been as clean and easy to keep tidy as ever (even with a toddler at home full time).

Here’s what I did to design my favorite cleaning routine I’ve had yet, and how you can as well.

Understand your needs

Are you a fast and efficient cleaner or a slower, more thorough one? Do you like to clean a little bit each day or do bigger cleaning sessions less frequently?

For example, I’m partial to one manageable cleaning task a day. I’m not the fastest cleaner, and when I save everything for later, I end up cleaning all weekend long (which I’d rather spend resting). Doing one cleaning task a day means the mess never gets out of control, and cleaning doesn’t feel overwhelming because it’s just pocket-sized chores.

Give some thought to your needs and preferences, which will help you come up with a schedule that works for your life.

List out all of your cleaning tasks

List out every task that contributes to the clean house of your dreams, from small, daily tasks, to bigger, monthly and seasonal tasks.

Decide on task frequency

Decide how often each task needs to happen: daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonally. For example, a kitchen closing shift will likely be daily, bathroom cleaning weekly, baseboards monthly, and resetting entryways seasonally.

Are there tasks that you can attach to existing routines, like cleaning the stove while your coffee brews, or wiping down the bathroom during your kids’ bath time (thanks to Taylor for this one)?

The Only Minimalist Cleaning Staples You Really Need: Non-Toxic, Budget-Friendly, Multi-Purpose

Make a cleaning schedule

Fill in the following schedule using the info you came up with above. Try to come up with a logical task order that also makes sense with your life schedule. For example, I dust on Mondays, then deep vacuum on Tuesdays so that any dust that ends up on the floor gets taken care of. I assign smaller tasks to days that I typically have more to do, etc.

Daily (maintenance tasks):
(optionally, break it down by time of day)

- morning:
- afternoon:
- evening:

Weekly:
(not every day needs to be filled out if you’re batching tasks, keep 1-2 days open for monthly and seasonal tasks)

M:
T:
W:
T:
F:
S:
S:

Monthly:
(try to keep this to four tasks, one for each week of the month)

1:
2:
3:
4:

Seasonally:
- winter:
- spring:
- summer:
- fall:

Tips for making your routine second nature

Firstly, I have to say this: the simpler your home is, the easier and more enjoyable it is to clean. Truly. Simplifying my home has been one of the best things I’ve done for myself and my family, and I’ll be writing a lot more about that in this newsletter.

Decluttering Is How You Get Your Time Back

Put the routine you’ve come up with above into your calendar, in your planner, or on your fridge, and follow the schedule without thinking too much about it. Repetition can make anything second nature. Commit to the routine until it does.

The best tip I have for following through, even when you really don’t feel like cleaning, is to set a 15 minute timer and just go for it. See how much you can get done in those 15 minutes by making it into a little competition with yourself. Once that time is up, you may have enough momentum built up to keep going. If not, your home is still 15 minutes cleaner.

Try saying I get to instead of I have to. I get to take care of my home and the things I love in it. It works!

Don’t stress if you miss a day’s task or even a full week of cleaning, but try not to miss more than two weeks in a row. As James Clear of Atomic Habits says, “Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.” The beauty of a consistent cleaning routine is that your home won’t completely fall apart if life happens and you skip a few cleaning sessions.

My cleaning routine

Here’s what I do as an example (with lots of help from my husband).

Daily (maintenance tasks):
Morning:
- make bed
- put away clean dishes
- quick vacuum
- start laundry

Afternoon:
- quick kitchen reset
- tidy living room

Evening:
- kitchen closing shift
- bathroom wipe down (nice to have)

Weekly:
M: dust/clean surfaces
T: vacuum and mop floors
W: bathroom
T: monthly task
F: kitchen & fridge
S: rest OR seasonal task
S: rest OR seasonal task

Monthly:
- wipe down baseboards and windowsills
- dust light fixtures/plants
- wash interior side of windows
- wash linens/utility items

Seasonally:
- winter: clean rugs/sheepskins in the snow
- spring: entryway reset, deep clean windows & curtains
- summer: clean deck/outdoor furniture
- fall: entryway reset, deep clean windows & curtains

“Outer order contributes to inner calm.” - Gretchen Rubin

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Thank you so much for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts and any tips you might have on the subject in the comments. What’s your cleaning routine like?

Follow along on Instagram for more ideas on simple living and mindful spending. This is the budget spreadsheet I use to track our spending in one calm, organized place (MASHA10 for 10% off).

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