Here’s The Perfect Stay At Home Mom Cleaning Schedule!

If you’re looking for the perfect stay at home mom cleaning schedule, you’ve found it!

I’m going through the THREE most common types of cleaning routines for stay at home moms, WITH examples, plus the pros and cons of each cleaning schedule style.

Then, I’m giving you a bunch of tips for how to make your stay at home mom cleaning schedule easier and more consistent, so that it WORKS for you!

The Standard Weekly SAHM Cleaning Schedule: By Room

This one is your basic, textbook cleaning schedule for a stay at home mom.  

Each day of the week is reserved for a different room or rooms.  So for example, Bedrooms on Mondays, bathrooms on Tuesdays, Kitchen on Wednesdays, and so on.

Here is an example of a Weekly & Monthly stay at home mom cleaning schedule, by room:

Thinking about using this type of schedule? Here’s an easy way to see if this SAHM cleaning schedule is a good fit for you…

Basically, you take the number of lived-in rooms in your home (don’t forget any hallways!), and divide that by 6 (the number of cleaning days in the week). Then add on the kitchen because you have to do at least a little cleaning in that room every day.  

That’s how many rooms on average you would be cleaning each day.

So for example, if you live in a 3-bedroom, 2 bathroom house:

• Bedroom 1
• Bedroom 2
• Bedroom 3
• Bathroom 1
• Bathroom 2
• Livingroom
• Dining room
• Hallway/stairs
• Den/basement

9 places to clean / 6 days = 1.3 rooms + 1 (kitchen) = 2.3 rooms

Now remember, that’s just the average, to help you know what you’re getting into.  When you start assigning rooms to each day, you will probably find that grouping rooms together based on how they are cleaned makes it easier & faster to get through the daily cleaning.

The Weekly SAHM Cleaning Routine: By Task

This cleaning schedule assigns a cleaning task to each day, so for example, dusting on Mondays, cleaning floors on Tuesdays, etc.

This type of schedule doesn’t require you to bring out ALL of your cleaning supplies, which makes it easier to clean. 

One of the biggest cons is this: it’s difficult to have everyone help out with some of these tasks at the same time.

For example, there are only so many vacuums, mops & brooms in the house.  It’s not really possible for the family to all help out on vacuum day, or mop day.

The Clean-As-You-Go Routine: Flexible One Room/Task a Day

This is my favorite schedule, because it’s the most flexible, which is fantastic for a stay at home mom!

Here’s how it goes: You clean one random room a day.  That’s it!  Whichever room you want to clean, go ahead and clean it.

What’s great is you’ll DEFINITELY clean your whole house eventually! 

How do you keep track of the rooms you’ve cleaned? With a perpetual calendar.  Here’s an example of mine, I use the one in my Happy Planner:

I have a really big and old house, with five bedrooms – having a “bedrooms” day or a “dusting” day would take me literally the entire day to clean! 

Related: Try This Working Mom Cleaning Schedule for Easier Evenings

Why is it important for your home to be (relatively) neat and clean as a stay at home mom?

There is an amazing YouTube video by The minimal Mom, where she shares the idea of the “silent to do list.”  

Basically, the idea is that each thing in our home reminds us moms of something that needs to be done to it or with it.  

For example, if you see dishes in the sink, then you’ll be reminded that they need to be washed.  If you see toys on the floor, you are reminded of how you maybe made an impulse purchase, and you have “too many toys.”

So each piece of clutter and mess that sits around your home is actually pulling your attention away and adding to your mental to-do list.

When your home is clean and neat, it’s a much calmer space and there are less things in our line of vision to interrupt our thoughts.

Besides that, the PURE shame that comes with having an unexpected guest stop by when the bathroom is dirty, is real!  

Why make a stay at home mom cleaning schedule?

Honestly, as a SAHM, we are in charge of these small empires, and resigning to cleaning “when I get to it” only results in cleaning tasks getting pushed back.  

Not having a schedule also makes it hard to remember what you cleaned already, and when.

When we don’t clean a little at a time each day, we can end up spending hours and hours doing a massive house-clean, leaving us exhausted and frustrated at the end of the day.

It’s just more efficient and much easier to have a clear schedule to work off of – even if we inevitably deviate from it a little from time to time!

What Really Needs to Be Included In a Regular SAHM Cleaning Routine, and What Doesn’t

When I talked about the standard cleaning schedule, I mentioned cleaning the “lived-in rooms,” not just all the “rooms.”  Here’s why…

Being a stay at home mom literally means that you have a baseline of chaos in your day, every single day.  There’s no telling if or when something is going to pull your routine out of whack.

A sick kid, the meat you got from the grocery store was bad, extra sports practice, who knows.  

Whichever cleaning routine you choose needs to be efficient for you. That means:

1. it needs to include the places in your home that are used the most, and
2. it needs to have the least amount of steps possible.

Which places are used the most?

Go through your typical day and where you move from place to place in your home.  The day probably starts in the kitchen.

Then, you probably move to a room with toys (if you have small kids) or maybe your home office space (if your kids are in school).

Maybe you run some errands in your car next. 

Your family would also probably use the toilets several times a day.

Also, think about the places in your home you use to get away, or have “me” time.  Maybe it’s your bedroom or your car.

These spaces are important to the flow of your day, and should be included in your weekly cleaning routine.

Another thing to consider is this…

You and your spouse know which parts of the house are the most important to you. Maybe it’s the rooms you all use the most, maybe it’s the ones guests would see when they stand at the front door, maybe it’s the places you know the kids play in the most – those places should be on a decent cleaning rotation. 

Unless someone has a dust allergy, the rest can really be done once a month, when someone in the family has some free time.

(See what I did there? I didn’t say when YOU have free time. Is this YOUR house? Are those YOUR baseboards? Of course not. Everyone lives here, and everyone helps out.)

Now, there may be a few rooms in your home that you don’t set foot in for weeks, or even months.  The floors hardly get marks on them, the furniture doesn’t get eaten on…there’s no reason to have those rooms included in your weekly cleaning rotation.

I have a “formal” dining room that hasn’t been used in years because of the pandemic.  I’ll dust & mop the floors once a month when I have some extra time, but that room is NOT on my mind. 

Does Your SAHM Cleaning Routine have too many steps?

In my post How To Clean a Messy House When You’re Overwhelmed, I talk about the bare minimum cleaning necessary to have a clean space:

• Dust the surfaces,
• Wipe the light switches, remotes and mirrors, and
• Vacuum/Mop the floors.

That’s it.  

You don’t have to move any furniture, organize any drawers, or even throw out the trash if you don’t want to!  You just want your space to be clean enough to enjoy and live in.

How to stick to a cleaning schedule as a sahm

Keep it consistent, but listen to your body.

To keep your home clean, you will need to be consistent with your daily and weekly cleaning routines.

Having a written cleaning schedule, or making notes/using stickers in your planner, will help keep the cleaning at the top of our mind as you go through your day.  

Now, if you feel like doing absolutely nothing that day, it is 1,000% okay to skip cleaning.  Listen to your body and if it needs rest, or if it’s beautiful out and you would rather just chill with your kids, do that.

 That’s why I love the one-room-a-day stay at home mom cleaning schedule so much, you just clean a random room tomorrow!

Declutter whenever you can.

The less things you need to tidy up or keep dust off of, the faster you will get through cleaning.  It’s just math.

Counters are very easy places for clutter to accumulate.  When there are a ton of things to move before you can even start cleaning, it’s easy to just say “I’ll do it later.”  

Be mindful of what you put on your counters, and see if you can take just one more step to either put the thing away, or at least put it in the room where it’s supposed to be.

Set up a reward system – for you.

Positive reinforcement works, baby!  All you have to do is use something you want more than you hate cleaning.

This is highly personal, but some ideas can be:

• Get your nails done (or spring for that cute design)
• Go out to eat on the day you clean your kitchen floors, so they stay clean
• Pay for that On Demand movie your kids want to watch, and get an automatic 1.5 hours of “you” time
• Spring for wash & fold service at your closest laundromat once a month

The family needs to help out.

“It’s easier if I do it myself,” or “It’ll get done the right way” are thoughts that are just super-unhelpful.  They are just big fat excuses not to take the leap and ask for help around the house.

With spouses & older kids, honesty is the best policy.  “I’m having trouble keeping up with everything, can you please start [taking out the garbage/emptying the dishwasher/putting your clothes away]?”

For younger kids, I’ve found that the best thing is to NOT make a big deal out of it, don’t announce any big change at all.  Just literally hand them the rag & spray bottle, hand them their clothes to put away.  Make it just another “thing we are doing today.”

Check out my post on how to make a chore chart if you are getting some pushback, or need some ideas!

How to Make Cleaning Easier Overall

Keep cleaning supplies in convenient places.

I have two sets of cleaning supplies & gloves – one set for each floor in my house.  It includes:

• Glass cleaner
• Disinfecting spray
• Scrubbing bubbles spray for the showers/tubs
• Dish soap
• Baking Soda
• Microfiber towels, paper towels, a sponge & a small swiffer
• Floor cleaner
• Bleach for the toilets
• Cleaning gloves

This way, I don’t have to walk all over the house looking for my cleaning supplies when I find a minute to clean something.

If you have a linen closet near your bathroom, that’s a great place to keep some cleaning supplies.

Make cleaning a part of your daily routine.

Now that your cleaning supplies are relatively closeby, it’s a little easier to clean-as-you-go during the day.

You can pick a day to grab a microfiber cloth or swiffer to dust the surfaces in the playroom while the kids are playing, wipe the bathroom sink after brushing teeth, sweep the porch when you get the mail, etc.

Use whichever days and times make it the easiest for you.

Invest in a Robot Vacuum.

I have a big, very old house and I used to dread taking out the vacuum to clean the floors.  I got a robot vacuum for Christmas from my family this year, and I can’t tell you how incredibly helpful it is!

It is a total lifesaver, especially as a mom with kids who love to make crumbs.

The one that I have is called the Ecovacs Deebot Ozmo T8:

Available at Amazon (prime & free returns), and BestBuy

This model even has a mopping function! I haven’t tried it because I have wood floors and I would just rather clean them myself, just a personal preference. 

It doesn’t get 100% into the corners, but it vacuums hard floors, rugs and carpet, and all I have to do is grab my mop!  Absolutely worth it.

There are a lot of different robot vacuum brands at different price points.  Check them out!  Mine really makes it so much easier to keep the house looking clean.

What To Do If You Are Still Having Trouble

If you are doing everything you can, but it’s just too hard right now to keep the house clean, it’s definitely a good time to sit with your partner and talk about investing in a bi-monthly or weekly cleaning service.  

Snoop around your local facebook groups and get the phone numbers for some cleaning companies with good referrals.  Get some quotes, and sit with your budget to see if you can make it happen.  

You may be surprised at how helpful even a twice-monthly cleaning is for your home!

There is NO SENSE in making yourself miserable trying to keep up with cleaning your home, if you are already being pulled in too many directions.  Your number one job right now is caring for your children, and if you find yourself always being frustrated with cleaning, then paying for a cleaning service is 100% worth it if you can afford it!

Stay At Home Mom Cleaning Schedule

I’m so happy to help you out with your stay at home mom cleaning schedule! No two homes, and no two families, are alike – grab the parts from each routine that work for your family, and remember that “good enough” is totally freaking perfect!  Especially when you are raising babies – you are a rock star!

Hugs,

-Mina