frustrated mom without a realistic cleaning schedule for working moms

Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms to Actually Get Things Done

I must admit that I absolutely hate cleaning as I’m sure you probably do too. I mean after a long day of work, the last thing we want to do is get home (or get up) and work some more! But hey, homemaking is typically a part of our routine so why not work towards improving it so that it won’t seem as bad. Identifying a cleaning schedule for working moms like us is actually extremely important.

So here you’ll learn how to create a realistic cleaning schedule that actually works for you along with some tips and a printable cleaning planner to help you get it done without driving yourself crazy.

[Disclaimer: Please note this post may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a commission if clicked at no extra cost to you. Though the opinions remain my own.]

How To Create Your Own Realistic Cleaning Schedule

Notice how I say “create your own.” And that’s because we are all in different situations and have difference circumstances so it’s really hard for someone to just tell you how to clean your house and when.

Every time someone would try to tell me, there was usually an eye roll that followed because no one knows my schedule better than me.

Although I will provide you with some cleaning routine schedule ideas, you will be able to achieve your best outcome by creating your own schedule. So that’s what we’re going to aim for first.

Here are some tips on how to create your own realistic cleaning schedule (one that you can actually follow through with).



Evaluate your current daily routine

Before you can even think about either starting or revamping your cleaning schedule, you have to take a step back and evaluate your current daily routine. We can’t make any good changes if we don’t know what changes need to be made in the first place.

So start by taking a good look at what is currently working and what isn’t. How much cleaning are you getting done and when? How often have you been cleaning lately versus how often you feel you should?

Jot these notes down on a sheet of paper as we’ll come back to this in the later steps. The more detailed you can be with this step, the easier it will be to create your cleaning schedule.

Define your priorities

Now I know as moms, we tend to try to do it all. However, we must be reminded that we are just one person and we absolutely cannot do it all. Therefore, we have to define our priorities.

As much as we wish we could magically have our house cleaned, this isn’t possible. So what in your home gets dirty the most? What area in your home is used more often than others?

Thinking about this will help you narrow down where you should focus your energy and little time to clean.

Set time blocks throughout the day

So once you have evaluated your current cleaning routine and determined what your priorities are, it’s time to start putting together your schedule. And because I know you are extremely busy with such little time, the best way to do this would be to create time blocks.

This means you will assign yourself certain times in the day to focus on cleaning. The amount of time you dedicate to these time blocks is completely up to you. You can choose to knock out your cleaning all in one day or have small time blocks on certain days.

Personally, I don’t like to batch clean because I don’t like cleaning to begin with. Since I now work from home, I’m able to clean throughout the day in smaller chunks. But when I worked in the office, my routine looked a bit different. But don’t worry, I’ll share some examples of how your day could look like below.

For now, figure out what your ideal time block schedule should be. Do you want to knock it all out at once? Or do you want to clean in little bits here and there? Once you’ve answered this, then you will move on to decide how long you will dedicate to each time block to get things done.

Related Post: How To Get Things Done With a Baby at Home

Split cleaning tasks over time

Of course we can’t clean everything in one day (nor would we want to anyways). So the best way to create our own realistic cleaning schedule would be to split the cleaning tasks over time.

This means we should be assigning ourselves some tasks to complete daily, weekly and even monthly. This Busy Mama Cleaning Planner here makes this quite simple to do.

And don’t worry, I got you. The next section below covers this in more detail along with examples of cleaning tasks you could do for each one of these time frames.

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busy mama cleaning planner mockup - grab yours here

Cleaning Schedule Routine for Working Moms

Alright so now that you now how to create your realistic cleaning schedule, it’s time to actually put it together. And because we’re working moms, that means we have to be strategic about our time. So of course we should split up the cleaning tasks to get completed overtime.

Below are some simple and easy cleaning routines that you can follow and implement into your own schedule.

Daily Routine

As far as daily cleaning tasks, these are the ones that do not take longer than a few minutes each time. These are also the tasks that can be quickly done by you or someone else in the household.

And look, I’ve been both – a mom working at an office and now a working from home mom so I know just how different these two cleaning schedules are. That’s why I’m giving you examples for each one so that you can pick the one that resonates closer to you.

Work at home moms

Being a work at home mom definitely has its perks. One of these perks is that you can do light cleaning throughout the day while you work. Yup, this is my one productive hack that helps keep my home tidy at most times. All you have to do is set a timer every hour or so to get up and do some swift cleaning or tidying up for 10-15 minutes at a time.

Here are some cleaning tasks that can get done daily or every other day:

– Make the bed

– Clean the sink when done using it

– Wash dishes or load them into the dishwasher

– Sweep the floors (one room at a time)

– Clean the toliets

– Declutter and tidy up

And like I said, because of your home flexibility, you can choose to do these throughout the day during your work breaks. Simply schedule a few minutes to get each task done one at a time.

Related Post: Productive Things to Do at Home While Working

working moms cleaning home after work

Moms working outside the home

Now I wasn’t always a working from home mom, nope. I used to go to the office M-F and worked a 7:30-4:30PM shift. With a 30+ minutes drive to and from, that meant I normally only had a very limited amount of time at home before and after work.

A fun fact about me is that I also like to sleep in. I am not a morning person so my advice is not going to be to get up early to get more things done (though I know this is a very effective method for many moms, just not me).

So instead, my daily cleaning routine when I was working in the office was more of an every other day type of routine. And if you are a mom working outside of the home, do remember that this means your house is already not as dirty as it would be if you were working from home.

Why? Because nobody is home. So you actually have an advantage here.

You can also follow the same daily cleaning tasks mentioned above, but fit it into your morning or evening schedule. Here is an example of what it could look like below.

Before leaving to work: make the bed

Always: clean the sink each time you’re done using it

After dinner: load them into the dishwasher

Every other evening: sweep a room a time per day

Always: clean the toilet each time you’re done using it

Before bed: declutter and tidy up for 15 minutes each day

It’s all about working with the little time you do have to get things done. But don’t worry, I’ll share some more cleaning hacks later in this post.



Weekly Routine

Alright so now that you have an idea of which cleaning tasks you can do daily, it’s time to add in some tasks that can be done weekly. These tasks are ones that take slightly a bit longer to complete than the daily tasks but also do not need as much attention.

These are also the tasks that you would do every single week on a given day. Here is a super simple and basic example of a weekly cleaning schedule for working moms (regardless if you work from home or not).

Monday: Change out the bed sheets

Tuesday: Do a load or two of laundry

Wednesday: Dust the counters, living room etc.

Thursday: Vacuum or mop floors

Friday: Clean the bathoom

Depending on how much time you have available to clean during the week, you may be able to tackle more than one weekly task per day. But if you can only do one per day then so be it. One is better than none at all.

And notice how I left out Saturday from the weekly cleaning schedule. That’s because Saturdays can be reserved to tackle the monthly cleaning tasks, which I’ll share some ideas below.

Monthly Routine

You are almost done creating your cleaning schedule, yay! Now it’s time to add the monthly cleaning tasks to it.

You can either dedicate a full day to cleaning a month (which I personally don’t like to do) or you could dedicate some time to these tasks every Saturday of the month (which I also don’t like to do).

Okay but just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it won’t get done. Whichever method you choose, the cleaning tasks that will get done during this time block are the ones that you can’t get to during the work week.

Some people like to tackle different rooms of the home. Others choose to focus on deep cleaning certain rooms like bathrooms and kitchens. The choice is really up to you on how you want to tackle monthly cleaning.

But you know what? By implementing a daily and weekly cleaning schedule, you may not even need to worry about doing major time blocking for monthly cleaning tasks. Your home will already be pretty spotless and tidied up.

So instead, focus more on your daily and weekly routine so that you can actually enjoy your weekends off as much as possible.


mom cleaning home with daughter

Cleaning Hacks & Tips To Get It Done

Now that you have a solid cleaning schedule for working moms, here are some cleaning hacks you can follow to help you stay on track. We all know that as much as we schedule, sometimes we tend to deviate away from the schedule so these cleaning tips will help prevent that from happening.

Plus, these will also make it so much easier to get the housecleaning done to the point where you may not even need to clean as much as you scheduled yourself to.

Tools to help you clean faster

I am all about productivity and treasuring time as much as possible. Yes, I’m one of those moms who will get on the toll just to save 10 minutes of my time. I do this because I value my time so much because let’s face it, we don’t have much of it.

So here are some time saving cleaning tools that can help save you some extra time by getting things cleaned up faster.

Robot Vacuum Cleaner

This is by far the best time saving cleaning tool ever invented. It practically does all the floor cleaning for you as it sucks up all the dirt and dust without needing any attention. It’s thin but powerful and can clean your entire home with a single charge. Check out the full robot vacuum details here.

Microwave Cleaner

This little funny mama makes cleaning your microwave super easy by disassembling all the crud and stains from inside within minutes. And it does all this without any chemicals, just water and vinegar. It now comes in several color options so view the full details of this microwave cleaner here.

Rolling Utility Cart

Now this one especially comes in handy if you plan on knocking out a bunch of monthly cleaning tasks during the weekends. Like I said, every minute is precious so instead of having to go back and forth between the cleaning closet to the next room to clean, just roll this utility cart around with everything already in it. View the full rolling utility cart details here.

family helping mom clean the home

Assign cleaning tasks to all family members

Who said you have to do it alone mama? Sorry but nope, we do NOT have to take care of all the cleaning duties ourselves. Growing up, I did my part as I was told but I also saw my mom struggle with having to keep up with everything else herself.

This is something I never wanted to experience so made sure to set a ground rule early on with the family.

As working moms, we are likely not the only working parent. This means that both parents are getting home tired from working all day. This also means that all the homemaking duties should not fall completely on you.

Shoot and even if you are home most of the day, this still doesn’t mean that’s it’s entirely your responsibility.

Related Post: 39 Genius Ways to Recover from Working Mom Burnout

Have your partner help

Thankfully, I have an amazing husband who agrees with me. And therefore, we have split the cleaning tasks among us both to make sure things get done. And you can do this too.

So even though he works a psychically demanding job, I work a mentally draining job so we are both equal. If I cook, he cleans. He’s in charge of the bathrooms and I’m in charge of the kitchen and so forth. And if you’re already feeling burnt out from taking on too much, let dad take on your roles for the day.

Seriously. Cleaning is not just a woman’s job so get your husband or partner to help.

Kids can help too

Our son is 8 and he doesn’t get to sit back and relax while we clean. He also has a list of chores that he helps with daily to make sure he’s doing his part.

Some chores that my son helps take care of includes taking out the trash from the bathrooms, cleans the table, sweeps the floors and feeds our dog, Canelo.

This is of course in addition to picking up after himself and cleaning up his room. We use the weekly chores checklist below to mark all his chores when complete and you can grab yours for free.




Make it fun

Okay don’t roll your eyes at me and be like “Lucy, cleaning is not fun” because trust me, I know. I said it in the beginning. I do not like to clean, do you?

So yes, I try to make cleaning fun by blasting some music. And you know what? My son does this too. Whenever it’s time for him to do his chores, he always asks me if he can turn on the music. Then, I’ll glance over and he’s dancing and singing with the broom in his hand haha! And yes, I do the same.

Music is our thing here. It keeps us happy and motivated, especially when we’re doing something that we typically don’t enjoy. But if music doesn’t help you, that’s okay. Find another way to make cleaning a little bit fun and you’ll see that you’ll be more inclined to actually do it moving forward.

And trust me, keeping your home clean should always be a top priority. There are health benefits to having a clean home so follow these scheduling guidelines and cleaning hacks to make sure you live in a nice, tidy and clean home.


cleaning schedule for working moms

Time To Follow Your New Cleaning Routine!

Awesome! Now you know how to create your best cleaning schedule for working moms like us without sacrificing the little time we do have. By creating your own realistic schedule and following the cleaning hacks, your house should be clean in no time (plus it’ll stay that way too).

Do you have other cleaning hacks that have helped you? Please share below as I would love to hear from you!



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13 thoughts on “Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms to Actually Get Things Done”

  1. Finally a realistic cleaning routine! I swear some of you moms have more hours in the day hahaha I truly don’t know how you all do it! I recently decided to hire professional carpet cleaners to deep clean our living room carpets after my girls got playdough all over. Highly recommend hiring professionals when you need it!

  2. I always make my bed first thing! Makes me feel accomplished! I love your tip on making a day a week a specific task… hmmm good idea! might have to try this!

    1. Lucy | CheersToLife

      Lol if my bed doesn’t get made, it tempts me to get back in it! haha and awesome, let me know how that works out for you!

  3. Our Rumba has been a surprising life saver. I love it more than I should love an inanimate object. Other than that, I’m pretty terrible at balancing work and a clean house. It’s something I’ve been failing at since I graduated from high school. If I can keep my kitchen clean, I’m winning 😉

    1. Lucy | CheersToLife

      hahahaha that is too funny about the Rumba! ?? and I totally get you on the cleaning part, it’s definitely something us busy moms can improve on lol

    1. Lucy | CheersToLife

      It definitely would so if you haven’t grabbed the printables, do so as they’ll help you brain dump your cleaning tasks and turn them into actionable lists ?

  4. Great realistic tips! I love the idea of completing one bigger cleaning task a day and getting the kids involved. My kids each have daily responsibilities to help with keeping the house clean.

    1. Lucy | CheersToLife

      Awesome, super glad you found it helpful! And yes, for sure it’s great when everyone does their part 🙂

  5. Splitting the cleaning tasks over a period of time is my biggest struggle! I’m a lunatic about cleaning and want it all done in one day… especially when I come up with a weeks worth of projects to be done in 1 day. I’m so guilty of this!

    1. Lucy | CheersToLife

      hahaha well hey, if this is working for you then there i absolutely no problem with that. The goal is to find something that works for you ??

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