A Realistic Cleaning Schedule for Busy Working Moms
There’s a reason why housekeepers exist. It’s because keeping a house clean is a full-time job! But if you’re like me, you are a working mom who wants a clean house, but you don’t want to hire a housekeeper. What you need is a simple cleaning schedule for working moms.

How do working moms keep their house clean?
Ah…yes…the age old question…
How is it possible to keep a clean home when you are a busy mom. You already have so much on your plate:
- Raising a family
- Working full time
- Trying to do #allthethings
The truth is this is not a simple task.
It took me years to realize that I was working myself to the bone, by spending all day at work only to come home and start my second job of cleaning the house.
Eventually, I reached my breaking point.
That’s when I realized that there had to be an easier way.
After some research and experimentation, I discovered that using an easy cleaning schedule can make having a clean house and being a working mom possible.
I began by making a list of everything that needed to be done each week, then broke them down into daily and weekly tasks:
Daily Cleaning Tasks
Quick and easy tasks to do each day for a neat and tidy home:
- Make Beds
- Do a load of laundry
- Wipe down counters in kitchen and bathroom
- Tidy the living room
- Sweep floors and/or vacuum every 2 days
Weekly Cleaning Tasks
Cleaning activities that cover the entire house – to be done throughout the week.
- Wipe down tubs/showers
- Clean bathroom mirrors
- Dust flat surfaces
- Mop floors
- Wipe down the refrigerator door and shelves
- Take out the garbage
- Wash bedding and towels
Looking at the list of everything that needs to get done each week can be overwhelming.
There’s no way you could get that all done in a single day and if you did, it probably means that you are spending an entire day on the weekend to get it all done #nofun.
That is why I then took all of those chores and broke them down by day of the week.
By creating a daily cleaning routine, and doing just a little bit each day it will save you a lot of time and still make a big difference in your home.
You can grab a copy of this printable weekly cleaning schedule in my Free Printables Library, that includes tasks to complete each day of the week.
While the daily and weekly cleaning tasks will keep your home from getting dusty and dirty, your house still might not look clean if it isn’t tidy.
Over the years I’ve realized that there is more to keeping a house looking clean than actually cleaning.
To truly keep your house looking it’s best there are some habits and routines that pay off big-time in the long run if you include them as part of your weekly routine.
How to Keep a Clean House When You Work Full-Time
As I mentioned above, following a daily cleaning checklist is just the first step in creating a clean home. To really get your whole house clean there are a few more tips and tricks that I swear by:
#1 – Declutter
Hands down this is the #1 game changer.
As a working mom, you will never get a handle on the house if it is full of junk, toys, clothes and clutter.
If you have been feeling overwhelmed by your messy house – this is where you need to put all of your effort right now.
Once you have the clutter under control your house is going to immediately feel much more neat and tidy.
Then, you will be able to spend more time on actually cleaning instead of picking up all the time.
If you want to see some quick results you can grab my Quick Declutter Printable Checklist.
Related Post: How to Create a Clutter-Free Home with Kids
#2 Only Shop with a List
Part of the reason why our homes are so messy is because we have too much stuff.
If you follow my advice, you will make sure that you declutter your house and that will make a huge difference.
However, if you just fill it back up again your house will always look messy.
Instead, make sure that anytime you go shopping you bring a list along and stick to the list!
By avoiding impulse purchasing you will help to keep clutter out of your home and it will be easier to keep clean.
#3 Stay On Top of the Laundry
One of the biggest homemaking challenges for working moms is the laundry.
When you have a laundry system that works, it will be quick and easy.
No more dirty clothes on the floor or clean clothes in piles waiting to be put away.
Related Post: How to Stop the Laundry from Piling Up!
# 4 – Do a Daily Home Re-Set
A home re-set is a quick cleaning routine that gets your house in order in just a few minutes.
This typically takes our family of four about 10 minutes.
A home re-set includes things like:
- Unload and load the dishwasher
- Hang up coats and backpacks
- Put away shoes
- Toss in a load of laundry
- Wipe down the counters
- Put away toys
Depending on your family’s schedule a home re-set can be done in the morning or in the evening.
Our mornings are already packed, so we typically do a re-set in the evening.
Plus, this makes it so nice to wake up to a tidy home in the morning!
By following these tips routines, you will quickly notice that you actually can have a clean house when you work full-time.
But maybe you are thinking you need something more specific, so here you go:
A Printable House Cleaning Schedule for Working Moms
Want to know what you should be doing on a daily and weekly basis in order to have a clean house?
Then be sure to grab my Clean House Checklist!
This easy house cleaning schedule has everything you need to keep you motivated to stay on top of the mess and finally have a clean house.
The checklist outlines a cleaning routine with quick and easy tasks for each area of the house during the week.
The checklist is part of my FREE PRINTABLES LIBRARY – all you need to do to get access to all the printables (and weekly email tips from me) is to sign up in the link above.
More Clean House Tips:
Conclusion:
If you are looking for a weekly cleaning routine that is practical and easy to follow, then you will want to grab this printable cleaning schedule.
Including just a few tasks each day of the week is one of the easiest ways to keep a tidy house without spending all of your free time taking care of household chores.
There you have it mama! My top tips for keeping a clean house when you are a working mom.
It’s so awesome to find information for working Moms. I was off work for over a year do to medical issues. And now im off because of the Coronavirus, my job is on shutdown. When I went back to work after my medical leave I had so much anxiety. Thinking how am I going to handle it all now that I’m back to work. What kind of cleaning schedule do you think would work for me. Heres my work schedule: Mon&Tues 4pm-3am and Fri & Sat 5am-330pm
I have two daughters ages 3yrs old and 1yrs old
Any advice would help….I’m woke now catching up on laundry.
I signed up for your free library and received the email with the password. However I am unable to sign into your library. It’s disappointing. Help!!!!
I am having the same issue. I can not seem to locate where to sign in to access it.
For some reason it doesn’t like to open if you are trying to open it in the Pinterest window. If you open it in Chrome it should work. If not, let me know I can send it to you via email.
I haven’t downloaded this clean schedule yet, just like all of you I too work full time and my work schedule is from Sunday/Thursday and I have Friday’s and Saturday’s off. So I’m just wondering if the cleaning schedule will work with my work schedule? I’m not sure if it will work for me cause like all of you I too have kids ages 2years old and 11months. And I have been trying to keep my house clean and I have cleaned it many times and my husband has said that he really liked seeing the house clean. The house would only stay clean for a few seconds and be dirty when I had just finished cleaning. So that has made me stop cleaning cause I know if I clean up my son is going to dirty up again and no matter how many times I tell not to he does it anyway. So that makes me not want to clean my house.
Hi Amber – Your concerns are valid. I can remember when I had two kids under 3 and that is what kickstarted my decluttering journey. I can say that you will always feel like you are constantly cleaning if your house is filled with stuff. While this cleaning schedule can work, I definitely recommend starting with decluttering. A toy rotation would also be great for you to start.
https://simply-well-balanced.com/start-toy-rotation-clutter-free/
https://simply-well-balanced.com/declutter-with-kids/
Love your idea about doing a daily home reset. I get so tired after putting the kids to bed, and I never want to pick up the house at night. But it feels so much better in the morning when I do. Something else I’ve started doing is hiring local carpet cleaners to deep clean my carpets once or twice a year. It has made a world of a difference in how my carpets look. Highly recommend!
I have been wanting to find a good cleaning schedule! One of my resolutions for 2023! Can’t wait to give this a try! I am also doing some professional carpet cleaning in January! Can’t wait! Thanks for sharing!
I have needed a cleaning schedule since the day I got married, 5 years ago. Now I have a son and no good way to get my house clean fast. Your schedule has given me confidence that my home is clean. From the carpet cleaning to the dishes and laundry, I am able to get it done and I haven’t felt overwhelmed. Thank you.
Can’t wait to implement this into my schedule more! This will make cleaning a lot easier to fit into my busy schedule.
I feel like I bounce back and forth between cleaning schedules. They all work at first, but then I get bored and need something different. I find that the schedule that makes the carpet cleaning easier, is the cleaning schedule I prefer. I think your schedule could be a great one for me.