Home Organization Tips

Your Daily, Weekly, & Monthly Cleaning Checklist

Struggling to keep your home tidy year-round? Instead of saving home organization and decluttering tasks for a few times a year—like spring cleaning or before the holidays—you can break up cleaning tasks into more manageable daily, weekly, and monthly to-dos! Below, we’ve shared basic cleaning and organization checklists that can help you tackle smaller tasks each day, week, and month so that your home stays clean!

Daily Home Cleaning & Organization

The best way to keep up with your household chores is to check off small cleaning and decluttering tasks every day that contribute to overall upkeep. Accomplishing these simple daily tasks will help you reduce clutter throughout common areas of your home and prevent the need for time-consuming deep cleans.

Entryway

As the first area of your home most guests see, a clean entryway or mudroom can help your house make a great first impression. Keep it consistently tidy so you’re not rushing to organize it before visitors arrive!

  • Move items to designated spots. With wall hooks, cubbies, or a decorative dish on a console table, you can organize items you’ll consistently need before walking out the door, such as keys and backpacks.
  • Sort through the mail. You may not always have time to look through the mail after you pull it out of the mailbox, so set a time each day for opening letters, throwing away junk, and filing mail you need to keep.
  • Do a check-in at night. Before you go to bed, make sure everything is back in its place and ready to go for the next day. If you see dirt, stains, or leaves on the floor, quickly vacuum, sweep, or wipe it up.

Bedroom

Your bedroom is the coziest, most relaxing room in the home, so you’ll want to avoid clutter in order to get a good night’s sleep. Following these cleaning tips can keep your sleeping space neat on a daily basis.

  • Make your bed. Not only does making the bed help put you in the right mindset for the day, but it also improves sleep quality and gives your bedroom a good focal point.
  • Put dirty clothes in the hamper. As soon as you change out of clothes, move them directly to the laundry hamper rather than letting them pile up on your bed or the floor.
  • Put away clean clothes. Get into a habit of folding, hanging, and putting away clean clothing after you’re done doing laundry. That way, clothes don’t sit in your bedroom and create clutter for days.
  • Clear nightstands off. Only keep items you need first thing in the morning or right before bed on nightstand surfaces, such as alarm clocks, phones, glasses, books, and lamps.

Kitchen

Photo via @becky.weeks

As the food prep area of your home, the kitchen is naturally going to get dirty. Maintain your kitchen daily to prevent the growth of bacteria and ensure it’s always ready for meal time and entertaining.

  • Take care of the dishwasher. Before the end of each day, pull any clean dishes out of the dishwasher, put them away, and fill the dishwasher with dirty dishes. If it’s full at the end of the day, run it.
  • Clean up spills immediately. Spills and stains become harder to clean the longer they sit, especially if they’re on heated surfaces like stovetops. Address any minor splashes and messes right away.
  • Sweep the floor each night. Keeping your kitchen floors clean will prevent pests and accidents. Take some time at the end of the day to sweep around cabinets, tables, and chairs.
  • Wipe down countertops and appliances. You can prevent food-borne illnesses and extend the life of both your countertops and your appliances by wiping them down with a soapy cloth or cleaning solution.

Living Room

Photo via @studiomcgee

The living room is the main space for gathering, which means it’s likely to get messy from all the traffic. With a few cleaning and organizing steps each day, you can keep your family room or living room in order.

  • Pick up toys. Both children and pets have a way of leaving toys scattered all over the living room. Return toys to a designated bin, tote, or basket in your living room that keeps them accessible yet organized.
  • Clear tables off. Wallets, phones, dishes, chargers, writing utensils, and other daily tools tend to accumulate on living room tables. End each day by putting these things in their proper places.
  • Put blankets away. After you’re done using a blanket, fold it and put it away where it belongs, whether that’s in a basket or on a blanket ladder. This will keep your seating area nice and tidy.
  • Fluff cushions and pillows. Keep your couch cushions and decorative pillows looking full, lively, and wrinkle-free with a quick shake and fluff after use.

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Bathroom

For obvious reasons, the bathroom is an easy space for germs and unpleasant smells to originate and grow. Follow these bathroom cleaning tips to keep it sanitary and hospitable for both you and your guests.

  • Clear countertops off. Put all products, toiletries, and styling tools back in their designated spots before you go to bed so that they’re ready and organized for the next day.
  • Wipe down counters and sinks. These spaces inevitably get dirty from water spots, toothpaste residue, hand soap drips, and more. Use a wet wipe or paper towel with cleaner to tackle these areas quickly.
  • Restock bathroom supplies. Replenish toilet paper, hand and bath towels, soap, and other bathroom supplies at the end of the day so it doesn’t get in the way of your daily routine.
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Weekly Home Cleaning & Organization

Photo via @sinkwarehouse

Weekly cleaning tasks are slightly more time-consuming, so they’re not something you need to do every day, but they are worth keeping up with each week. To avoid clutter and big messes from piling up, tackle these larger cleaning and organization projects around your home.

  • Do the laundry. Designate separate hampers for different members of your home and run laundry cycles throughout the week. Fold and put away your clothes as soon as the drying cycle is complete.
  • Change bedding. Experts recommend washing and swapping out bedding weekly. Consider running a load of sheets and blankets through the laundry immediately after your clothes.
  • Wash towels. Towels should be washed after three uses, but you can wash more or less frequently based off of your towel usage and their current cleanliness.
  • Clean windows. Remove smudges, fingerprints, and other grime from your windows by cleaning them on a weekly basis. You can even try DIY window cleaning solutions to remove streaks.
  • Dust throughout your home. Dust can cause allergy and respiratory problems if allowed to build up. Use a cloth and cleaning spray to wipe down surfaces in every room.
  • Vacuum the carpet. Dirt, pet danger, dust, hair, and other allergens can get trapped in your carpet each week. By vacuuming each week, you’ll remove these and keep your carpets in good shape long term.
  • Mop wood and tile floors. In addition to sweeping your floors, mopping each week can help take care of scuffs, stains, and more so that your floor is sparkling clean and protected from grime buildup.
  • Declutter high-traffic areas. Go through common “dumping grounds” in your home to pick up miscellaneous items like backpacks, mail, coats, and shoes. Then, return them to their rightful spots.
  • Take out the trash. Most cities’ disposal programs operate on a weekly (sometimes biweekly) schedule, so be sure to take your garbage and recycling out on your designated day.
  • Clean the toilet. Prevent stains and other germ buildup in your toilet by cleaning it once a week. Squirt some cleaner into the toilet, then use a sturdy toilet brush to scrub it out.
  • Wipe down the shower. It’s easy for grime and hard water stains to build up over time in the shower, so be sure to keep your shower clean each week to avoid having to deep clean set-in stains.
  • Clean bathroom mirrors. Smudges and dust accumulate on mirrors, but a quick spray with some glass cleaner and a wipe with a cloth or paper towel can bring them back to their shimmering best.
  • Audit items in the fridge and freezer. Go through your refrigerator and create an inventory to determine what needs to be used soon and if any spoiled food needs to be thrown out.
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Monthly Home Cleaning & Organization

Photo via @jennycannady

Some larger home organization and cleaning responsibilities only need to be taken care of once a month or even seasonally. Mark your calendar with specific dates for accomplishing these home cleaning tasks so that you don’t forget to tidy up when the time comes!

  • Declutter your home. Go through everything in your home and decide what you want to keep, what you should donate or sell, and what you need to throw away or recycle. If you have trouble letting go of items or sticking to a decluttering plan, try one of these different decluttering methods.
  • Move seasonal items to storage. Winter coats, Christmas trees, patio furniture, lawn mowers, and snowblowers are just a few items you don’t need to have readily available year-round. If you don’t have space in your garage, basement, shed, or attic for these items, consider renting a self storage unit.
  • Wipe down the fridge and freezer. While you should address any spills, leaks, or crumbs as soon as you find them in your refrigerator and freezer, it’s likely there will be some that go unnoticed. Inspect your fridge and freezer, and clean up any messes to prevent bad odors, sticky areas, and mold growth.
  • Run a sanitize cycle in your dishwasher. Help rid your dishwasher of germs by running a sanitizing cycle. This cycle—which might also be referred to as “sani-wash” or “sani-rinse”—uses hot water to eliminate bacteria and ensures that your dishwasher is making your dishes clean and safe.
  • Clean your washing machine. Like your dishwasher, it’s good to clean your washer, too, so that you can remove any dirt, hair, and grime left behind from laundry. There are products specifically intended for cleaning your washing machine, or you can try a DIY solution using vinegar in a hot water cycle.
  • Take care of the oven. Over time, food drippings can build up and burn on the bottom of your oven, creating black, sticky substances that are difficult to remove. Combine vinegar and baking soda for a DIY cleaner and scrub out any unwanted residue.
  • Shampoo your carpet. Especially if you have kids and pets, shampooing your carpets each month can help remove set-in stains and protect your carpet fibers, which can also extend the length of your carpet’s life. You can rent carpet shampooers from most home improvement stores.
  • Go through your garage. Things tend to get piled up and forgotten in the garage, making it one of the biggest problem areas to focus on when decluttering. Perform a walkthrough each month to ensure everything is in the right place and if there are any items you can get rid of or move to storage.

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Need more space in your home? Extra Space Storage can help you make room for what matters most. We have convenient storage facilities throughout the U.S. that can help you declutter your space. Find storage units near you!

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