Daily Cleaning Routine Tips and a Free Daily Cleaning Routine Printable

Developing a daily cleaning routine helps to increase your productivity and decrease your time spent cleaning.  Follow these daily cleaning routine tips and use this free daily cleaning routine printable to come up with your ideal plan!

This post is sponsored by Swiffer.  As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

I feel like last year was not a great year for me in terms of productivity.  I had a lot of anxiety, felt like I was always on the go, and really didn’t get a whole lot accomplished.  Looking back, I realize that I had fallen out of a lot of my regular routines and habits that had been keeping me focused.

“Don’t be busy.  Be productive.”

So, one of my main goals for this year was to get back on track with some basic routines.  My plan is to actually work on one new habit or routine each month, and I figured that cleaning would be a good place to start.  This daily cleaning routine is basically a “bare bones” cleaning routine that keeps the house looking tidy and presentable on a daily basis.  There are still other weekly cleaning tasks that I need to do {and I will talk about how I’ve organized these in another post}, but having this daily plan makes those tasks a lot quicker and easier to accomplish too.

DAILY CLEANING ROUTINE TIPS

The ideal cleaning routine will vary from person to person – what works for one, doesn’t necessarily work for another.  Your needs will change depending on the size of your home, the ages of your children {and how much they help out!}, your work schedule outside of the home, etc.  There are, however, a few “bare necessities” that we all must get done on a daily basis.  Focus in on these tasks when establishing your daily routine.  What cleaning tasks do you find yourself doing every day?  What are the areas of your home that require the most cleaning/maintenance?

Establishing a routine does take a little trial and error to really tailor it to your specific schedule and lifestyle, so don’t give up if it doesn’t work out for you right away. Tweak things that don’t work, and stick with it until you find what’s helpful for you. While it may take some discipline and a little extra energy to get started, once you’re into the swing of things, a good routine makes really does make things so much easier and quicker to complete.

Here are a few daily cleaning routine tips to help you cut down on your cleaning time and increase that productivity! The more you remind yourself of these ideas, the more they will just become second nature.  Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 😉

Never leave a room empty handed.

I try to always look around when I am leaving a room {or going upstairs or downstairs} to see if there is anything that does not belong there.  I will then take one or two items with me and put them away as I move to my next destination.  We have three floors in our home so there is ALWAYS something that needs to be put away on another floor.  This really takes very minimal time but makes a huge difference at the end of the day.

If it can be done in less than one minute, do it immediately.

Doing these little tasks throughout the day will make your night time routine much easier {you might even be able to get to some of those weekly tasks} and will really cut down on that daily mess.  It’s so easy to skip over them and say you’ll do them later, but procrastination is never a time saver!

Keep your cleaning supplies organized and easily accessible.

Organize your cleaning supplies so they are located as close to the area that you need them as possible.  If the toilet bowl cleaner is right there, you’re much more likely to give that toilet a quick scrub.  If you have a place in your home that particularly seems to collect more dust, keep a Swiffer duster in a drawer near by so you can just pull it out and do a quick 1-2 minute dusting.  Think about what products you use and where you use them, and then organize your supplies accordingly.

 

Stop the dirt at the door.

Get everyone in the habit of taking off their shoes at the door, and make sure you have a specific place for shoes to go that is easy to access.  Have a mat at each door entrance to help trap any extra dirt.  We keep our Swiffer sweeper in our front entry closet so it’s easy to pull out for any dirt and debris that make it into the entry way.  If you can keep this area relatively clean on a daily basis, it will prevent all of that dirt from making its way all over the house.

Tidy as you go.

Get used to putting your dishes in the dishwasher immediately, putting your coats and bags away as soon as you get home, and clearing any trash or recycling as you go.  I’m still working on training the family on this but we are slowly getting there!  Again, it’s a simple concept, but if you get in the habit of doing this, there should be very little to tidy up at the end of the day.

Cover the high traffic areas.

If you’re short on cleaning time, just cover the high traffic areas and spot clean as needed.  I love our Swiffer Wet Jet and use it almost every day for quick spot cleaning in the kitchen or wiping up muddy dog prints.  It’s light weight and easy to carry around the whole house – even the kids don’t mind using it!  There’s no messing with a bucket or getting down to the floor to hand wash, and it usually only takes a couple of minutes to clean up all of the spills, splatters, and paw prints.

To help get you jump-started on your own daily cleaning routine, I’ve put together a free printable for you to use.  You can either use the one that I created for myself, or print out a blank copy to customize it a bit more to your needs. If you’re following The Household Organization Diet, I’ve coordinated the colors and design so it all goes together nicely. 🙂

DOWNLOAD THE DAILY CLEANING ROUTINE HERE
DOWNLOAD A BLANK DAILY CLEANING ROUTINE HERE

So here’s my plan…

MORNING CLEANING ROUTINE

• Make the Bed – Making your bed will instantly make your room look 10 times neater and helps to start off the day on the right foot.  Get in the habit of making it as soon as you get up.
• Put in a load of laundry – With 5 people in our household {and three dogs and a cat!}, there is always laundry to do.  Regularly doing one load per day {or almost one load per day} makes things more tolerable than spending a whole day trying to get caught up on the laundry.  I usually try to put everything in the washing machine the night before and I then just have to add the detergent and turn it on in the morning.
• Empty the Dishwasher – I usually put the dishwasher on at the end of the night and leave it until the morning to unload.  Washing dishes by hand is one of my least favorite tasks so having the dishwasher free is a top priority for me. This is now a task that I have happily passed on to my kids, but I do occasionally do it if they’re having an extra busy morning.
• Tidy the Kitchen – I don’t like leaving the house with a dirty kitchen so the kitchen always gets a quick cleaning in the morning.  We usually keep our breakfast menu pretty basic around here so there isn’t too much to clean up in the morning.  The kids are supposed to clean up their own dishes and food {we’re still working on that one!} so I really just need to make sure that everything makes it into the dishwasher, hand wash the odd item, and give the counters, table, and sink a wipe down.

EVENING CLEANING ROUTINE

• Fold and put away the laundry – Laundry can quickly pile up if it does not get put away right away so I try not to let it stack up.  While I still sort all of the laundry, the kids are now old enough that they can at least put their own stuff away.
• Kitchen clean up – The kitchen is generally the busiest and most used room in the house so I tend to spend most of my cleaning time in here.  Try to clean up as you go while making dinner and get in the habit of cleaning the kitchen immediately after dinner.  No one wants to be cleaning up the kitchen at :00 at night.  I have been working on getting the whole family involved in this task and not letting anyone leave until it’s all completed.  It’s a little extra time to chat and really speeds things up.
• 15 minute Family Power Clean – We try to do this at a specific time each night – usually the earlier the better.  If you have trouble staying focused, put on the timer and make sure there’s no screen time {even checking notifications!} until the timer goes off. The kids are responsible for picking up any toys around the house and cleaning their rooms {which usually requires a little supervision}.  I quickly go through each room and put away anything that is out of place. We have one basket on the main floor that I will put random items in that need to be put away if I don’t have time to do so that day {just remember you need to empty this regularly!}   I also use this time to do any extra clean-ups that are required – a room that really needs to be vacuumed or a toilet that needs some scrubbing.
• Wipe bathroom counters – After the kids brush their teeth, the bathroom counters and sink get a quick wipe down.  I also usually give the toilet seat a quick wipe down in the boys bathroom {because boys will be boys!}
• Prepare the washing machine – All dirty towels and cloths from the day get put into the washing machine and I usually try to get a load of laundry prepared for the next day to save time in the morning.
• Start the dishwasher – I do one quick look around the house for any dirty cups or dishes and run the dishwasher.
• Review the To Do list for the next day – I am trying to get back in the habit of sitting down each night with my planner and picking the top three priorities for the next day {which goes along with my little notebook idea}. Again, it’s something that I used to do and really helped me stay on track.

So, if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed with your cleaning tasks {or just looking for a quicker way to stay on top of things}, try out a daily cleaning routine.  It definitely makes a huge difference for me!

For more cleaning tips, check out these posts…

Free Printable Cleaning Labels

How to Clean the Garbage Disposal

How to Care for Hardwood Floors {and Laminate Too!}