Cleaning Checklist to Keep your Home Looking Good


Last year, Bridget & I shared a cleaning confession. We each hired people to come to clean our homes every other week in order to give us more time to get blog work done. But now that I left my corporate job and I’m blogging (more details on that news here), it was time to say goodbye to our cleaning lady. Tears may have been shedย because there is nothing like walking into a sparkly clean home after a long day of work. Sigh.ย 

Lemons and natural cleaning products

Because I’m home a hell of a lot more now, it’s really not that hard for me to find some time to sneak in some cleaning in between working. And I can’t help but get a little antsy when things aren’t looking clean and tidy. Remember this post about how I maintain a clean home…yeah, sometimes I’m a little too Type-A for my own liking.

Washing the sheets and doing laundry

However, while I knew I could do the cleaning myself, the problem was that I couldn’t really remember when I was cleaning each spot in our home.

Since I wasn’t dedicating an entire chunk of time to clean the whole house, and instead was doing a little here and there, I kept losing track of what was already done. Did I wash the sheets 2 weeks ago, or was that last Thursday? Have those shelves been dusted recently? Did I change the furnace filter at all this winter?!

My Solution? A Cleaning Checklist!Cleaning supplies to maintain a clean home

A cleaning checklist to keep your home clean each week, month, and quarterly.

I decided to create a cleaning checklist to keep myself sane. And let me tell you, it has worked like magic to keep me on task and my house in tip-top shape. Let’s take a little looksie at my super convenient cleaning checklist…

I broke the checklist into 3 sections: weekly, monthly, and 3-6 months. For the 3-6 month tasks, I made a little line so I can fill in the date when the task is completed. Now I’m hoping I won’t go a year without washing our shower curtain liner. Yuck (& true story btw).

Keeping My Cleaning Checklist on Hand

Once I had my list, I had to figure out where to put it in our home. I’m trying to get rid of all paper clutter (more details on that resolution right here), so I didn’t want this piece of paper to get lost in our junk drawer never to be used again. So I decided to create a designated spot for my new cleaning checklist.

Right next to our cleaning supplies! Oh, and if you want more scoop on our under-the-kitchen sink organizational system you can see the full before and after in this post.

Laminated cleaning checklist with velcro to hang it.
Velcro on the back of a cleaning checklist to hang easily
Making the bed every day

I bought this self-adhesive laminate product and “laminated” my little cleaning checklist. That way it stays looking good, and I can use a dry erase marker to check off all of my tasks and write in the dates. I also purchased some velcro to add to the back of the cleaning checklist, so I can stick it right to the cabinet and take it out when I’m cleaning. 

Dry erase marker to cross off tasks on my cleaning checklist

It has only been a few weeks with my new system, but so far I’m loving it. As a to-do list lover, I can’t help but enjoy the feeling of crossing off all of the tasks each week. A little check mark in that box makes my heart flutter. Is that weird? Wait, don’t answer that.

Downloadable Cleaning ChecklistCrossing off cleaning tasks on my cleaning checklist

A free printable of a cleaning checklist to keep your home in tip top shape and nice and tidy!

If you want to get on the cleaning bandwagon (basically it’s a club for the cool kids…), then you can download your own free cleaning checklist right here. Yep, a totally free pdf to download and add to your own little cleaning cabinet or closet.

Now I know you guys are going to picture my new glamorous life as a blogger…writing posts from home, taking pictures, and stopping every 30 minutes to cross a task off of my cleaning checklist.

Casey


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.