Have you ever been in a place where you feel like all you do is clean, yet your home is never tidy? Do you want to feel cozy in your house, but you can’t because you always feel like something needs done? Or are you constantly thinking about tasks that need done and feeling overwhelmed with it all? Maybe it’s time to implement routines and rhythms into your days and weeks that help you feel in control of your living space instead of your living space controlling you! In this post, I hope to show you how to start a minimalist house cleaning schedule that will help you feel like your home is tidy without cleaning all day long!
What Is A Minimalist House Cleaning Schedule
So what exactly is a minimalist house cleaning schedule? Ok, I admit… I may have made the term up. But it makes perfect sense to me, and I hope it will to you too! Basically, a minimalist house cleaning schedule is a schedule that you can easily stick to. It’s a schedule that keeps your home feeling tidy without cleaning it all day every day. Because we all have better things to do than to scrub all day long right!
Your minimalist house cleaning routine may look different than mine. But the point is to find a routine that works for you and that gives your home the vibes you want it to have! Ideally, your cleaning routine will take about 1 hour each day and 3 hours or less once a week.
The Importance Of The Schedule
Another important aspect of your minimalist house cleaning routine is knowing that every area of your home is scheduled to be tidied at some point in your week. This will help you to stop sweating the small stuff. You might have an easier time letting some things go until it’s scheduled time resulting in less mental stress.
For example, let’s say you notice on Monday that the pantry is getting a little disordered. Rather than disrupting your normal cleaning routine and adding more to your Monday list, you know that the pantry is scheduled to be tidied on Wednesday. So you can confidently let it go knowing that Wednesday you can devote you attention to it!
As another example, maybe you notice Thursday afternoon that the furniture is looking a little dusty. But you still have lunches to pack, dinner to make, and laundry to finish. That’s ok! Furniture polishing is part of your Friday deep clean, so it can definitely wait until the next day.
The point is, it’s important to find a natural rhythm and routine that fits for you! Then you can confidently know that your home is staying tidy without all the mental stress! So let’s dive into building your schedule!
Daily Routines For Your Minimalist House Cleaning Schedule
In The Morning
A major part of building your minimalist house cleaning routine is your daily schedule. I like to keep a morning routine and an evening routine. Ideally, I keep the morning to 30 minutes and the evening to 30 minutes.
When building this initial morning routine, ask yourself what are your top 5 priorities for starting the day with a clean home? Like I already mentioned, your routine may look different than mine. But I’ll give you my priorities as a starting point for building your schedule.
- Wash and put away breakfast dishes.
- Make the bed.
- Fold the living room throw blankets and fix the pillows.
- Quick tidy the bathroom.
- Start a load of laundry.
These are my top 5 priorities that must be done each morning for me to feel ready to conquer the rest of the day. If the breakfast dishes are washed, the bed is made, the living room and bathroom are tidied, and a load of laundry is started, I am setting up the rest of my day for productivity.
I know if these things are done, I won’t be working around breakfast dishes when I’m trying to make dinner. And I won’t be walking around pillows and throw blankets in the living room and bedroom as I complete various projects and tasks.
Customize Your Priorities
Personally, I think these 5 priorities are a great place to start. But if they don’t work for you, switch them out for something that does! For example, maybe you are a one day a week laundry person, but it’s really important to you to have perfectly swept floors each morning. Just make the switch!
One Additional Deep Cleaning Task
Finally, after setting your top 5 priorities for your morning clean, add one task from your weekly deep clean and add that in to your daily schedule. For example, maybe part of your weekly deep clean is polishing furniture and wiping down kitchen appliances.
Pick one task from your weekly deep clean and complete that task each day!
And I swear by the one load of laundry each day rule. This keeps clothes and towels clean regularly without dealing with massive, overwhelming piles of laundry all at once! Choosing 5 simple priorities and one deep cleaning task can easily be completed in 30 minutes.
In The Evening
The evening routine is a very similar concept to the morning routine. Pick your top 5 priorities that make you feel accomplished and make you feel like your home is tidied and ready for a restful evening, and turn them into a 30 minute routine.
Going Back To The Priorities
For me, these top 5 priorities are clean dinner dishes, a clean stove, an emptied compost bowl, a tidied living room, and an empty laundry basket. Not only are these priorities important to me to have a restful evening, but they also set the tone for a productive morning.
I know that I would personally be quite annoyed if I had to work around dinner dishes when trying to make breakfast, so that priority is a no brainer!
Similarly, I have to have Monday’s laundry finished on Monday because if I don’t, the next day feels like I’m doing Monday’s work and Tuesday’s work.
- Clean all dinner dishes.
- Clean the stove.
- Take out the compost.
- Tidy the living room blankets and pillows.
- Put away the laundry.
Expect the Unexpected
It’s also important to save time for the unexpected in your evening routine. For example, you may find that you have a couple flower vases that need dumped and washed. Save a few minutes for that. Or maybe you ended up with some sweet tiny foot prints tracking mud into the mudroom. Save a few minutes to wipe up that mess. Build 5-10 extra minutes into your routine, prioritize 5 simple tasks, and you can easily keep an evening cleaning routine to 30 minutes!
Weekly Routines For Your Minimalist House Cleaning Schedule
One Day A Week Deep Clean
A vital step in your minimalist house cleaning routine is a weekly deep clean routine. The 30 minute morning and evening routines are perfect for keeping your home clean in between deep cleans. But, they aren’t a substitute for a deeper weekly clean.
Once again, your deep clean may look different than mine, but these tasks are a great place to start!
- Make your deep clean day your sheet washing day, and start the routine by stripping the beds. (10-20 minutes)
- If you have throw rugs throughout your home, give them a good vacuum or shake outside. If they’re washable, wash them if necessary. (5-10 minutes)
- Sweep/Vacuum all the floors. (Don’t forget to use the attachment in the corners)! (10-20 minutes)
- Polish your wood furniture to remove any dust and debris. (10-15 minutes)
- Organize your pantry and fridge, and discard or compost any old or moldy food. (Doing this regularly will also help limit food waste). (15-30 minutes)
- Wipe down kitchen appliances and sink. (5-10 minutes)
- Deep clean the bathroom sink, toilet, and tub/shower. (30-40 minutes)
- Mop floors. (20-30 minutes)
I’ve added approximate times that these tasks should take with variance for different size homes. These deep cleaning tasks should take anywhere from 2-3 hours and can easily be done once each week for a tidy well taken care of home.
Sporadic Additional Tasks
This is not an exhaustive list. Just like I mentioned implementing a weekly task once daily, you may want to implement one more task weekly. For example, one week washing windows could be a good idea, and another sweeping the porch and deck. Maybe another week, the ceiling fans need cleaned, or another the dining room chairs need wiped down.
Adding one more task will likely add another 20 minutes which will still keep your deep clean to a 2-3 hour process.
Cleaning Products For Your Minimalist House Cleaning Schedule
Part of keeping an easy minimalist cleaning routine is keeping a minimalist cleaning cabinet. My cleaning cabinet consists of only 3 items that I use to keep my home clean.
- My Homemade Lemon Vinegar All Purpose Cleaner
- Baking Soda
- Castile Soap
In addition, I only own a handful of cleaning supplies including reusable cleaning cloths, mop with reusable pads, broom and dustpan, vacuum, and scrub brush.
Until I simplified my cleaning products, it felt like a total chore to do basic cleaning tasks. Dragging out the huge caddy of various cleaners to clean the bathroom was an annoyance. Sorting through the different products to find the furniture polish or Windex was a bother.
Simplifying your cleaning cabinet down to just a few all purpose products will save you time and money. And it will definitely help you stay on track with your minimalist cleaning schedule!
A Little Bonus Note For Your Minimalist House Cleaning Schedule
I wanted to add one final bonus note to this post on the importance of keeping a minimal home in general. All of these strategies will be easier to implement if you don’t have unnecessary stuff lying around in your home. Keep only the items that you use on a daily/weekly basis in you main living spaces.
That’s not to say that there’s anything wrong with owning specialty items or hobby items that get infrequent use. But there is a place for them, and your immediate living spaces aren’t it. Store these items in a seldom used closet or the garage.
Keep your living spaces to the items that your reach for at least once a week. And keep those items to the minimum number needed. For example, I use a rolling pin on a weekly basis. But I definitely only need one! You may rarely if ever use a rolling pin. If that’s the case, don’t keep it in your main living spaces.
Evaluate this on a regular basis to aid in keeping a tidy home. Look at it this way, the more you own, the more you have to maintain. And if you’re trying to maintain a cluttered living space, the job will be so much more difficult!
I Hope you found this post to be helpful. Let me know in the comments below what your top cleaning priorities are or if you used this to help build your own schedule.
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