How to Make Daily Cleaning a Habit — Checklists, Schedules and More

From improving air quality to promoting greater productivity, maintaining a tidy home can have many wonderful benefits for you and your family.

We are sharing some helpful and practical tips for creating daily cleaning habits that are easy to implement and will make your home feel better than ever.

Why Make Daily Cleaning a Habit?

Tackling a few cleaning tasks every day can make maintaining a welcoming and tidy household more manageable.

Some of the additional benefits of implementing a daily cleaning routine include:

  • Curb seasonal allergies: Wiping down surfaces and ridding your home of dust helps reduce the allergens in your space for healthier air quality.
  • Reduce stress: Think of the stark difference between spending time in a room draped with miscellaneous clothing items and dishes versus a tidy room. Clearing clutter helps lower stress and harness more tranquility in your space.
  • Movement: A clean sweep through your house can help you sneak in some extra physical movement every day. Some people use their cleaning routine to meet their daily step count.
  • Boosting productivity: When you have a tidy space, you can focus on other things beyond what needs straightening up. A daily cleaning habit can boost your productivity and inspire you to get more done.
  • Feeling accomplished: After tending to your space, you will feel more accomplished and happier. A daily routine can help you enjoy your home more.
  • Healthy habits: Having a daily cleaning routine is good for you and your family. It promotes other healthy habits and helps you maintain a space that looks and feels good.

20 Tips For Creating Daily Cleaning Habits

Explore the following tips for developing daily cleaning habits that will help you manage your space more effectively:

1. Channel the Right Mindset

Our first tip is to get into the cleaning mindset. The trick is to inspire yourself to get started by not looking at your daily cleaning routine as a chore and focusing your thoughts on how you’ll feel when the job is complete. Think of it as a way to enhance your space and the time you spend there.

You can do this a few different ways, depending on what inspires you the most. Some people enjoy watching TikTok or YouTube videos of others tidying up their spaces. Seeing the transformation from a messy home to a spotless one may motivate you to get started on your own house.

2. Make the Bed Right Away

An easy way to kickstart your daily tasks is to make your bed as soon as you get up for the day. Tackling this chore immediately will help set the tone for your day.

Making the bed is an easy process that takes less than 10 minutes. It can give you a sense of accomplishment first thing in the morning. You can appreciate how nice your bed looks anytime you return to your room during the day. Plus, it feels good to get into a freshly made bed when you’re ready to sleep at night.

3. Keep Clutter Hidden

We all have those corners of our homes that seem to be messy no matter how often we tidy them. Clutter is sometimes inevitable. However, you can use baskets and other storage furniture to help conceal some of the unsightly things in your space.

For example, your home office may have a pile of various cords and chargers. Instead of letting these set out in the open, consider storing them away in a container and getting them out as needed.

4. Organize Your Cleaning Supplies

A good way to make your daily cleaning routine easier is to keep all your cleaning supplies well organized. If you have to fight through a messy closet to reach your surface cleaners or vacuum extensions, you will be less likely to get the job done.

Make it easy on yourself, and keep your products and tools in order. That way, when you need a product, you can easily locate it without having to spend time moving other things around to find it.

5. Clean Up As You Go

Another tip for enhancing your daily cleaning habits is to tidy as you go. Some people use the rule of never leaving a room empty-handed. As they move throughout their home during the day, they pick up any items that are out of place and take them to their respective locations.

Whether you are cooking a meal for your family or getting ready for the day with various products on your bathroom counter, cleaning as you work is one of the best ways to minimize the mess and save time later.

6. Make the Most of Trash Day

You can also enhance your routine by taking advantage of trash pickup day. Check with your local municipality to ensure you understand what items can go into your trash cans and recycling bins each week.

Make the most of trash day to clear out your clutter. Do things like tossing any expired food in your pantry and refrigerator. If you’ve received any packages over the last week, break down and recycle the cardboard boxes.

Trash day is an opportunity to refine your home and make it better.

7. Prioritize the Tasks That Make the Biggest Difference

On those days you feel overwhelmed or unmotivated but still want a clean your space, consider prioritizing your tasks. Make a list of two to three things that will make the biggest difference in your home right now.

The tasks you choose will depend on your home’s condition. If you have miscellaneous clothing items or toys, it may be beneficial to start by picking them up. If your floors are especially dirty, an important task to prioritize may be vacuuming. It all depends on your unique situation.

8. Create a Physical Daily Cleaning Checklist

Enhance your daily cleaning schedule by creating a checklist you can refer to each day. Having a physical list will help lighten your mental load. Instead of thinking of all the tasks you’d like to get to that day, you will have them all in one streamlined checklist.

As you check items off, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. A checklist also lets you monitor your productivity and see what you tend to get done in one day.

9. Keep Shoes by the Entrances

An easy way to simplify your daily house cleaning schedule is to keep shoes by the door. You do not have to store every pair here, but it is a good practice to have people remove their shoes before walking through your home. You can drastically reduce the amount of dirt that visitors and family track throughout your house.

By asking everyone to take off their shoes, you can vacuum and clean your floors less frequently.

10. Do a Load of Laundry Each Day

Laundry can feel like a never-ending task, but you can stay on top of overflowing hampers by tackling one load every day.

Instead of letting items pile up throughout the week and spending a full day tending to your family’s dirty clothes, make it a habit to toss a load in the washer daily.

We suggest getting the full chore done, from washing to putting the clothes away in your closets or dressers. Don’t abandon the load at any step of the process, as this can create more work for later.

11. Clean During Commercial Breaks

A fun way to switch up your cleaning schedule is by performing tasks during the commercial breaks of your favorite television shows. These breaks are a great opportunity to sneak your chores in without much thought.

Cleaning during commercials also helps you work more productively because you’ll be motivated to finish before the show returns. Small tasks like fluffing throw pillows or dusting surfaces are easy to complete in short spurts of time.

12. Set Yourself Up for Success

You can do a few different things to set yourself up for success and make your daily cleaning tasks even easier.

One idea includes storing your cleaning supplies near the spaces where you use them. This will save time and energy and can even increase the likelihood you’ll clean that area.

Another idea is investing in storage furniture. Whether you have an ottoman that you can toss your kids’ toys in or a cabinet that stores your winter jackets, storage solutions make your cleaning job much simpler.

13. Create a Weekly Cleaning Schedule

Creating a weekly cleaning schedule separate from your daily routine can also be beneficial. You can tackle these weekly to-do items over the weekend.

Some ideas for the weekly checklist include:

  • Cleaning out the fridge
  • Disinfecting all surfaces
  • Scrubbing soap scum
  • Cleaning appliances

By having a plan, you will feel less overwhelmed by all the tasks you could do during the week. Instead of considering all the little things that need to be done around your house, you can focus on a few key chores, knowing you’ll get to the others later.

You can also streamline your cleaning routine by assigning certain tasks to specific days of the week.

14. Clean the Tub After Every Shower

A habit you can incorporate into your everyday cleaning routine is tending to your shower or tub after bathing. You can use a daily spray cleaner to help prevent soap scum buildup and keep your bathroom sparkling. Running a squeegee over your shower walls is also a good practice.

Doing these tasks each day makes your job easier in the future when you deep clean your space. As a bonus tip, keep your shower liner spread out to avoid trapping mold- and mildew-causing moisture in its folds.

15. Deal With Your Mail Immediately

Another tip to enhance your daily cleaning habits is to deal with mail and deliveries right away. Instead of grabbing your mail from the mailbox and dropping it on your dining room table, go through each piece. Sort them by importance and toss anything that is not relevant or needed. File the other pieces into their respective locations.

Letting your mail or packages pile up contributes to unnecessary clutter in your home. Dealing with them promptly helps you stay on top of things and maintain a tidier space.

16. Change Up Your Routine With Trial Runs

The right daily cleaning routine for you may take some time to perfect. Do not be afraid to conduct some trial runs to see what works for you and what doesn’t. Stick with a routine for a week or two. Make changes as needed.

Switch up your schedule until you find the habits that are sustainable and make you feel good. Ultimately, you will not stick with a routine that doesn’t serve you and enhance your life, so take some time to find what is realistic and achievable.

17. Get the Whole Household Involved

Getting your entire household involved is a great way to make your daily cleaning habits more effective. Having everyone working towards a shared goal will speed up the cleaning process each day.

If you have kids, consider creating chore charts so everyone knows their cleaning responsibilities. You can also make tidying up into a game. Have the kids clean up their toys as fast as possible or roll dice to see who gets what chore on the checklist.

18. Do a 10-Minute Clean Before Bed

Incorporating a 10-minute clean into your nighttime routine is an easy and simple way to tidy up your home before going to sleep. When you wake up the next morning, you can enjoy starting your day in a clean and calm environment.

Set a timer for just 10 minutes and clean up as much as possible until time runs out. You may be surprised by how much you can get done in such a short amount of time.

19. Reward Yourself

Making your daily cleaning routine rewarding is a great way to motivate yourself to maintain a clean home. Your reward could be as small as a piece of your favorite candy that you give yourself after completing your checklist each day. Or the reward could be something bigger for consecutive days of getting everything done.

You can also incorporate rewards into your cleaning process. For example, you might have a certain podcast or audiobook you listen to only when you are cleaning. You’ll be more motivated to start tackling your chores if you know you’ll get to enjoy something you love during them.

20. Don’t Forget to Tidy Up Your Digital Life

While you are busy cleaning up your living space, don’t forget to address your digital space too. Some ideas include:

  • Take a moment each day to clear your notifications.
  • Delete any messages or emails you don’t need.
  • Respond to your texts.
  • Organize your chargers.
  • Sanitize your screens and phone case.

Keep your electronics storage well-organized and get rid of any pieces of tech you no longer want or need.

Trade-In Your Device With Gazelle

If you find an old cell phone you no longer want while cleaning your home, turn to Gazelle. We make trading in your used device easy. You can get an offer for your old phone in about two minutes, and it is totally free to send us your device for inspection. Our team will take a closer look at it and get you your money fast.

Learn more about our trusted trade-in process today!

 

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