0 Likes
0 Comments
As a member of Ask Team Clean, you get access to exclusive offers and the best cleaning tips.
As nice as living together with friends and family is, the topic of cleaning has a lot of potential for conflict in almost every shared household. If the discussions about the cleanliness of the bathroom regularly cause bad vibes in your home, creating a house cleaning schedule might just do the trick.
Those who are not in the privileged position of employing a professional cleaner cannot avoid cleaning the house. The main problem in shared households is that the need for cleanliness varies greatly from person to person. The levels of dirtiness unacceptable for one person are not even noticeable for another. Especially in shared apartments, no one really feels entirely responsible for the cleanliness – if one person leaves out a used cup, it’s hard not to follow suit.
Creating a cleaning schedule to ensure that no one feels like they’re doing too much, or others are doing too little can help solve conflicts once and for all. The more structured your approach to cleaning in the household, the fairer the distribution of tasks - and the lower the risk of lazy excuses!
It makes sense to list the rooms in your house and the cleaning tasks for them in the first step. This will give you a good overview of everything that needs to be done regularly or just every so often. Of course, when creating a cleaning schedule, it is primarily about the rooms that are used together rather than individual bedrooms or study rooms used by one person – that’s their responsibility.
- Kitchen
Dishes, surfaces, doors, cabinets (inside and outside), floors (dry and wet cleaning), windows, oven, electrical appliances, rubbish - Bathroom
Sink, toilet, shower, bathtub, fixtures, shelves, cabinets, mirrors, windows, floors, walls, and glazing - Living room
Dusting, home textiles, floors, windows - Other rooms
Dusting, floors, shelves, doors and door handles, mirrors, windows
Not every task has to be done weekly. How often you clean the windows, for example, depends on the degree of dirt and what you perceive to be clean enough. It's best to decide on who does what together so that no one feels inclined to complain later. The following list provides a guideline for the timeframe when creating your house cleaning plan:
- Daily
Wash dishes, clean out dishwasher, wipe down surfaces, dispose of rubbish, put away clothes - Weekly
Clean bathroom, vacuum, mop floors, dust, empty rubbish - Monthly
Clean fridge, clean oven, clean windows, and mirrors, sweep patio or balcony - As needed
Wipe cabinets, descale appliances to remove limescale, wash home textiles
Now it's time to get down to business. Before you draw up the cleaning schedule, it’s best to assign a colour to each housemate or family member. Then you can always clearly see who is doing which task. If you hang up your cleaning rota, it’ll be easy to see who needs to do what: The refrigerator door or a free wall next to the stove or in the entrance area is ideal.
What the cleaning schedule looks like is up to you and your creativity. A calendar with a column for each task area is particularly clear. Depending on the defined period, you then enter the name of the person whose turn it is on that day in colour. This gives you the opportunity to clearly define the tasks in advance and also to take into account individual appointments, such as vacations or trips. Alternatively, you could create a “cleaning clock” for the house cleaning plan. To do this, divide a circular piece of cardboard into different segments that correspond to chores. Using peg or clips marked with names, you can then spontaneously determine whose turn it is next.
For all the cleaning tips you might need check out our other articles on how to clean windows, how to clean floors and how to clean a ceramic hob.
0
Comments