The kitchen is one of the hardest areas of the house to keep clean. There’s just so much to do—from washing the dishes, to cleaning out the microwave, to mopping the floors—that it can be overwhelming.
It can be tempting to let cleaning the kitchen slide. But, if you do that, the mess will just keep piling up higher and higher and, when you finally get around to dealing with it, you’ll find yourself stuck in a marathon cleaning session.
Creating a kitchen cleaning schedule can make keeping your kitchen spic-and-span both easier and less overwhelming. And you can do it in four easy steps.
Step 1: Make a List of Kitchen Chores
Grab a pen and a piece of paper, and make a list of chores that need to be done to keep your kitchen in tip top shape.
Write down every chore that pops into your head. Some of the kitchen cleaning tasks that might end up on your list can include:
- Stacking the dishwasher
- Washing the dishes that don’t go into the dishwasher
- Un-stacking the dishwasher
- Sweeping the floor
- Mopping the floor
- Cleaning out the sink
- Cleaning out the refrigerator
- Wiping the counters
- Polishing your stovetop
- Cleaning the kitchen trash cans
- Cleaning out your microwave
Think you’re forgetting something. Don’t worry about it. You can always add to the list later as more kitchen chores occur to you.
Step 2: Determine the Least You Can Do Every Day
Chances are there are chores on your list that don’t need to be done every day. But which chores do need to be done daily?
That’s step two. Ask yourself, “What is the absolute least I can do to keep my kitchen looking presentable on a daily basis?” Make a checkmark next to each chore that qualifies. Your daily list might look something like this:
- Un-stack the dishwasher
- Stack the dishwasher
- Wash dishes that don’t go into the dishwasher
- Wipe the counters
- Sweep the floor
You might find the list of things you absolutely have to do every day to keep your kitchen clean is surprisingly short. Ideally, you want to be able to do the daily chores in 30 minutes or less.
Step 3: Things You Can Do Once a Week
Now that you’ve made a list of daily kitchen cleaning chores, it’s time to make a schedule for your weekly chores.
Doing the big kitchen chores (like mopping the floor and cleaning out the fridge) all at once can take quite a bit of time and energy. That’s why you’re going to spread those chores out over the week.
First, make a list of up to 5 kitchen chores you’d like to complete every week. Next, write the days of the week down the side of a sheet of paper. Finally, plug those weekly chores into the days when they’d be most convenient. For example:
- Monday: Mop kitchen floor
- Tuesday: Clean old food out of fridge
- Wednesday: Polish stovetop
- Thursday: Clean out the microwave
And so on.
Knowing exactly what you’re going to be doing every day will keep kitchen cleaning from becoming too overwhelming. Just make sure you leave a few days free in your weekly schedule for the next step.
Step 4: List Your Infrequent Chores
There are probably things you only need to do every other week, or even only once a month. These more infrequent chores can be easy to forget about. And, even if you don’t forget about them, you might find yourself putting them off with one excuse or another. Adding these chores to your schedule make them harder to “forget.”
Some of the things you might only need to do every 2 to 4 weeks can include:
- Cleaning the kitchen trash cans
- Scrubbing out the fridge
- Cleaning your dishwasher
There are two things you can do to make sure these tasks get done. First, spread them out. Instead of trying to do them all on the same day, or even all in the same week, you can do one of these chores this week, another next week, and another the week after that.
Next, add these chores to your weekly schedule. Remember those days you left free? Well you’re going to schedule bi-weekly or monthly chores for those days.
So your cleaning kitchen schedule might look something like this:
- Daily Chores
- Un-stack the dishwasher
- Stack the dishwasher
- Wash dishes that don’t go into the dishwasher
- Wipe the counters
- Sweep the floor
- Weekly Cleaning Schedule
- Monday: Mop kitchen floor
- Tuesday: Clean old food out of fridge
- Wednesday: Polish stovetop
- Thursday: Clean out the microwave
- Friday: Clean out the oven
When you choose a specific day to complete a particular household chore, they are more likely to actually get done. And, by spreading the chores out, you can keep your kitchen clean and organized without running yourself ragged.
