How a Cleaning Planner Can Save Your Saturdays

Let this printable cleaning planner help you organize your house cleaning routine!

You make it all the way through the week and it's finally Saturday. A day that should be reserved for parties and picnics, for hanging out in the backyard or snuggling on the couch for a movie marathon. But instead, you are lugging out the vacuum and preparing to brave a week's worth of dust, dirt, and grime. This is how I used to spend my Saturdays, until I realized that there was a better way.

With two kids, two dogs, and a cat in the house, I have plenty to clean (and not a lot of time to do it). But once I got organized with a solid routine and a cleaning planner, I saved my Saturdays without sacrificing a clean house. Do you want your Saturdays back? It's easier than you think.

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Start with a Cleaning Planner

If you are going to start a cleaning routine and save your Saturdays you need a place to organize all of your tasks. This is where the cleaning planner is key. Inside, you'll find everything you need to create your perfect schedule, track your tasks by day, week, and month, and keep tabs on your deep cleaning and decluttering projects. My cleaning planner is perfect for organizing all of this and more! It includes 146 total pages, ready to print for an entire year of a clean and organized home.

You'll get:

• 12 months at a glance: these undated calendars allow you to start anytime
• Weekly cleaning schedule page
• Weekly laundry schedule with deep cleaning checklist
• Specialty cleaning checklists for decluttering, spring cleaning, laundry, and holiday cleaning. 

Preview some of the pages here:

Buy the Cleaning Planner on Amazon now.

Or, grab a printable copy by clicking here and keep reading to see how to use it to create a cleaning routine that works for you.

Finding Your New Routine

Once you have your cleaning planner in hand, you can use it to create a cleaning routine that works for you. A cleaning routine is not a one size fits all idea, as every house, family, and schedule is different. But there are a few steps that everyone can take to find their perfect fit.

Start by listing out your daily tasks.

There are a few things that you need to do every day to keep your house clean and organized. I share the 5 things that I do every day here, and I've included this in the cleaning planner for you too. My list is a great place to start, but you can add or change any other tasks that you need to do daily.

Now write down everything that you want to clean weekly.

Make a new list of the cleaning chores that you need to accomplish on a weekly basis. This will make up the bulk of your cleaning, and will likely include:

• Bathrooms: shower/tub, vanity, toilet, floors. Replacing towels and toiletries as needed.
• Kitchen: wiping down appliances, cleaning the sink, disinfecting countertops, cleaning the table and eating area, mopping the floor, cleaning any pet eating areas.
• Bedrooms: dusting surfaces, wiping down handles and light switches, changing linens, putting away clothes, shoes, etc., vacuuming.
• Family Rooms/Home Office: dusting surfaces, electronics, and decor, wiping down light switches and door handles, straightening and organizing, vacuuming.
• Playroom: organizing toys, dusting, wiping down any surfaces that need disinfecting, vacuuming.

This is just a basic list - yours may include more or less things depending on your home and family.

Now make your deep cleaning list.

These are the things that you clean monthly or seasonally. Your cleaning planner includes a spring cleaning checklist with more than 70 things that you should be deep cleaning, as well as a laundry schedule with items that need to be washed regularly. Use these as a guide as you create your deep cleaning plan.

Using Your Planner

Now that you have your daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, you need to create your routine. Start with your weekly tasks - these are the majority of your cleaning projects. There are two ways to tackle these chores - by room or by task.

If you choose to clean by room, then you will plan to fully clean one or more rooms each cleaning day. A sample schedule by room would look like this:

If you clean by task, you will do all of one type of cleaning in every room at one time. A task oriented cleaning plan looks like this:

Once your weekly schedule is set, you can move on to your daily tasks. Use the daily to do list to write what you're doing each day (with my suggestions already in place) along with any deep cleaning tasks you may decide to tackle as well. Use the monthly calendar and the checklists to assign these extra tasks throughout the month.

The cleaning planner also includes a schedule for your laundry, and specialized checklists for holiday cleaning, decluttering, and more. Remember - the less you have, the less you need to clean!

Did you know you can resize this planner to fit in your favorite Happy Planner? See how here!

It may take a little time to get into the groove with a new routine, and as your family life changes, you may find that you need to change your schedule too. That's OK! As my boys have grown, stopped napping, and headed to school, our daily schedules have changed too. The key to your routine is that it works for you, to make you feel more organized so that you can enjoy your family time.

Are you looking for more ways to organize your life so you can enjoy your family? Check out all my organizing tips here and visit my planner shop for even more planners, checklists, and organizing essentials!