Stay-at-Home Mom Cleaning Schedule

_{Trying to keep up with housework as a stay-at-home mom can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! This free printable cleaning schedule will help you get your home clean and tidy in under 30 minutes a day!}

The mess was overwhelming. As a mom of two young boys, I felt like I spent my entire day putting out fires (not literally, thank God!) and running from mess to mess.

Between picking up Lego, cleaning up spilled cereal, and washing endless loads of laundry, I had no time for basic chores like dusting furniture or cleaning toilets.

By the time my boys were in bed, I was exhausted, and really just needed some quiet downtime. I didn’t feel like going through {another} marathon cleaning schedule, just to start all over again tomorrow.

Fast forward about 3 years. I’m still a stay-at-home mom, but I also run my own business, homeschool my boys, and have time for my hobbies like sewing or reading.

What changed? I learned how to create a cleaning schedule for stay-at-home moms that works. My cleaning routine usually takes under 30 minutes a day–sometimes much less.

Read on to see the daily cleaning schedule that works for me in just a few minutes a day!

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In This Post

How Many Hours Does a Stay-at-Home Mom Clean?

It’s no secret that the majority of stay-at-home moms (SAHMs) feel like they’re constantly cleaning up after their kids. In fact, one study found that the average SAHM spends nearly 97 hours a week on tasks like cleaning, laundry, and housekeeping! That’s more than double the amount of time you’d spend at a full-time job!

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way! You can create a realistic sahm cleaning schedule that allows you plenty of time to still enjoy the life you love.

The first step in creating a cleaning schedule for stay-at-home moms is understanding how much time you realistically have to clean.

For example, if you’re up at the crack of dawn to get everyone out the door for school and activities, you’re not going to have time for a two-hour cleaning session first thing in the morning.

I’m a night owl, so my best cleaning time is after the boys are in bed. But if you’re a morning person, that might be the best time for you to clean.

Or, if your kids are small, you might be able to break up your tasks during naptime.

No matter when you do it, keeping your house clean doesn’t need to take hours. Some days may take a little longer, but it won’t have to take up all of your spare time.

Should a Stay-at-Home Mom Keep Her House Clean?

Our social media-crazed world loves little quotes that can be shared easily on an Instagram square. But just because it’s catchy, doesn’t mean it’s true.

See if you’ve heard any of these:

Your kids are only little once. Enjoy the time with them now. You can clean when they’re grown.
Pardon our mess, our kids are making memories.
A messy house is a sign of happy kids.
This is what “real life” looks like.

However, all of those statements are false. Having a clean home does matter.

Raising your kids to think it’s okay not to clean, does them a disservice. In fact, one of the most important parts of being a parent is teaching your kids to be responsible, functioning members of society. Part of that process involves showing them valuable life skills, like how to do household chores.

A clean house used to be a sign of a woman who loved her family and took pride in her home. But suddenly, having a clean home is somehow seen as negative. If a woman has a tidy house she must be uptight and her family must be miserable. She obviously spends all her time cleaning and she’s a fake.

Instead, we get social media posts showing us what “real” life is like: sinks full of dirty dishes, clutter on all the countertops, and toys all over the floor. Overflowing garbage cans, kids eating off the kitchen floor, unmade beds, and piles of laundry on the furniture are the new acceptable norms for busy moms.

But that is just not true. Not only does keeping a clean house help improve your mental health, make life simpler, and give you peace of mind, it is what God calls us to do as women.

The Good News of the Gospel for Women Who Hate to Clean

One thing I will never understand is people who love to clean. I do not like it. However, I do like to live in a tidy house, so I clean it. In Titus 2:5, God instructs older women to be “keepers at home.” While it is commonly believed Paul was instructing women to only be homemakers, it’s deeper than that.

Men don’t have a command from God to take care of the home. Why? Because men just don’t see the mess like women do! Trust me when I say that what my husband thinks is clean and what I think is clean are two very different things!

As women, we are nurturers and caregivers. It’s part of who He made us to be. There is no shame in being a woman who keeps a clean home.

The good news of the gospel is that what Jesus did on the cross changes everything for us. Because of His work, we give everything we have to Him. Yes, even the seemingly unimportant things like washing dishes, mopping the floor, or folding laundry.

When you change your perspective to see that everything you do is for Him, it becomes important. Yep, even scrubbing the toilet matters when you’re doing it for Him! So, take heart, even if you hate to clean! Jesus sees your labor of love and He will reward you in due time! (Hebrews 6:10)

The Best Schedule for House Cleaning

While I wish I could be the Proverbs 31 woman who seems to really love cleaning the house, I’m not. I need some encouragement to actually get my work done. For me, that involves creating a cleaning schedule to keep my house clean quickly.

The best cleaning schedule is actually a simple routine that you follow every day. Break your cleaning chores into daily tasks, weekly tasks, and monthly tasks. Occasionally, you’ll need to throw in some deep-cleaning tasks, too.

But when you have daily routines, the work never becomes overwhelming, and you’re able to maintain a clean home much more easily.

Daily Cleaning Routine for Stay-at-Home Moms

The daily tasks are the backbone of your SAHM cleaning schedule. Doing these things on a daily basis is a great way to stay on top of the mess and stop it before it starts! These chores should take 15-20 minutes, although they’re probably spread over the whole day.

These are some chores you have to do every day as long as people are living in your house. (Which is probably forever, right?)

Here are my daily cleaning tasks:

Make the beds
Load/Unload the dishwasher
Wipe down counters and surfaces in the kitchen and bathrooms
Sweep crumbs in the kitchen/dining room
Tidy up the living room and common areas
Do one load of laundry

These basic tasks can make all the difference in the atmosphere of your home. Taking care of them every day is not a huge time commitment, but let them slide for several days and you’ll have a huge mess on your hands!

Weekly Cleaning Routine for Stay-at-Home Moms

The weekly cleaning schedule makes all the difference in having a clean home. They will take different amounts of time, depending on the size of your home and family. For instance, mopping the floors in a small house takes a lot less time than in a large one, and washing sheets from two beds is a lot easier than six beds! But overall, these tasks shouldn’t take longer than 30 minutes or so.

Assuming you have 30 minutes a day to dedicate to cleaning, here’s a suggested schedule:

Monday: Cleaning bathrooms
Tuesday: Dusting furniture
Wednesday: Vacuuming
Thursday: Mopping
Friday: Laundry and Catch-up
Saturday and Sunday: Do the daily cleaning tasks

I like having Friday as a buffer day. If I miss any of my weekly cleaning tasks, I can easily do them on Friday without messing up my schedule. I also enjoy having the weekends to spend with my family.

I can also use my weekends for things like decluttering or taking care of seasonal or deep cleaning tasks that take a long time.

Some seasonal cleaning tasks include:

Cleaning windows
Shampooing carpets
Dusting ceiling fans
Organizing closets
Doing a deep clean of the fridge

You may not be able to do these season chores in under 30 minutes, but if you do them consistently, they won’t become overwhelming and take hours every time!

How to Clean Your House Fast

Once you have a basic cleaning schedule in place, there are some easy ways to make your cleaning routine even faster.

Keep cleaning supplies in each room so you don’t have to walk back and forth to get what you need
Put on some upbeat music or an audiobook to stay motivated (I love using Audible for this!)
Set a timer for 20 minutes and see how much you can get done
Get the whole family involved!

With a little bit of planning and effort, you can easily keep your house clean without feeling like it’s taking over your life.

Getting the Kids Involved

For a long time, I put off the idea of giving my kids chores. But eventually, I got overwhelmed trying to do it all on my own. When my family went to bed at night, it took me 15-30 minutes to tidy and clean up after them.

Finally, I gave in and made chore charts. (I bought these from Amazon, and they work great!) I want to give my kids the opportunity to enjoy childhood but also teach them responsibility. Right now, I’m doing this by giving them appropriate chores for their age. They are old enough to empty the dishwasher, sweep the floor, dust the furniture and clean their own bathroom. (Next up, we’re learning laundry!)

It has made a huge difference in our home. Plus, they are earning an allowance, so we have an opportunity to teach them valuable lessons about money management, too. It’s a win-win for all of us!

The Difference Between a Tidy Home and a Clean Home

As a stay-at-home and homeschool mom, it’s really easy to feel like a failure when it comes to having a clean home. You’ve got kids around you pretty much 24/7. And kids are great at making messes.

It’s hard to keep your house clean all the time when kids are always present.

Let me tell you this right now: You can’t always have a tidy house with kids.

Healthy kids play a lot. They have building toys, cars, dolls, art supplies, books, and other crazy random stuff strewn all around the house. And that’s okay. I have accepted that my house will almost never be fully clean while my boys are awake.

But we have learned how to keep the chaos at bay during the day.

Here are a few tips:

Put your cleaning schedule on the fridge and consistently follow it.
Designate specific areas for certain toys.
Put all toys away at the end of the day.
Do a quick pick-up before starting your evening cleaning routine.
Encourage kids to put away toys before getting out new ones.

Remember that clean and tidy are two different things. If you’re tiptoeing around marbles, Lego, and tiny grocery store items, you may feel like your house is always messy.

The most important thing is that your house is clean even if it isn’t tidy. When the clutter is put away at the end of the day, you can have a clean house underneath it all!

Put It Into Practice

If you’re like me and need some motivation to get you going, having a cleaning checklist is a great idea to keep up with your daily schedule.

I have created a simple cleaning schedule that I follow every day. It’s simple and it only takes 30 minutes or less to complete.

Download the cleaning schedule here.

You can use my exact schedule, or get a blank template and make one that works best for you!

I hope these tips help you keep your house clean while saving your time and sanity. And don’t forget–it all matters!

How Every SAHM Can Keep a Clean House in 30 Minutes a Day (+free cleaning schedule)