Figuring out a cleaning schedule is something I've been trying to do for a while – and it was only when I committed to cleaning something every day of the week that I began to see a difference.
Now, cleaning my home feels a lot more manageable and I don't end up feeling guilty for the things I don't clean on a certain day, because I know I'll get round to it on another one.
But, deciding what to clean on a particular day was where I started to get a bit overwhelmed. So, I turned to the experts to find out exactly what they suggest we should be cleaning throughout the week and why. And Monday seemed like the perfect day to consider.
Monday's a fresh start to the week and getting ahead can feel really productive. Plus, if your house is like mine, Monday is also a great day to clean up after the weekend. There's mess left over, but there's also less hands and feet constantly making more mess! Here's the expert advice that's changed my cleaning routine for the better.
1. Laundry
I've got a busy household and that means a lot of laundry. But, while I put on a wash pretty much everyday of the week, there's more to doing the laundry than just throwing it all in the washing machine, right?
As Petya Holevich, a house cleaning expert and supervisor at Fantastic Services, explains: "Wash, dry, fold and put away the clothes and bedding to start the week fresh." And if I tell myself I'm going to complete everything on one day, it gets done.
For Petya it's all about breaking down chores into small daily actions: "Group similar tasks together, such as dusting, vacuuming and laundry on designed days, so you don't waste time switching tools or lose focus."
2. Kitchen reset
Over the weekend, the kitchen probably gets the most use. So, understandably, it gets pretty untidy and that's not exactly a mess you want to deal with when you're trying to enjoy your weekend.
But, with a simple reset, you can get your kitchen clean in no time at all and enjoy the sparkling surfaces for the rest of the week.
Elena Navarro, a cleaning expert and professional organizer at Sparkly Maid Austin says a kitchen reset should include: "wiping down surfaces, the sink and appliances."
With Monday as the main kitchen reset day, Elena also has "tiny daily habits that run automatically such as clearing kitchen counters, washing the dishes and doing an evening pick-up of about 5-10 minutes in common spaces." And that makes cleaning the kitchen on a Monday a whole lot easier.
3. Bedrooms
Over the weekend, we also (hopefully) spend more time in our bedrooms having a lie-in or relaxing with no deadline forcing us out, like getting to work or dropping the kids at school.
As a busy mom of 3, Carol Mehas, cleaning expert and founder of arBOUR, says cleaning the bedrooms weekly is a "non-negotiable way to keep our mind and body healthy".
And Petya adds, it can be simply that you "make the beds and tidy the bedrooms each morning to keep linens in good condition and prevent clutter from accumulating."
And I can't think of a better time to strip the bedsheets and dust down the bedrooms than on a Monday when we could all do with some fresh sheets to crawl back into after a hard first day of the week.
4. Countertops
A really interesting approach for daily scheduled cleaning comes from Chris Willatt, owner of Alpine Maids. For Chris, it's all about cleaning top to bottom: "The cleaning tasks at higher points in your home need to be completed before cleaning the lower points. This means you will dust and wipe down your ceiling fans and countertops on Monday and Tuesday."
Then, as you work your way through the week, you also work your way down your home from walls to floorboards, avoiding the need to re-clean anything if the dust falls from higher up.
And that's why I like to dust down the countertops throughout my home from sideboards to bedframes. Any surface high up gets a dust on a Monday and I can deal with the floors later in the week.
5. Bathrooms
For me, bathrooms are another weekly non-negotiable that are crying out for a good clean and, similarly to other items on this list, I choose the bathrooms because after a busy weekend where they've definitely gotten more use.
Firstly, there's no kids running around while I'm trying to handle wiping down the toilets, sinks and bathtub. Secondly, because I've got a little more time to get them clean if I do it first thing.
And it seems Chris agrees: "I always recommend focusing on the rooms you use the most first. The purpose of cleaning is to make the place you live more comfortable for you, and you will feel better about cleaning other areas of the home if the places you spend the most time in are clean earlier in the week."
6. Bins
Finally, this one depends on your personal schedule, but with a fair few 'heavier' tasks earmarked for a Monday, a simple job like emptying the bins and maybe even refreshing them with some hot soapy water is a task that can be easily achieved at the beginning of the week.
Elena recommends that it's best to "set the larger cleaning tasks to match your own lifestyle," so if you know you're not going to be at home as much on a Monday, something like cleaning the bins can be a great task to do.
And while I've found it extremely helpful to have a cleaning schedule, if I miss a day, Elena says to mark it down as a "slide to tomorrow" rather than as a failure. So, if you miss anything on this list, it can always be allocated to another day that works best for you.
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