Downloadable Room-by-Room House Cleaning Checklist

Spring cleaning? Busy life, and just need to stay organized? Want to give the kids a little responsibility with a chores list? Or, do you just live for checklists and calendars (we know… that feeling of crossing things off the list is insatiable)?

All professional cleaners know that the best way to clean a house is to create a system or a cleaning plan that makes it extraordinarily easy when it comes time to scrub. Heck, even our Braava^® robot mops and Roomba^® robot vacuums map your floor and create cleaning schedules. It just makes sense.

Today, we’re helping you map out your home cleaning with a room-by-room and whole-home house cleaning checklist that you can adjust to your home’s specific needs. (Our free downloadable is available to print at the bottom of this blog.)

House Cleaning Tips: Before You Start

Most of us learned how to maintain a clean home from watching our parents or grandparents (or YouTube videos…), but sometimes we just miss out on some of the best cleaning tips out there.

Here are some of our top tips for cleaning your house:

1. Start cleaning from the top to the bottom and from the left to the right. When you clean from all over the place you forget things, and often get things dirty after you clean something (ex. If you clean the floors before the ceiling fan or light fixtures, then all the dust will dirty your floor). Commit this pattern to memory.
2. Put all of your products in the center of the space you’re cleaning. This way you’re not running around looking for things, forgetting things. You’ll also have everything within reach.
3. Don’t spray and wipe. Let the product you’re using sit on the surface for a bit and then you can wipe it off (in about 5-10 minutes).
4. The only time you truly need ultra-strong and chemical-filled products is if there’s a serious spill or mess (for example, vomit, or grease buildup). Most gentle, plant-based, or even DIY cleaners like baking soda and vinegar (which is very effective for your oven door) will work well. Your home likely isn’t as dirty as you may think it is, and gentle cleaners can work really well for those everyday messes.
5. Crouch down to eye level, to the surface you’ve just cleaned, to see if there’s anything you’ve missed. Sometimes, with your granite or tile, you can’t see the messes as well due to the patterns. So get eye-level with it.
6. Use the S-pattern, or really a zig-zag pattern to clean surfaces. Cleaning in a circular motion –which is most common – just spreads messes around. The zig-zag pattern makes sure you clean everything from top to bottom.

What Should A House Cleaning Checklist Include?

What you put on your house cleaning list greatly depends on what you’re using it for, whether it’s for a routine cleaning or those yearly and odd to-do list items that aren’t often top-of-mind.

For some people, a checklist or schedule isn’t all that necessary, and daily cleaning is just something already built into your routine. So unless you’re creating a cleaning checklist for other family members (namely children adjusting to chores), you may not need a cleaning checklist.

But you certainly need a deep cleaning checklist or maybe even a weekend house cleaning schedule to make sure you don’t miss those less obvious items, including:

• Cleaning the dryer vent
• Cleaning refrigerator coils
• Emptying the food trappers in your dishwasher
• Scrubbing out and organizing the fridge
• Replacing your air filters
• Washing your mattress (yep, you should do that)
• Whipping out your wet vac for your upholstery

These aren’t common items – and this isn’t a complete list either – and they’re easy to miss without a checklist or some kind of house cleaning calendar.

That’s why we’re providing you the detailed lists of things to clean in your home for every kind of schedule, below.

House Cleaning Supplies Checklist

No doubt, the space under your bathroom and kitchen sinks are already loaded with different kinds of cleaning supplies – from bleach and dish soap to toilet bowl cleaner and that bent-out-of-shape toothbrush you sometimes use to clean your grout.

Nonetheless, you might be missing some key cleaning products (all-purpose cleaner is a godsend).

Here’s our list of all of the cleaning products you really need in your home:

• Disinfectant
• Stain Remover Bars
• Laundry Whitener
• Stainless Steel Cleaner
• Extend Duster
• Hot Iron Cleaner
• Dry Cleaner
• Hanging Moisture Absorber
• Concentrated Cleaner
• Bona^® Hardwood Floor Cleaner (the best hardwood floor cleaner out there)
• Braava^® Robot Mop
• Roomba^® Robot Vacuum Cleaner
• Microfiber Cloth

If you’re searching for eco-friendly or more organic or natural cleaners, there are a few really great options that are both good for the environment and for you (but still effective!):

• Dishwashing block
• Laundry strips
• All-purpose cleaner
• Scouring paste

If you already have your favorite cleaners, and you just want a checklist to make sure you always have the right items in your home, we have the cleaning supply checklist you need.

This supplies list has the basic items you need in your home, and a spot to write your favorite cleaning products.

Room-by-room House Cleaning Checklists

Whether you’re building a cleaning plan for the entire house or just trying to keep yourself organized, we’ve created a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly cleaning checklists for your whole house.

Whole House Cleaning Checklist

You don’t have a lot of time to clean every day, but there are just some things you can’t skip without it being a problem – like dishwashing and laundry. (We all know how embarrassing it is to miss laundry day!)

One of the best ways to keep your house tidy and clean every day, until the inevitable and much-needed deep cleaning day, is to “reset” in the morning and at night.

A reset is, essentially, putting everything back where it belongs and getting everything to standard, everyday “clean.” This means all of the dishes are away, there aren’t clothes hanging on top of doors or spread around the floor, you’ve made the bed, etc.

Building these tidying moments into just two parts of your day helps to keep your house generally clean and create a more comfortable environment for you and your family (and keep you from being overwhelmed by all that you need to do).

But sometimes you have to go beyond the daily tidying.

Ideally, you have a more thorough clean once a week (maybe on the weekend) with the whole family. Maybe you crank up the music and assign tasks to each person and knock it all out in an hour.

If weekly cleans don’t work with your schedule, try a really deep clean once a month.

For those other odd cleaning tasks that you don’t need to think about but once a year… we’ve made a list for that too.

Daily General House Cleaning Checklist

If you’re taking those daily moments to clean, whether it’s once in the morning and once at night, or just once when you come home from work, you’ve probably already formed cleaning habits.

These are likely the daily cleaning tasks you’re already doing, and if not, try building them into your routine. They’ll help you feel less overwhelmed on deep cleaning days.

• Load and empty the dishwasher
• Rinse out your sink
• Wipe down your kitchen counters
• Tidy up any loose items
• Make your bed
• Sweep your kitchen floor
• Load and fold the laundry (depending on your household and lifestyle)
• Set your Roomba^® robot vacuum to vacuum your floors throughout the day or at certain times of the day
• Set your Braava^® robot mop to mop floors once your Roomba^® robot vacuum is done

(Check out our blog posts to learn how best to clean your bathroom floors:

• How To Clean Tile Floors 
• How to Clean Hardwood Floors
• How to Clean Laminate Floors
• How to Clean Vinyl Floors
• How To Clean Linoleum Floors)

Some of these items depend on your household. For instance, you could go a whole week without doing a load of laundry, or running a full dishwasher if you’re alone. So, this house cleaning checklist is pretty adaptable.

Also, you can set your schedule for your Roomba^® robot vacuum and Braava^® robot mop once – no need to check in with it every day.

Weekly Cleaning Checklist

This list is a little light and general because we’ll go into more detail for each room in the following sections:

• Dust all of the surfaces in your home
• Vacuum all of the rugs or carpets in your home (or schedule your Roomba^® robot vacuum to automatically do this for you)
• Mop all hard surfaces (or schedule your Braava^® robot mop to automatically do this for you)
• Wipe down all windows
• Dust lamps (and maybe lamp shades), picture frames, and other accessories around your home
• Sanitize light switches, door knobs, cabinet handles and all other surfaces that are touched frequently by the whole household (and guests)

Monthly House Cleaning Checklist

This list will vary depending on your home and lifestyle, and the number of people living with you (and whether or not those people are children – human or furry). But it encompasses far more than your everyday list of chores.

• Wipe down walls for any scuffs, handprints, paint and crayon marks, and other grime
• Clean lights and light covers
• Dust ceiling for cobwebs
• Wipe down the tops of high bookcases and shelves
• Dust your ceiling fans throughout the house
• Clean baseboards around the house
• Dust, or use a broom to swipe through corners and over mouldings
• After removing your trash bag, wash your trash bins inside and out
• Wash window sills and frames (especially inside, where the gunk gets trapped)

Yearly Deep Cleaning House Checklist

Again, this greatly depends on your house or apartment and what’s needed, but this is a good guideline.

• Clean out the vents of your air filters or change the filter
• Clean out your garbage disposal
• Deeply clean tile grout on countertops and floors, and in your shower
• Reseal kitchen and bathroom floor tiles and countertops (and possibly your shower)
• Check your water softeners and refill salt, if needed
• Flush hot water from the water heater to remove sediment
• Change batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• Steam clean carpets
• Clean window screens
• Inspect the exterior of your house for any termite damage
• Power wash your driveway / house siding (if necessary)
• Clean debris out of your gutters

Laundry Room Cleaning Checklist

Just like your bathroom, the laundry room can be a damp place, with damp clothing and towels, and a mix of pleasant and unpleasant smells (especially if you have kids in sports – ew).

Most of the time you won’t need much other than actually running the laundry, but sometimes the water, lint, and detergent builds up and you need to take care of it.

Weekly laundry room cleaning:

A general tidying for the laundry room is usually all that’s needed, but if your laundry is piling up and there’s detergent spilling in high places, you may need a deep cleaning.

• Clean the exterior of your washing machine and dryer
• Wash around the door and gasket of your washer’s interior
• Scrub detergent dispenser
• Clean the washer and dryer drum
• Replace empty containers and refill bottles
• Wipe down counters and declutter
• Clean lint traps

Yearly laundry room cleaning:

Laundry rooms aren’t generally a fun or romantic space, but to keep your machines in top condition and your laundry room clean, you need to do a few things yearly.

• Pull out your washer and dryer and clear out the vents from lint and debris
• Vacuum up lint from behind the dryer
• Run your washer on a cleaning cycle
• Check and clean the seams around the door for mold (particularly for front loaders)

Kitchen Cleaning Checklist

Your kitchen is the heart of your home. It’s the place your family gathers each day (maybe multiple times a day) and holiday, where delicious meals come together, and where memories are made.

But it’s also likely the one place in your home that you’re thoroughly cleaning daily. It’s probably one of the most disgusting areas of your home as well.

Food builds up along baseboards and behind the fridge, in your garbage disposal, and in your dishwashers, grinders, and filters. Then there’s the grease that builds up on your cabinet fronts, lights, top of the fridge, and all over your nick-nacks.

That’s why you need both an everyday routine for cleaning your kitchen, as well as more comprehensive cleaning throughout the year.

Everyday cleaning list

While this list isn’t very extensive, these tasks can be quite taxing because you may have to do them multiple times a day (maybe after every meal and snack and those random late nights when you or your children or partner sneak into the kitchen for a sandwich because you ate breakfast for dinner and are still hungry).

• Load and unload the dishwasher
• Clean your sink
• Clean your stovetop (and wipe down your backsplash) after cooking
• Sweep (and maybe mop) your floors –if that’s something you like to do daily (welcome to our clean freak club!)

Monthly cleaning for those more stubborn messes

Your kitchen can get a little sticky, so it tends to need a more thorough scrubbing and polishing far more often than any other room in the house. Here’s what you should add to the list:

• Polish all stainless steel appliances
• Wipe down the faces of your cabinets
• Clean the interior and exterior of your fridge
• Add a drain cleaner/ deodorizer to your sink and garbage disposal
• Sweep and mop your floors
• Organize pantry and/ or shelves
• Clean out your microwave
• Clean and sanitize your countertops (move all items on your countertops to do so)
• Sanitize your sponge in soapy water or dishwasher or simply replace it
• Descale your coffee maker
• Clean out your Roomba^® robot vacuum’s self-emptying dock (if you’re one of our s Series owners)

Yearly kitchen cleaning checklist

Your kitchen can become gross fast, but there are some tasks you just aren’t going to do regularly. It’s usually the cleaning tasks we really don’t want to do or that take a lot of time and effort – like cleaning all that scum out of the oven. (Here are some oven cleaning hacks, for ya, by the way!)

• Thoroughly clean the inside of your cabinets (and the tops of cabinets if they don’t meet the ceiling)
• Clean the filter of your dishwasher
• Scrub the toaster oven and interior of your regular oven
• Move your fridge out of the way to clear out the junk that fell behind it
• Clean off the top of your fridge
• Soak and scrub the filters of your exhaust hood (if yours has them) and clean the underside of the hood as well

Bathroom Cleaning Checklist

Like your kitchen, the bathroom is one area that can get really messy fast, especially if you have little people using their own toothbrushes and toothpaste and learning to potty train.

Daily cleaning checklist for your bathroom

We’re all in a rush in the morning, so it can get a bit messy each day. The best way to manage it is to tidy up each day.

• Replace shower towels
• Hand loose hand towels
• Wipe down your faucet for countertops from splashes and water
• Straighten bath mats
• Declutter your countertops
• Put toothbrushes in their place
• Clean makeup brushes and put makeup away

Weekly cleaning checklist for the bathroom

Your bathroom is a damp, wet space with a lot of germs, so it needs a good scrubbing at least every week.

• Wash your bath mats (they can soak up a lot of mildew)
• Clean mirrors with glass cleaner
• Scrub your tub/ shower walls and floors
• Wipe down your shower doors
• Clean and sanitize countertops
• Scrub your toilet bowl inside and out (especially the seat)
• Put away any loose items that shouldn’t be on the counters
• Sweep and mop the floors

Yearly bathroom cleaning routine:

In most cases, you’re getting everything you need to with those weekly and monthly cleanings, but there are just a few items you want to make sure you do at least once a year.

• Bleach or replace your shower liner (if you have one)
• Wash your shower curtain (or bleach it if it’s white)
• Throw away expired medicine from your medicine cabinet
• Replace worn out towels

Living Room Cleaning Checklist

While your living area tends to be the epicenter of the home, where the family gathers and relaxes, it’s generally one of the easiest places to keep clean.

In most cases, all you need daily is a bit of tidying up – putting blankets away, pillows in their places, and toys away.

But when it comes to cleaning monthly, and yearly, there are a few things you want to make sure you don’t skip.

Monthly cleaning routine for your living room:

Luckily your living room is an easy room to clean quickly, no matter the time of year.

• Vacuum under couch cushions
• Move furniture to clean behind and under
• Dust the TV and any other surfaces in the living room
• Empty your fireplace of embers (if you have one)

Yearly living room cleaning checklist:

It’s not much, but deeply cleaning your carpets and upholstered furniture is something a lot of people miss. You might not realize how much grime your soft surfaces hold.

Just keep in mind, you may need to deodorize them or even clean them with a detergent if they hold allergen-inducing particles.

• Use a wet vac or upholstery vacuum to clean the couch and any other chairs (and maybe even your curtains)

Bedroom Cleaning Checklist

Like our living rooms, our bedrooms are one of those spaces in our homes that generally don’t need a deep cleaning (unless it’s a teenager’s room, then you might need a hazmat team).

In most cases, it’s general tidying, making the bed, cleaning sheets and blankets, and organizing your closet. Other items, like cleaning carpets or windows, are already listed in your general housekeeping checklist, so we’re foregoing the daily and monthly cleaning lists.

Weekly cleaning tasks for bedrooms:

Most adults use their rooms solely for sleeping, so regular cleaning isn’t all that challenging. For teenagers, it’s a little different.

• Bring a garbage bag and pick up any trash lying around
• Wash all of your bed linens – including pillow cases
• Wash comforters
• Deodorize your carpet (especially you, dog moms!)
• Air out the room for a bit, with windows open
• Take your dirty clothes to the laundry room
• Put the clean clothes away
• Vacuum under the bed for dust bunnies
• General tidying

(You can download a printable bedroom cleaning checklist at the end of this blog – and we left some blank space for you to add any to-cleans your specific home needs.)

Yearly cleaning tasks for the bedroom

There are a few minor things to remember to do each year to ensure your room is always sparkling clean.

• Flip your mattresses (you may want to do this every 6 months)
• Go through closets and get rid of unused clothing to donate
• Use an upholstery cleaner to clean out mites, dead skin cells, and drool stains (we don’t like to think about it, but we know they’re there) from your mattress.

Building an Easy Cleaning Schedule

Our lives are far too busy to be worried about keeping our homes clean all of the time. Building an easy cleaning routine and plan helps you remove a lot of that stress and keep your home tidy throughout the year.

Another way to remove some of the burdens of cleaning is to use smart products to automate your home as much as possible. These days, you can automate things like your coffee maker, your dishwasher, washer and dryer, and even your vacuum and mop (you’re welcome).

Download Your Printable House Cleaning Checklist Here:

(Bonus spring cleaning checklist included!)