The Ultimate Guide to Housekeeping

What is Housekeeping?

Housekeeping means managing the chores and duties involved in running the household like cooking, cleaning, shopping, home maintenance, and timely bill payment. These household tasks can be performed by a member of the family or any person particularly hired for housekeeping. Housekeeping term is used for the allocated money to the housekeeper. 

Tacking the duties and chores of a dirty and messy house can be overwhelming. You can see so much work that needs to be finished, but dropping onto the couch and binge-watching the tv seems much easier. The more you will ignore these chores, the more they will pile up.

To help tackle the problem, you can make a housekeeping list for a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis. You can break every task into small steps that can be finished quickly to control the mess. 

Don’t shy from taking the help of your family members. Diving chores will tech the family members sense of responsibility. Young kids up to the age of 4-5 can start helping you with small and easy chores like sorting toys and clothes, keeping their books in place. Doing household chores will also burn calories, so here you have a plus point.

Here we have shared a thorough house cleaning guide involving housekeeping basics, housekeeping rules, housekeeping for dummies, and many more to help you start housekeeping on an easy note.

Daily Housekeeping Chores

The daily housekeeper chores involve tasks that should be finished every day to keep the house in order and prevent the future mess of things getting out of control. Some chores should be finished in the morning itself, and some can be done throughout the day along with other activities, then there are some chores that you need to finish at night, so when you wake up, you have proper order in your home and no mess.

Kitchen

• The first and the most important thing to do is to eliminate all the dirty dishes. Whether you use a dishwasher or just hand wash the dishes, you should clean them after every meal and snack to prevent a pile of dishes later at the end of the day. You should not leave dirty dishes at the counter or in the sink to do later. Also, make sure you clean the sink properly every day.
• The second important part of kitchen cleaning is decluttering the kitchen counter- you should always de-crumb or declutter the counter after preparing food. Wipe the countertops and put everything away in its place, clan the appliances used to get rid of spills and crumbs.
• Mopping and sweeping the kitchen floor is equally important as cleaning the countertops. The kitchen is the most used part of the house, and the floor is proof of this. You should clean if any spill immediately and also remembers to get rid of the crumbs.
• Keep a check on your trash bin. Recycling, compost, and timely emptying the trash can are necessary. You need to clean the trash every day to prevent pests and keep your house smelling fresh.

Bedroom

• Making the bed. Every day after you wake up, you should make your bed. Fluff the pillows, spread your bed-sheets, choose linen; it is easy to spread.
• Keep the clothes in the cupboard. Keep all your clean clothes in the cupboard and drawers. If there is a pile of dirty clothes, keeps them in the laundry room to wash.
• Checking the laundry hamper is necessary. As per the house needs, you may have to do the laundry daily as well. If you deal with the laundry every day, it will be easier for you rather than doing it once a week.
• Keeping the things in their place. If the dishes and coffee mugs have been lying around in the bedroom, clean them, and keep them at their respective place in the kitchen. Make sure you teach your kids to keep their books, toys, and other belongings at the right place so that they can find them easily when they need it.

Bathroom

• Keeping the shower area dry after each bath should be taken care of. Using a towel, wipe down the shower stall walls, shower door, and the bathtub to prevent the build-up of soap scumb and to avoid water spots. You can keep the shower curtains closed to dry it quickly.
• Wipe and dry the bathroom fixtures after every use. Wipe the faucets, counters, and sinks using a towel or disinfectant wiper to get rid of any spills and spatters.
• Hang up any damp towel and bathmats to dry them as quickly as possible. This will prevent any possible growth of mildew.

Living Rooms and Entry Areas

• Put all the things away at their places before you leave a room like books, toys, dishes that have have been used throughout the day.
• Clean up any mess in the room using a vacuum cleaner or wipe down the table and floors to remove spills.
• Always check your mails, bills, schoolwork, and periodicals timely and deal with them as soon as possible bu filling, reading, and paying bills on time.

Weekly Chores

If you follow the daily housekeeping guide properly, weekly chores will not be as daunting. Many tasks are very simple and thorough of the everyday tasks that you do. You shouldn’t have a mountain of bills and mails and sink full of dirty undone dishes, dirty floor, and a pile of dirty laundry.

You don’t have to finish the weekly chores in one day; instead, spread them and divide for different days, so you get at least one chore-free day to relax.

Kitchen

• Clean the surface and disinfect everything. You can use a disinfectant wipe to wipe the countertops, appliances, cabinet doors, touch screens, and hardware to kill bacteria.
• Check if the refrigerator needs cleaning too. Take out some time to toss any spoiled foods and leftovers. Wipe down bins and shelves using disinfectant wipes.
• Clean the kitchen floor thoroughly to get rid of spills and dirt.

Bedrooms

• Change your sheets every week and clean the dirty ones. Also, make sure you change the pillow covers.
• Gather all your dirty clothes and take them for laundry. If all your clothes are out of the laundry hamper, then sort your clothes and start washing.
• Clean all the surfaces in the room. Start by dusting and then vacuum the floors.

Bathrooms

• Its time to scrub the fixtures in the bathroom like sinks, counters, toilets, shower stalls, and bathtubs to get rid of soap scumb if any and to prevent bacteria and mold growth. Get rid of all the hair stuck in the drains. Clean the mirrors and make them shine.
• Gather all the dirty towels, shower curtains, and bath mats and wash them clean.

Living and Entry Areas

• Clean every surface of the house and also the floor. Make sure you dust all the books in the bookcase and also wipe the fan blades. Mop the floor or vacuum.
• Disinfect all the equipment like game controllers, remotes, speakers, etc. you should only use disinfectant wipes that are meant for electronic items.
• Clean any mess and items tossed around in the room. All the items that do not belong in the room should be returned to their respective place.

Monthly Chores

Now that you are becoming a pro at handling the daily chores and weekly chores and keep your home clean and orderly, you need to take care of some monthly tasks as well. These tasks might require an extra bit of time and effort but are important as well.

The deep cleaning tasks will help in keeping the daily upkeep easy, and the furniture and other furnishings will look better, and their shelf life will also increase. This way, you will also be able to keep any allergens away from your home.

Kitchen

• Check oven, stove, refrigerator, and coffee maker. Once in a month, you should take out some time to check the oven, stovetop drip pans, and other filters for cleaning requirements. If the refrigerator has spills inside you, need to clean that too thoroughly. If you use other kitchen appliances like a waffle iron, coffee maker, instant pot, toaster, you need to clean them nicely to remove water scale.
• Dishwasher cleans all your dishes, but you need to clean the dishwasher as well. Think of all the food and grease that gets stuck in the dishwasher. You need to clean the dishwasher thoroughly at least once a month to get properly cleaned and fresh smelling dishes. You can also clean workhorse and clothes washer.
• Scrub the trash bins. Even if your trash bins are protected with trash bags, they still need cleaning. Trash bins and recycle bins get Grimey pretty easily and require good scrubbing using a disinfectant.

Bedroom

• Organize your drawers and closet to keep your clothes neat, wrinkle-free, and in place. Take out garments that require mending or need to be sent to the dry cleaners or donated at the charity.
• Do not neglect cleaning under your bed. If you do not vacuum under the bed weekly, then make sure you do at least once a month. You will see that a lot of dust and dirt get collected under the bed and other furniture.

 

Bathroom

• Deep clean the bathroom once a month. The bathroom will be in good shape if you clean it weekly, but you need to take some time out of your routine clean the grooming tools, and disinfect them to prevent any mildew, mold, or bacteria growth. Check other surfaces as well and scrub nicely to clean.

Living and Entry Areas

Clean all the furniture in the living room. Vacuum the upholstered furniture properly, including the cushions. Polish and dust the wooden finishes and you can also condition the leather to keep it supple.

• Look all around you and clean everything that looks dirty. Check the corners, fan blades and light fixtures for dust, spiderwebs and dead insects. Move the furniture if required and clean behind and underneath them.
• Do not neglect small things. Light boards and switches tend to get dirty and collect grime overtime. Also, pay attention to window ledges, door jambs, and baseboards and wipe them clean.
• Prevent the dirt from getting collected inside your house. Check the entryways and doormats and clean them nicely. Doormats tend to collect dirt from our dirty shoes, and this dirt gets tracked inside our house. You should clean them nicely from time to time.

Seasonal Chores of Housekeeping

Some chores in the house need to be tackled, only seasonally or once a year. You can do these chores whenever convenient for you.

Kitchen

• If possible, do it more than once, but at least once a year, run your eyes through the kitchen cabinets and food storage area. Church for expired food and spoiled food items and discard them. If there are any small appliances that you do not need or use, donate them.

Bedroom

• Your mattress needs to be cleaned thoroughly at least once a year to get rid of dust and mites—clean bed coverings, pillows, and also window treatments.
• Empty your closets at least once a year and sort out things and toss expired and unnecessary things. Vacuum and dust the drawers and closets properly. Sort all the clothing, toys, accessories, and you can donate all the things that are in good shape, and you do not need them.

Bathroom

• Check all your beauty products and medical supplies. Toss if any product or medicine is expired. Check the label properly.
• Take a look at the bathroom fixtures and inspect them properly. Check for any leakage under the sink. This will you a headache and money later.

Living Areas

• Clean hardware and carpets. You can also hire a professional to clean the carpet or do it yourself using steam cleaners for large rugs and carpets. Mop the hardware floor to maintaining their shine.
• You need to wash the windows thoroughly inside and even outside. Clean the window screens, and you can even vacuum.