Some chores can be tackled a little less often than doing the dishes and laundry, for example, but a few types of chores still need to be done weekly. Depending on your home and family situation, waiting longer than a week to do certain chores could result in bigger messes to fix and clean. Organizing a household chore list or schedule can make cleaning more manageable and help you remember when each chore needs to be done.
Weekly Household Chore List
How do you make a chores list that keeps it simple? You can make daily, weekly, monthly, or seasonal lists or combine them all into one. But if you want to make it easier on yourself, remember these top three weekly chores to help streamline your cleaning schedule:
- Vacuuming
- Dusting
- Spot cleaning
If you remember only these three weekly chores, your home will remain relatively clean, and we'll show you how to accomplish each task with ease.
Vacuuming
Vacuuming your home every week prevents the buildup of dust and grime, which can trigger allergies and respiratory issues for your family and guests. While high-traffic areas may need to be vacuumed daily, other areas of the home need a good once-over weekly. The benefit? Vacuuming flooring adds years to the life of your floors.
Don't forget to vacuum:
- Carpets
- Area rugs
- Hard-surface flooring (disengage the beater bar for most hard flooring)
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The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Dusting
Dust is not merely dust: it's a mixture of dead skin and hair cells, bacteria, dust mites and other dead bug parts, dirt particles, and microscopic bits of plastic and other random fibers. Letting dust collect in your home leads to breathing issues, makes surfaces appear dull, and causes musty odors. A good weekly dusting prevents the need to wipe away layers of accumulating and damaging dust.
Don't forget to dust:
- Wall coverings
- Hard-to-reach places, like corners and under furniture
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The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
Spot Cleaning
There are some areas of our homes that receive frequent use and need to be tended to weekly. If something you cleaned last week is still spotless, don't worry about it. You may be able to move that chore over to your monthly schedule.
Don't forget to:
- Clean entry and patio doors
- Clean and shake outdoor mats
- Straighten bookshelves, books, and magazines
- Clean bathrooms
- Change linens in all rooms
- Clean the kitchen sink
- Clean the toaster
- Wipe down stovetops
- Wipe down kitchen appliances
- Clean the microwave (inside and out)
- Spot clean walls
- Clean the inside of the fridge
- Gather and take out the trash
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The Spruce / Letícia Almeida
The Top 10 Chores To Do Around the House
Ten chores would be ideal, but there always seems to be more. However, here's a broad sweep of the top 10 categories of chores that embrace daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal tasks:
- Laundry (washing clothing and bedding, folding, storing)
- Tidying (decluttering, organizing, spot cleaning, vacuuming, dusting)
- Meal prep (planning, grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning up, washing dishes)
- Bathroom duty (cleaning toilet, sink, tub, floors, organizing)
- Kitchen duty (cleaning fridge, appliances, floors, cabinets)
- Pet care (feeding, walking, grooming)
- Garden and yard care (weeding, trimming, pruning, watering, lawn mowing)
- Car care (washing, tidying, maintaining upholstery)
- Exterior home care (window-washing, cleaning outdoor furniture and gutters, general maintenance)
- Interior home care (cleaning carpets, upholstery, window coverings)
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What's an example of a list of chores for each day of the week?
Experiment by writing the days of the week and plugging in a couple of chores (assign chores to family members if you choose). Here's a basic example but yours will fit your family and lifestyle:
- Monday: Change bed sheets and bathroom towels
- Tuesday: Dust, vacuum, and spot clean downstairs
- Wednesday: Dust, vacuum, and spot clean upstairs
- Thursday: Scrub down the bathroom(s), brush down the cat
- Friday: Take out the trash and food shop
- Saturday: Grocery shop, lawn and weed care, water plants
- Sunday: Tidy up, organize, and plan next week's meals
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What cleaning chores should be done every day?
There are four very simple daily cleaning chores to keep you and your home on track:
- Clean the dishes
- Tackle a little laundry
- Tidy up
- File papers
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Is there a template I can use to make a chore list?
There are many charts and templates you can use to make a customized chore list for your and your family's needs, or you can adapt one to better fit your lifestyle.