Being a working mom makes maintaining a clean home even more difficult of a task than it already is. This simple daily cleaning routine for working moms is super helpful in keeping a clean, comfortable home.
This cleaning schedule is broken down into a prioritized daily cleaning routine that only takes about 30 minutes before and after work.
This will help you not feel like you’re CONSTANTLY having to clean so that you can get some much needed relaxing time with your family. While still having a clean house!
Daily Cleaning Routine For Working Moms
When you’re a busy working mom trying to figure out the best systems for keeping your home clean, it’s important to prioritize tasks.
After my first daughter was born, I was a busy new mom in nursing school and still working part time.
I had to learn to prioritize and narrow down my daily cleaning routine into the top 5 most important tasks.
5 Most Important Daily Cleaning Tasks For Busy Moms
- Dishes
- Laundry
- Vacuum/Sweep
- Make the Bed(s)
- Trash (as needed)
I find that as long as I at least get these 5 main tasks done everyday, our home stays relatively well maintained.
A bonus task that I would add to this list would be an evening general pickup.
During this time I would go around and put away toys and any miscellaneous items that weren’t in their proper place.
This helped to keep our home looking tidy from day to day without me having to spend too much time decluttering.
I still use this method of hitting these 5 cleaning tasks on a daily (or mostly daily) basis.
Notice there’s not much deep cleaning in this list like cleaning bathrooms or kitchen countertops.
I’ll get to those deeper cleaning tasks in my weekly cleaning routine.
But I like to keep this list of daily cleaning tasks short, simple, and effective in keeping my house *mostly* clean.
That way, even if it’s just a super crazy busy week, our home is still overall maintained with just this simple daily cleaning routine.
What I’ve found to be really helpful is splitting these daily cleaning tasks into a morning cleaning routine and an evening cleaning routine.
Morning Cleaning Routine For Working Moms
- Make the bed(s)
- Unload the dishwasher if needed
- Start a load of laundry
- Take out the trash if needed
- Vacuum or sweep kitchen and living area if needed after breakfast
Making the Bed
I have loved starting my day by making my bed since I was a little girl.
This may be partially due to being raised by a dad that used to be in the military.
But it really is motivating to start your day with one simple win that makes your space look more put together.
I’ve found over the years that if my room or my kids’ rooms look super messy, starting by simply making the beds automatically makes them look tidier.
I’m trying to pass this habit onto my kids as well.
I like to start having my children do age appropriate chores pretty early on.
One of the first ones is once they move into a toddler bed, having them straighten the comforter and pillow and any stuffed animals.
You can start having your kids at least attempt to make their beds starting around 2 or 3 years old.
Start 1 Load Of Laundry
For this daily morning cleaning routine, after I’ve made my bed, I head to the kitchen to make coffee and breakfast.
On my way from the bedroom(s) to the kitchen I go ahead and gather up a load of laundry to throw in the washer.
This can be as simple as throwing the cloth diapers and diaper pail liner in the washer.
My family goes through a LOT of towels so I may also just start a load of towels.
Or if it’s the weekend, I like to wash all of our bedding so this load of laundry may consist of that as well.
The secret to staying on top of laundry with a family is to try to do 1 load a day.
I find this to be a much more effective and sustainable strategy to tackling laundry as opposed to doing several loads in one day.
Do the Dishes
Once I’ve started a load of laundry and have my coffee brewing, this is when I like to go ahead and unload the dishwasher.
I know this isn’t the case for some people, but the state of my kitchen sink directly correlates to my mental state.
I literally feel like I can’t leave my house unless the dishes are done first.
This is also probably largely due to my raising but almost nothing can set this Momma off more than a sink full of dirty dishes.
So if the dishwasher was ran the night before, I like to go ahead and quickly unload it the next morning.
That way we can simple rinse our dishes after we eat and just put them in the dishwasher as opposed to piling them in the sink.
Vacuum/Sweep After Breakfast
Once the dishes are all done and we’ve finished breakfast, there’s pretty much always crumbs on the floor from the toddlers.
So this is when I go ahead and do a quick vacuum of the kitchen and dining area, including the high chair and toddler table.
If at this point the load of laundry happens to be finished washing, I go ahead and transfer it to the dryer.
Take Out the Trash
For the last task of this daily morning cleaning routine, I check to see if the trash needs to be taken out and if so I do that.
Or I ask my husband to take it out while I put a new bag in the trash can.
I like doing this task last because a lot of times we will take the trash to the dumpster while we are already headed out the door.
Clean In Order Of Rooms To Help Your Cleaning Routine As A Working Mom Be More Efficient
As you can see, I like doing my morning cleaning routine in order of rooms.
This helps it to go by faster and run more seamlessly as opposed from running from one room to the other like a chicken with my head cut off.
Because let’s be real, as working moms or busy moms in general, we already often feel that way.
And that’s it for this simple morning cleaning routine for working moms!
At this point my house feels clean and put together enough that I don’t feel like we will be coming home to a messy house that I will dread cleaning up.
I simply just have to focus on doing my evening cleaning routine after dinner.
Evening Cleaning Routine For Working Moms
My evening cleaning routine includes many of the same tasks as the morning cleaning routine.
If you’re a working mom and you just got home with your kids from work, chances are you’re tired and don’t feel like spending your entire evening cleaning.
And you shouldn’t have to.
You deserve to be able to relax with your family at the end of the day while still having a tidy home.
Which is why I like to keep my evening cleaning routine simple and sustainable.
If there was any part of the morning cleaning routine that didn’t get done but needs to be done now, I go ahead and add it to the evening cleaning routine.
Otherwise I pretty much follow the same routine as my morning cleaning routine with just a couple exceptions.
After Dinner Cleanup
Just like with breakfast, after dinner there is almost always dirty dishes and crumbs on the floor.
Once everyone is finished eating, my husband or I will typically get our girls’ bath started.
Now that my husband is home from work full time, I admittedly do get a lot of help during this time of day.
Either he will do bath and bedtime routines with the girls and I’ll do the evening cleaning routine, or we will switch.
But typically I am the one doing the cleaning while he takes care of the kiddos.
While my kids are in the bath and my husband is keeping an eye on them, this is the perfect time for me to do a quick kitchen cleanup.
Dishes
Typically this includes rinsing off all the dishes from dinner and loading them into the dishwasher.
If the dishwasher is full at this point, I go ahead and run it.
This way it will be ready for me to unload the next day during my morning cleaning routine.
With our family of 4 (almost 5), we are running the dishwasher about once a day or every other day.
Wipe Down Surfaces and Vacuum
Once the dishes are done, I do a quick spot wipe of the stovetop, counters, table, and high chair as needed.
Then I will vacuum the inevitable crumbs off the floor and high chair.
Take Out the Trash If Needed
If the trash didn’t need to be taken out during the morning cleaning routine, I go ahead and check that now and either take it out or ask my husband to and put in a fresh new bag.
I literally have to add putting in a new bag to the trash can as a mental note for my cleaning routines, otherwise it very well may get forgotten.
And it’s so frustrating to go to throw something away and there’s no liner in the trash can!
Put Away Laundry
Depending on if the kids are still up and what laundry is in the dryer, I sometimes will also have them help me hold, hang, and put away laundry.
If it’s a load of cloth diapers and wipes or towels and rags, that’s something little hands can totally start helping with folding.
If it’s a load of their clothes, they can start learning to put them on hangers or fold and put them in their drawers.
Or if it’s a load of bedding, they can help carry their bedding into their room and help me put it on their beds.
Sure many times while they’re learning they may be getting in the way more than they’re actually helping.
And if it’s a night where they’re just too cranky and it’d be more of a fight than it’s worth to get them to help, then I go ahead and just quickly do it myself.
But the idea is to start getting them used to helping and to start learning necessary cleaning skills.
My hope is that this will majorly pay off in the long run and that when they’re older, I can delegate more and more cleaning tasks to them to make my life a little simpler.
General Pick Up
Once the kids are out of the bath and dressed for bed, we have them help me do a general cleanup of the living room and their rooms.
This usually consists of mostly toys, clothes, and shoes.
Again, I like to implement toddler chores as early as possible.
Putting away toys is definitely one of the first cleaning tasks I try to teach my kids to do from an early age.
As well as putting their dirty clothes in the hamper and shoes where they belong.
It makes a huge difference in the morning to not have toys, clothes, and other clutter all over the place.
This general pickup during our evening cleaning routine helps to “put the house to bed” as I like to call it.
There you have it! A simple daily cleaning routine for working moms!
I hope that if you’re a busy working momma, this daily cleaning routine can help streamline your mornings and evenings and better maintain a cleaner home!
Stay tuned for my weekly cleaning routine for working moms where I’ll go more in depth on cleaning routines for deep cleaning!
As always, feel free to save and share this post and thanks so much for reading!
Happy cleaning, Working Moms!