Room-by-room cleaning checklist

How to use the checklist

Check the rooms you have. Each one appears with its chores grouped by frequency and a box to tick on paper once you print it.

Add your own chores from “Add a task”, choosing the room, and remove the ones that don’t apply with the ×. If you have a dishwasher, change “wash the dishes” to “empty the dishwasher”; if you have hardwood floors, change “mop” to whatever you use.

What order to clean a room in

Top to bottom and dry to wet. First put away anything out of place, then dust shelves and furniture, then wipe surfaces, and finish with the floor. That way you pick up whatever dust falls at the end and don’t clean twice.

In the kitchen and bathroom, let the cleaner sit in the sink, toilet or shower while you do something else, then come back to rinse. Always follow the directions on each product’s label.

For a deep clean

If you’re doing a deep clean, check every room and look at the monthly block in each one: oven, fridge, range hood, tiles, windows, closets, mattress. Spread it over several days; trying to do it all in one go usually ends half-finished.

For a move-out clean, the checklist works too: check every room and add what an empty home needs, like the inside of closets and drawers or the baseboards.

From checklist to plan

A checklist tells you what needs doing; a schedule tells you when. Once you know which chores you want to keep up with, move them into the weekly cleaning schedule to spread them across the week. Or add them to Tidily: each room with its chores and frequency, and the app shows you only what’s due each day.