The Guide to Creating a Household Chores List

Family life comes with a set of evergreen and never-ending chores to do around the house. This is especially true for families where both partners work, where they have two or more children, and where the grandparents live in the same house.

​Daily chores are just that - they are meant to be done every day. None of the daily chores on our household chore list should take you more than 5 minutes. They are designed to be quick and easy.

Doing these daily chores sets the foundation for a clean home. Not only that, but performing these chores every day will make your weekly and monthly chores that much easier.

Related: How to Clean Your House in 2 Hours

​This is a daily and must-do activity for every member of the household. Nobody likes a messed-up bed.

​It is best to set parameters for a fully made bed looks like. Generally speaking, pulling the sheets, covers, and comforters back over the bed and taught is a good start. Organizing the pillows at the top of the bed should also be included. 

Making your bed every day has been proven to make you happier throughout the day.

​This is another daily and critical house chore that every member of the household should responsibly do. Trash buildup over night allows bacteria to form, while also attracting rodents and ants. Not to mention, sometimes you'll wake up to a smelly house if you don't take the trash out. 

Family members can take turns if that makes the chore easier to handle. But, whatever the case may be, this is one task that should not be overlooked.

​Letting dishes pile up is both unsanitary and unsatisfying. Since the kitchen is such a prominent focal point of the home, staring at a pile of dirty dishes is really difficult to do. Keeping the dishes at bay every day will keep you house tidy.

There are many different ways to tackle this chore. Some institute a policy that the cook doesn't have to clean. Others assign this chore out in a rotation. Still others just tag team to make sure that the dishwasher is loaded every night.

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​It is important to keep the most used parts of the house clean. ​A quick sweep or vacuum of the main entry areas, the living room/family room, and the dining area reduces the dirt and debris in your house by 70-80%.

This is where a stick vacuum makes a lot of sense. They are easy to whip out of a closet and quickly clean the main areas of your house. For added convenience, pick up a cordless stick vacuum.

​Many would argue that the kitchen is the most important room in the house. Keeping the family kitchen clean is critical. While doing the dishes daily helps, spot cleaning the surfaces is also vital.

​Wipe down the countertops and stove. Put away anything that might have been left out, and ensure that drawers are closed. 

​This is a fairly easy chore but one that needs to be done. A family can either pick one member to do this task exclusively, or take turns doing it.

​Make sure to designate a place where the mail belongs. Often times, without a specific location, it just ends up cluttering the dining room table or the kitchen countertop.

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​This is not something you can predict, but definitely something that is part of most people's lives. This is very true for households with little children.

Parents/elders tend to be quite reactive when it comes to spills and unnecessary messes. But, the fact is when you are a family, especially one with kids, this is bound to happen.

​Related: Should Kids Have Chores? Here's What the Research Says

Don’t’ react. Just train everyone to clean up their mess. This will make your life easier and will make them more careful.

Nonetheless, it makes sense to have a practice of briefly walking through your home every night, and ensuring that ​nothing was spilled and not cleaned up.

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​​Don't mistake this for cleaning the bathroom. This is just a simple wipe down of the bathroom sinks. 

​Quickly wiping down the bathroom sink each night with water or spray and a towel can go a long ways in making it easier for you to clean your bathroom, when the time comes.

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​Weekly chores are typically a little more involved, and take 20-40 minutes each. It is best if you have a plan for when they are done, and often structuring time to do them together as a family works really well.

Here's a fun byproduct of following this household chore list that we have put together - if you are succeeding at performing the daily chores that we recommended above, you'll find that your weekly chores take a lot less time. Developing a habit of being clean makes your life easier, not harder, and you'll start to notice how much time it saves you in the long run.

​Bathroom sinks and counters should be spot cleaned daily. ​However, an additional ​household chore ​that is vital is a weekly, thorough cleaning of the bathroom. .

This includes the bathtub, the toilet area, the bathroom mirror, cabinets, and the bathroom floor. Don’t delay this particular weekly chore as the more you delay, the harder it will be to clean when you finally get down to it.

Related: The Complete Guide to Cleaning the Bathroom

If you've kept on your daily chore of lightly vacuuming your house, then all that remains is a weekly dust and mop of the floors.

​This can be done weekly as long as you dust and mop the high-traffic areas daily. If you live in an extra dusty region, you may want to do this every other day.

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​Again, families should vacuum high traffic areas daily. Vacuum the entire house once a week at least. If you want, you can divide the task or assign one week to every family member.  

This should include corners​ and behind furniture. You can save the drapes and blinds for once per month.

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​This should ideally be done once a week. We spend at least eight hours sleeping, or in bed trying to sleep. Make sure this area is clean, and the bed sheets are germ-free.

Typically it is easiest to combine this chore with the weekly laundry.

Related: How to Keep Your Bedroom Clean in 7 Simple Steps

​While some families may prefer doing their laundry daily or on alternate days, others may prefer to dedicate one day a week for laundry. This does depend on your work/school schedule, but everyone needs clean clothes.

Don’t be lazy when it comes to laundry. If you have a washer/dryer at home, it makes things easier. If you live in an apartment complex where the laundry area is shared, try to find the right time that fits your schedule.

Related: The Best Stay-At-Home Mom Cleaning Schedule

​Again, this home chore is essential for maintaining the health and well-being of all household members. You can do this once a week, but you should do it thoroughly.

Most people generally combine this with their grocery day as it is the ideal time to throw out old stuff and replace it with new. While you’re at it, you might as well ​wipe down and clean the fridge and freezer. 

​Most families become careless when it comes to cleaning cabinets and cleaning appliances in their kitchen. But it’s best that you do it once a week, so you don’t have to spend a lot of time on this chore.

In addition, it helps keep your kitchen look nice and clean. The kitchen is a critical space for families, and this space must be clean at all times.

Related: The Complete Guide to Cleaning the Kitchen

​Monthly chores are typically focused on areas of your home that don't get used as often, or for very long durations. These chores are easy to let slide. And, being honest, if you have to get behind on any area of your household chore list, the monthly chores are the best ones.

Many families develop a nice rhythm for their monthly chores by designating a specific time each month for them, such as the first Saturday morning of every month.

Additionally, it is smart to combine your monthly chores with your weekly chores. So, using our example above, the first Saturday of every month would be when you did your weekly and monthly chores. ​

​This might seem unnecessary but believe it when we say that dust and germs accumulate in your mattress and covers. Your sleep area should be neat and tidy.

This is not limited to changing your bed sheets every week. You do need to clean your duvets/blankets/comforters too. You should also make sure your mattress cover is neat.

​This includes furniture in the living room, family room, bedroom, study/library/den, and patio.

Use your canister vacuum to clean your blinds and drapes, and attach the extension wand to clean the furniture.

Don’t wait for a social event or friends and family coming over before you decide to do it. Dedicate one day a month to cleaning furniture. You won’t be sorry.

​With so many cleaning liquids and techniques out there, you should not avoid this particular house chore. Your oven should be clean. You don't have to do it daily, but ​its best to do it once per month.

​Similar to the oven, you should also clean your dishwasher at least once a month. After all, this is the appliance which cleans your dishes daily. The least you can do is clean it up once a month, if not bi-weekly.

​This is not a difficult task but something that most families do not often think about. Clean your doors, handles, and windows once in a while. It will definitely change the look of your home.

Note that we're not referring to washing the windows, but cleaning the window sills.

Most families prefer to do this during spring cleaning. Others prefer to do so twice a year, once in spring and once in fall. Whatever your home cleaning schedule is, make sure you fit this in the right seasons. 

This particular house chore will benefit you in one other way. You can filter out what you use and what you don’t use, what you wear and what you don’t wear.​, and then donate or discard as per the condition of the items in question.

​This is an ideal summer chore. The whole family can join in the fun.

Water, soap, and a garden hose are all you need to have fun on a sunny day. And the result? You get clean and spotless windows.

​If a family is DIY inclined, this could be something you could all do together. Your carpet fibers are a magnet for storing bacteria, dirt, and debris. 

​Whether you use a carpet cleaner or not, also clean your area rugs. Don't forget to clean the floor under any rugs as well. 

​This is also necessary for maintaining a clean and tidy home. Your vents will pick up dust while the heater is running in the winter and the air conditioner in the summer. Clean these out with your vacuum extender wand. 

​Make sure to change out your air filters as well. You might need to have your air ducts professionally cleaned every few years, and this is a good time to get a flashlight out and take a look to see if you need it.

The above housekeeping checklist for the home should be a priority for all families if they want to have a neat and tidy home. It is important to include everyone living in the home. This will make things easier, more doable, and will also make everyone in the household develop a sense of responsibility.

Now that we’ve outlined a detailed checklist of all essential household chores, it is also important to have a home cleaning schedule. We understand that dividing them into daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal chores is quite helpful. Families also need to ensure that every member of the household is aware of the household chores schedule.

It might be a good idea to make little reminders and place them in visible locations, so that family members know what is expected of them.

Daily chores like making the bed, cleaning the dirty dishes, wiping counters, sinks, tabletops, sweeping the kitchen floor, cleaning the dining table, etc. must be done daily. If a particular family allocates these daily tasks to different individuals within the household, it is important to outline that in the home cleaning schedule.

For example, David will wash the dishes today, Emily will take out the trash, Chris will sweep the kitchen floor, etc.

Every household has its own dynamic. If it’s a couple with no children, their life may be easier in terms of limited laundry, no unnecessary spills and messes, and no toys to pick up.

But no matter how large or how small a family is, keeping your house clean and tidy is something that should be taken seriously. One of the biggest put-offs, when you go to visit someone, is a dirty home.

Many people clean up the most visible locations. Sometimes they forget to focus on other, more internal areas that usually require more detailed cleaning. Dumping everything in the basement or garage is a common strategy.

Keep in mind if you keep dumping, a day will come when that space will also run out. Then, you will be faced with a daunting challenge of emptying out the dump you created.

Completing household chores can be quite challenging. This is especially true in a family home where both parents work, or where the children are in higher grades and spend quite a bit of time working on class assignments, group studies, etc.  

​Start by using the list we've provided above for your household chore list.

Next, add or subtract chores from this list. You might have a few additional chores specific to your home, or might not require every single chore on this list to be done.

This list is divided into daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal chores so that your household chore list is efficient and effective. Once you have your specific chore list, you need to find a way to distribute the tasks and track results. 

That is why we recommend families should use a chore chart which contains the house chores list.

A chore chart is simply a chart that outlines all the chores that need to be done in the house. This will enable the household members to have a comprehensive household chores list and will also make it easier to assign tasks as per age, availability, and expertise.

• First, you need to make the chart. Ideally speaking, your chore chart should have three columns. One column lists the chores and who it’s been given to. The second column is deadlines. The third and last column is for ticking off when the chore is completed.
• Next, place the chart in a place where everyone can see it. For example, stick it on the refrigerator door. Label it "Household Chores List" in big print so everyone knows what it is. Call everyone over and point it out to them. 
• Last, make sure you chore chart can be updated in some fashion. This will foster healthy competition, and a reminder to others in the household when someone finishes their chores. 
  

To ease your administrative work of chore listing, you may find it easier to have two charts. One would be for daily household chores and one for weekly ones. This is practical as there are some tasks that do not need to be done every day.

This division of chores will also convey to all family members they will be expected to contribute and participate in household chores. They will need to set aside time for these chores and plan accordingly.

This may seem to be “too much planning” for children. But, believe it when we say planning is crucial for effectively completing household chores.

Adults should not be the only ones expected to do everything. As mentioned before, there are many chores to do in a house. Some are very easy, but still must be done. As long as you assign tasks based on the mental and physical capability of the household member, you should be on the right track.

If you have an elderly parent, maybe they can walk the dog daily. If you have a toddler, maybe they can put the toys in the toy box. If you have teenagers who are also interested in making some money out of doing chores, agree to the arrangement. It’s good practice for them.

An important thing to remember is that a household chores list should be performed by the entire household, as a team. One family member should not be burdened with most of the tasks. That is not only unfair but also impractical.

A family is a team, and it’s all about planning and organizing. A home can be spick and span in no time if everyone pitches in.