The number of tasks a homemaker is responsible for on a daily basis can make anyone’s head spin. From the big tasks like cleaning to cooking to caring for children, to the seemingly mundane tasks of financials, scheduling appointments, and running errands, homemakers handle it all. And, to keep things running smoothly, having a weekly homemaking schedule is a must.
Having a weekly homemaking schedule that actually works is the icing on the cake.
If you’re spinning your wheels trying to figure out how to get all the things done on a daily basis, let me help you organize your life by creating a weekly homemaking schedule that works!
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Daily Homemaking Schedule vs. Weekly Homemaking Schedule
What is the difference between a daily homemaking schedule and a weekly homemaking schedule?
A daily homemaking schedule consists of the tasks that you do on a daily basis. Things like cooking, cleaning, laundry, making beds, homeschooling or dropping kids off at school, and caring for children might all be daily tasks on your schedule. These are the tasks that you must do on a regular, daily basis.
A weekly homemaking schedule will have tasks that only need to be done on a weekly basis, not every single day. These responsibilities might include running errands, paying bills, updating the budget, scheduling appointments and activities, yard work, gardening, decluttering, and many more.
While there are certain cleaning tasks that must be done on a daily basis like dishes, laundry, picking up toys, etc., there are other more specific cleaning tasks that can be delegated to one day a week.
For instance, you might have a designated day that you deep clean all the bathrooms, a day that you wash all the bedding, another day for mopping and vacuuming, and so on. These tasks do not belong on a daily schedule, but rather are things that need to be done weekly.
As you can see, it is important to have both a daily homemaking routine as well as a weekly schedule to track your responsibilities and goals. There are certain tasks that must be part of your everyday habits while others can be spread out over the course of the week.
My Daily Homemaking Schedule
While your daily homemaking schedule might look different than mine based on the stage of life you’re in, the size of the your family, how large your space is, among many other factors, it can help to see an example of a daily routine.
Below, you will find my typical daily homemaking schedule for the morning, afternoon, and evening.
As a disclaimer, it’s important to remember that a daily schedule is not set in stone. There will be some days when things on your list don’t get done. And, that’s perfectly acceptable! A schedule is only meant to be a guide to keep you focused on what needs to get done. You can decide what those tasks should be and how often you need to do them based on your own personal circumstances.
Now, let’s get into it!
Daily Morning Schedule
On a typical morning of the week, I always start off first thing with my mom morning routine. If you don’t have a morning routine yet, I highly suggest checking out my post about creating one! You can also see an example of what my morning routine looks like and why I think it’s important to have one!
8:00 am
After I finish my morning routine, we start our homeschool day. While I am homeschooling, I keep my attention focused on school. I don’t try to multi-task chores and school, because it always affects their learning in a negative way.
We typically homeschool until 10-10:30, at which point I am able to complete a few chores before lunchtime.
10:30 am
Before lunch, I am able to do a load of laundry, unload the dishwasher and load it up with our breakfast dishes, and tidy up our dining table from the morning of school.
This is also the time that I will tackle my weekly cleaning task for that day of the week (see weekly homemaking schedule below).
11:30 am
Once I wrap up my morning chores, I start preparing lunch. We usually keep this pretty simple: quesadillas, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, or leftovers. I always have some cut up fruit and veggies ready in the fridge to set out, too.
Daily Afternoon Schedule
12:00
After cleaning up our lunch dishes, I start the dishwasher and wipe down the table and counters. I always do a quick reset after lunch, which includes tidying up the kitchen, folding and putting away laundry, and picking up toys off the living room floor.
The kids usually run off to play while I get the baby down for a nap.
1-3 pm
During these hours, the baby is napping and the older kids are having “quiet time.” Our quiet time usually consists of working on an interest or playing.
For my older girls, they enjoy making bracelets, drawing, reading books, or playing dolls together.
My toddler boy either tags along with whatever his sisters are doing, or plays with his tractors by himself. Sometimes, he curls up with his favorite blanket and takes a little nap, too.
While I have some quiet time, I usually sit down to work on the blog, listen to a podcast while organizing, or do my dinner meal prep. I also like to use this time to exercise or just read for fun if I need to decompress.
3-5 pm
After the baby is awake, I usually do my “loud” cleaning (i.e. running the vacuum cleaner or mop, putting dishes away, making dinner, or playing with the kids. In the summer, this is the time we get outside to play or work around the yard.
Daily Evening Routine
5-6:30 pm
We use this time to eat dinner together, get the kids bathed and in their pajamas, and clean up our dinner mess. This is usually the most “chaotic” part of our day because the kids are getting tired and we’re trying to do a lot of multi-tasking to get everything cleaned up.
I like to “close” a clean kitchen by having the dishwasher started, counters wiped down, kitchen table reset, and the kitchen sink empty.
6:30-8 pm
After the dinner rush, we spend time together winding down as a family. We watch a movie or show together, play a game, and just hang out. The kids might be playing with toys during this time or cuddling up with us on the couch. If it’s nice out, we might be playing in the yard or working in the garden together during this leisure time.
Family activities together is a beautiful thing!
8 pm
We begin putting kids to bed around 8pm. With 5 kids, it is easier to tackle bedtime in stages. The baby goes down first while the older kids play quietly in their room.
Then, we put the toddler and 5 year old down around 8:30.
And, finally, our two older children start getting ready for bed around 9.
We have found that doing bedtime in stages (about every half hour) allows us to give attention to each child and focus on their routines individually. It’s much less chaotic and more orderly when we do it this way!
Of course, it doesn’t always perfectly work the way you want it to. Sometimes, the baby struggles to get to sleep for an hour or so and we have to keep going in his room to rock him. The toddler will come wandering out of his room a few times before finally drifting off to sleep. And, the big kids might come into our room 10 times after we put them to bed to tell us “one more thing.”
But, the more you stick with a bedtime routine, the easier it becomes to follow. Even if it seems futile in this season of life, stick with it and you’ll see results one day!
Weekly Homemaking Schedule
When I set my weekly homemaking schedule, I plan out “theme” days. I plan to tackle one cleaning or organizing project on each day. And, I keep this schedule consistent every week, so I am always rotating through these weekly tasks.
These simple tasks can take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour depending on how much there is to do. By breaking them down over the course of the week, I am able to keep up with them more easily and not get overwhelmed by tasks piling up.
Developing a weekly homemaking schedule has been life changing for me as a homemaker and homeschooling mom. It makes my responsibilities feel more manageable and reduces the burnout.
Here is my current weekly homemaking tasks that I do each day of the week:
Sunday
Sunday’s are reserved for church, spending time with the family, and resting up for the week ahead. I try to be minimal with my tasks on Sunday so that I can focus on my family and rest.
That being said, I always do my daily cleaning tasks, even on Sundays. These include dishes, laundry, keeping the toys picked up off the floor, wiping down counters and the table, and cooking meals.
I try to keep our meals on Sunday’s simple by using my crockpot a lot for soups or for slow-cooking meats for sandwiches.
I also like to wash our bedding on Sunday. It’s nice starting the week off with fresh linens on all the beds!
Monday
Mondays are my bathroom cleaning days. We have 3 bathrooms in our home, and I can quickly work through them in about an hour.
Obviously, we have to tidy up bathrooms throughout the week by cleaning off counters, picking up towels and laundry, etc.
But, I save my deep cleaning of the bathrooms for Mondays after we finish our school.
To be the most effective with bathroom cleaning, I keep a caddy of all my cleaning supplies under the bathroom sink. I can carry the caddy from bathroom to bathroom as I work through them.
Generally, I can deep clean all 3 bathrooms in under an hour, because I keep up with it weekly and they don’t get too messy as a result.
Tuesday
On Tuesday, I generally focus on dusting the house and wiping down the appliances. I move through this fairly quickly, also.
Wednesday
Wednesday is vacuuming and mopping day. I like to call this my “floor day.”
After school, I will have the kids work on cleaning up all the toys off their bedroom floors so I can vacuum.
Doing this on a weekly basis ensures that they keep their rooms somewhat tidy and organized.
I don’t harp on them to clean their rooms all week long. Instead, I make sure they do a really good job of cleaning it up on Wednesdays and then they can just do lighter tidying up throughout the rest of the week as needed. If I were to ask them to clean their rooms on a daily basis, they would get majorly resentful of that request and start to push back.
So, I try to reserve deep cleaning to one day a week and just ask that they keep things somewhat tidy the rest of the time.
While they are picking up their rooms for me to vacuum, I will work on mopping the kitchen floor with my Tineco (best cleaning tool I have bought for myself, by the way).
Thursday
Thursday is my day for tackling clutter or organizing. We have an endless list of things to organize, from our homeschool area to our closets to our basement storage… there’s always something!
By tackling a small project every week, it feels more manageable to keep the clutter at bay.
I, by nature, am not a minimalist. And, I do not enjoy trying to get rid of things. So, keeping this task down to one day a week feels more doable for me!
Friday
Friday is generally our errand day. We are out of the house for activities with our homeschool group, grocery shopping, visiting with friends/family, and so forth.
I spend time on Friday doing my meal planning for the next week. We typically pick up our groceries at some point during the weekend, so I use this time to write out all our meals and what we need.
I try not to plan any large cleaning projects on Friday because I want to be able to enjoy time with others without thinking about all the cleaning I should be doing.
If we don’t have anything planned for that particular Friday, I use it as a “catch up” day for any of my tasks I didn’t get to throughout the week.
If I didn’t get around to mopping the floors, for instance, I will use this time to catch up.
Saturday
Because my husband is off work on Saturdays, we use this day to tackle bigger projects on our homestead. We live on 20 acres, so there is always a list of things to work on. Whether it’s building something, gardening, yard work, landscaping, or cleaning up our woods, there is always something to do together as a family on Satudays!
I also use Saturday to update our budget and expenses for the week.
How to Create Your Own Weekly Homemaking Schedule
The first step in creating a weekly homemaking schedule is to identify the most “high traffic” areas of your home that need weekly, or daily, cleaning. You will also need to identify your priorities for the week. These may include activities, appointments, meal plans, homeschool plans, work goals, etc.
Identifying “problem areas”
You know what they are… those areas that always seem to need attention no matter how much time you spend on them.
They are also the areas that people will most likely see, or use, if they enter your home.
I have a goal of trying to keep our home “drop in” ready. Meaning, I want to be prepared for any visitors to come by at a moments notice without feeling frazzled and embarrassed by the state of my home.
It’s never going to be perfect. But, I can keep it somewhat tidy if I focus on rotating through these high traffic areas on a weekly basis.
For our home, the most important things for me to keep tidy include the kitchen, bathrooms, laundry room, and living room. I prioritize all 4 of these areas when creating my weekly homemaking schedule.
Know your schedule
When you are planning out which days to tackle certain tasks, you have to be realistic about what you can accomplish on that particular day of the week.
For instance, if Monday is your busiest day of the week, you don’t want to reserve your big projects for Monday.
Knowing your own schedule and what days work best for you is so important!
Set aside one day of the week as an “errand” day
If you really want to streamline your weekly routine, make one day your designated errand day.
Anytime you set up an appointment, go to the grocery store, run to the library, etc., you plan to do it on this specific day of the week.
This saves you from having to run out of the house at random times all throughout the week.
Obviously, you can’t perfectly schedule every out-of-the-house activity to be on this one particular day of the week. But, there are many things you can try to group together while you are out of the house, rather than making lots of small trips all week long.
This will save you time, money, and frustration in the long run!
Sticking with your weekly homemaking schedule will make cleaning more efficient
The single most important thing that creating a weekly homemaking schedule has done for me is make my responsibilities more efficient.
Rather than feeling like I need to be doing every single thing, every day of the week, I have a process that I can count on to keep things streamlined.
I don’t wonder when the last time I cleaned the bathrooms was.
Instead of stressing over how I will have time to get everything done, I know that it’s already built into my weekly habits. So, I don’t need to worry about falling behind.
I have established habits that make my job as a homemaker much more efficient and second nature.
I don’t have to think about it!
If you want to learn more about establishing a routine and habits, read about my mom morning routine and the importance of establishing daily habits.
You don’t need a ton of time or money to have a weekly homemaking schedule that works
In fact, you can download these free printable weekly schedules right now and create your own!
Without a routine of some sort, all the responsibilities of a homemaker can become extremely overwhelming.
There are constant to-do lists swirling around in your head, and it feels hard to grab onto anything long enough to focus on it.
Establishing a weekly homemaking routine has made a huge difference in managing overwhelm. I can’t speak enough to the importance of creating and maintaining these habits in order to have less stress in your home management.
Contrary to popular belief, you DO have enough time in the day to get it all done. You just need to be more organized and efficient with your time, priorities, and habits.
And, it doesn’t take a ton of money to establish these routines either. In fact, it can be no extra cost at all.
Don’t be convinced that you need to spend tons of money on purchasing a system or schedule that is laid out for you.
It’s super simple to create a homemaking routine that fits your lifestyle, your schedule, and your needs!
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