By Leslie Lambert

Copyright © 2020 by Lamberts Lately Publishing , LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
including recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in
the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
For permission requests, email Leslie Lambert at leslie@lambertslately.com with “Book Request” in the subject line.

This publication is based on the author's personal experience. While the author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of
the content on this publication, she assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. The author cannot guarantee that
the reader's results will match hers.
I dedicate the sixth edition of this book to my people: Noah, Emmie, and Jackson. Thanks for
always letting me live out my dreams.
Introduction
Printing Instructions
The Original Monthly Cleaning Schedule
How Does It Work?
What Does It All Mean?
How Do I Get Started?
Binder Cover/Spine Printables
Cleaning Schedule
Monthly Calendars
Monthly Calendars Cover Sheet
Monthly Calendar Printables
Can I Follow This Schedule Without Printing the Pages?
Deep Cleaning Checklist
Deep Cleaning Checklist Cover
Deep Cleaning Checklist
Deep Cleaning Schedules
Deep Cleaning Schedule Printables
Final Thoughts
If I had to nail down one passion I have in life, it is my home. After all, it's the hub of the
family; the place where babies grow, families bond, and where so many memories are made.
I am fully & totally dedicated to making it the best place I possibly can for those I love.

Of course, that includes keeping it as clean as possible. But let's be real – we're all busy, and
many times keeping the home clean goes by the wayside. I get it; I've been there (and am
still there sometimes). We are all different and have different needs, but I know, personally, I
have to have something written down to hold me fully accountable for it happening.

That, my friends, is how Journey to Clean was born. I was in need of a thorough, outlined
cleaning schedule to keep me accountable for maintaining our home. I've had this personal
cleaning schedule since roughly 2011. It absolutely changed the way I take care of our home,
and in late 2012, I thought it would be a great idea to share it with my blog readers. I
published the first edition of my cleaning list in a blog post that became fairly popular on social
media. Since then, I've revised it a few times. In August of 2015, I published the basis for the
cleaning schedule printable that you see in this eBook and it immediately became one of the
most popular posts on my blog, with over 1.3 million views in the five years since its publish
date.

I was honestly blown away by the response! I cannot tell you how gratifying it is to know that
this idea has not only helped maintain my home, but the homes of so many out there. From
there, I wanted to take it further. In early 2016 (2 weeks before our son was born,
incidentally), I got the idea to write the first edition of Journey to Clean: a book that would
really take my cleaning schedule to the next level. This would go in-depth with home
cleaning, giving readers every single thing they need to maintain a home.

When Journey to Clean 2016 was published in June of 2016, the response was again so
humbling and overwhelming. We sold hundreds of copies of that first edition, with too many
positive reviews and thank yous to count. I love knowing that this eBook series is helping so
many of you, just like it helps me in my own home. The 2017 version brought about a few
revisions and a slightly different look; that version helped close to a thousand readers
transform how they maintain a clean home. The 2018-2020 versions brought about even
more changes and really fine-tuned my cleaning routine, with the 2019 version being
transformed into a look that matched my planner system, The Year of Intent. Last year
brought about another big change; all tasks became uniform throughout each room of the
week, no matter the month. This allows the user to really use his/her time as efficiently as
possible. This concept has helped me so much and made last year's edition a real positive
turning point in the Journey to Clean series!

Now here we are in one of the most chaotic years we've collectively experienced; I decided
this year should be all about consistency. You won't find a ton of big changes – for once, let's
concentrate on doing what we're already doing (and just doing it really well).
The printable pages are designed to be printed on standard 8.5 x 11” printer paper. I'd
recommend printing them in full color – the monthly calendars' cleaning tasks are delineated
by alternating colors, and it might be difficult to tell them apart if printed in black & white.
Please note: colors may vary depending on printer supplies and settings, but have been
tested to help ensure readability.

If you'd like to build a cleaning notebook, I've also included divider printables to differentiate
the sections of your binder, as well as spine inserts in various sizes for the outside of your
cleaning binder. I recommend printing those page dividers on heavier card stock (or even
laminating those sheets) so it's easy to flip between your binder sections. When you
purchase this eBook, you should receive a separate file that has only the printables
(excluding any instructions or commentary) to make for easy printing.

You can see how I organize this binder (and what supplies I recommend for creating your
binder) in this post!
You might say that this is the one that started it all. The original version of this printable first
appeared on my blog, Lamberts Lately, in August 2015. Almost immediately, it took off. I
started getting emails and comments from so many people telling me that this printable had
worked in helping them get their home in tip-top shape.

If you follow this consistently, you really can keep you home clean with around an hour of
effort a day! I know it works because I have used it myself for years, while living in 4 very
different homes (one garden home, one apartment, one ranch-style home, and one 2-story,
all with completely different rooms and floor plans). I've added (and taken away) from this list
over the years until I found the perfect balance for my needs. With that being said, you might
have to make minor edits to fit your home. We all have different rooms, different tough areas,
and different family requirements. That's why this eBook version of the printable has blanks to
add your own chores as needed.

How Does it Work?

The highlighted portion to the right is what is to be
done each and every day. There are two parts;
morning and evening. The morning portion takes
about 20 minutes to complete, while the evening
portion typically takes 30-40 minutes. Start making it a
habit to do the morning chores when you first wake
up, before you do anything else. Make it part of your
bedtime routine to do the nighttime chores. It takes a
few weeks to really form a habit that you'll stick with in
the long term, so it might take a little bit of effort to
incorporate these items into your day. Before you
know it, you'll be doing them without even thinking
about it (and maybe even more efficiently than when
you started)!

The checklist on this page will help you keep track of

all of these morning and evening tasks. This can be
laminated or placed in a clear page protector and marked with a wet-erase marker if you don't
want to print a page for each week. This is a great visual representation of the hard work
you're putting into your home each week. It's also an easy “at a glance” way to measure your
progress.
 The highlighted portion to the left defines the Daily
Chore discussed in the first section. Depending on
the day of the week, you'll do one of these
assigned tasks each night. This is the backbone of
the list; soon, you'll know these like the back of
your hand. These are items I've found need to be
done weekly...doing these daily would be overkill,
but they tend to need attention more than once a
month.

That brings me to the next portion of my monthly

cleaning routine. This second cleaning schedule
page defines the “Room of the Week” chores from the
evening section. You'll complete each of these tasks
once a month. In this list, the home is divided into
four main sections (because most months have four
weeks). In any given month of cleaning, the
Kitchen/Dining Room have a week, The
Living Room/Playroom/Hall/Laundry Room
have a week, the Bedrooms & Outside Areas
have a week, and the Bathrooms & Closets have a
week. The only portion of this list that you won't
complete monthly is the Odd Weeks
section...those chores are reserved for months that
have 5 full (or almost full) weeks. These are chores
that really don't have to be done very often, but do
need occasional attention. Think of the odd week as
a mini version of the Deep Cleaning Schedule you'll find later in this book.

As I mentioned, there are blanks in each section of the “Rooms of the Week” section...those
are for you to add cleaning tasks that are unique to your home and your situation. If you feel
like I've covered everything you'll need to do to keep your home clean, simply skip that! I
think it's important to really inventory your home before starting this cleaning routine to ensure
you're meeting its needs. And, of course, if there's something on my list that doesn't apply to
your home, feel free to mark that task out. No need to clean when it's not necessary!
A I really wanted to streamline and simplify this system even
more for last year's edition; that's how the Weekly Room
breakdown came to be. This page combines the elements of
the room of the week page in a common-sense workflow that
allows you to do the same related tasks on each day of each
month. For example, the Friday of every kitchen week will
include toilets/sinks (as the daily task), wash kitchen linens,
wash pet bowls, and clean trash cans. In these combinations, I
tried to put together tasks that I found myself naturally
grouping, reducing the time and energy it takes to knock these
tasks off your checklist each month. No more changing up
your tasks for each day of each month; your routine is easier
than ever to complete!

When these four sections are combined, you have one of the
most effective cleaning routines I've encountered. Of course, there will be days (or even
weeks) when these chores aren't done. That's ok...I promise. This schedule is actually
designed to account for minor lapses in use. I can assure you that my floors aren't mopped
every single week, and amazingly, the world keeps spinning. If you miss a cleaning project,
just make sure you pick that particular one up the next time it appears on your calendar.

What does it all mean?

Even though most items on this schedule are self-explanatory, here's a quick reference guide
to what some of the cleaning tasks in the cleaning schedule entail:

BWDW: I get so many emails asking me what this acronym means. This cleaning task
stands for Baseboards, Walls, Doors, and Windows. As I was cleaning each room every
week, I found myself doing these four tasks together. Instead of making them four separate
tasks that cluttered up your schedule, I decided to combine them into one seamless task.

When completing the BWDW on your cleaning list each week, you'll simply dust the
baseboards, go over the walls for stains or cobwebs, clean doors (including disinfecting
doorknobs), and clean the inside of windows. This sounds like quite a lot, but when done
together, it takes much less time (typically about 5-10 minutes each week for me).

Declutter: Once each morning and once each evening, set a timer for 10 minutes. When it
begins, walk around your home and pick up scattered items and put them in their place.
Throw away anything unnecessary (junk mail, scrap paper, newspaper, trash, etc.) and put
everything else away in its assigned place in your home. I usually concentrate on putting
away toys, clothes, dirty dishes, bathroom toiletries, and pillows/blankets. Make sure you
keep decluttering for the full 10 minutes...it is important to keep going until the timer goes off!
There is always something else you can declutter in your home.
Clean Kitchen: This is just a quick once-over of the kitchen each night. I usually wipe down
countertops, make sure the sink is empty and clean, pick up any scraps/wipe any spills on the
floor, and put away food. You might also want to make sure you have any ingredients
needed for tomorrow's cooking. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes or so.

Command Center: This is an area I consider to be the hub of the household. It's a
designated place in the home (usually near the entrance or the kitchen) where the family can
stay organized. A few important elements of the command center:

-Inbox: The inbox is the place where any paperwork lands. Things like graded school work,
mail, paid bills, receipts, bank stubs, newsletters, handouts, etc...basically anything that's
paper, will eventually need to be filed, and doesn't have an immediate designated area in the
home goes here. You'll clean this out once a month during the “organize command center”
task on the room of the week list.

-Outbox: As opposed to the inbox, this is the area for things that require immediate attention.
Items that need to be sent back to school, bills that need to be paid, letters that need to be
returned, etc. This is an area I like to check nightly to ensure there's nothing that needs to be
addressed.

-File boxes: I use a stacked file box to organize things like coupons, stamps/envelopes,
checks, and gift cards. That way, we can quickly pull one of those items out if needed. If you
use something often for family organization or finances, I recommend placing it here!

-Office supplies: This is an easy place to keep commonly-used office supplies like pens,
pencils, scissors, and glue. While most of these supplies are kept in an office area, I find it's
easier to have these conveniently-placed in a command center for quick retrieval.

-Calendar: If you keep a family calendar, this is the perfect place to hang it! I recommend a
dry-erase calendar that allows each member of the family to easily update it.

-Menu: This is also a wonderful place to keep a weekly family menu.

Daily Tasks
Organize Outside Areas: You're really just quickly picking up here. I make sure all toys
are in their place, wind and put away hose pipes, pull any obvious weeds, and sweep over
paved surfaces. This is also a great time to give your car a quick once-over for trash or
misplaced items.

Clean Surfaces: I take a bottle of cleaner around my home and wipe down any surfaces
that tend to get dusty/dirty. A few common areas to hit are coffee tables, end tables, built-in
shelving, footboards/headboards on beds, the kitchen table, mantles, and foyer tables. I also
try to wipe the tops of picture frames when I'm cleaning surfaces.
Clean Fridge/Pantry: You're not really doing deep cleaning with this (save that for the
“deep clean fridge” task on your kitchen week), just organizing and inventorying. I go through
both the pantry and fridge and throw out any old food. I wipe down any obvious spills or
stains and organize the remaining food.

Vacuum/Mop: Because we have a dog and two kids, I have to vacuum (at least) weekly;
however, your needs might be different. Each Thursday, I recommend ensuring that the
whole house is vacuumed, checking areas under furniture as well as I can without moving
anything around. For mopping, if needed, I recommend alternating weeks...one week mop the
kitchen/living areas, hall/foyer, and bedrooms; the next week mop kitchen/living areas and
bathrooms. If you see that your hard surfaces get dirty more often, by all means, mop
everything weekly!

Clean Toilets/Sinks: I use a brush to clean the inside of the bowl and wipe down the
seat/lid with disinfecting cleaner. I quickly wipe the sink with disinfecting cleaner as well,
getting rid of stains and hair. This is just a quick touch-up...you will really fine-tune the
bathroom during its week, so no need to concentrate on it for too long!

If you'd like to see the cleaning supplies I commonly use for my cleaning schedule tasks,
check out this post!
How Do I Get Started?

I'd recommend easing yourself into this routine. Start out by doing the full morning routine
each day for a day or two. After that, incorporate everything except for the Daily & Room of
the Week chores each evening (this should take around 15-20 minutes to complete). Once
you're in the groove of doing that, start doing everything on the list.

Most importantly, stick to it! Give this list a full month to really transform your home. If you
need a set of printables to really track your cleaning to form a habit, this post might be helpful;
they even match the printables in this book (as well as my mega collection of planner
printables, The Year of Intent). After that first month, you will have a well-maintained home
that will be easy to keep clean. My goal for cleaning daily is to leave my home cleaner than
I found it that morning. Keep that in mind while following this list.
Binder Spine Inserts
For 1/2” binders

For 1” binders

For 1 1/2” binders

For 2” binders
The monthly calendar shows you how to actually apply this cleaning schedule on any given
day. I first made a monthly calendar like this for my newsletter subscribers years ago. By the
end of the month, I had numerous emails asking whether or not I would be making another
one. Those requests inspired me to make my first edition of this book in 2016.

How It Works

Each day, you'll follow the Morning Routine and Evening Routine from the Original
Cleaning Calendar, filling in the tasks in the these calendars for your “Daily Chore” and
“Room of the Week” tasks. On the far left of each month's calendar page, you can easily
reference which “Room of the Week” you're tackling. Simply cross off the tasks as you
complete them!

There are also 2 blank spaces per week for your own personal cleaning tasks. Fill those in if
you need them or just ignore if you don't.

Most importantly, stick to it! Give this list a full month to really transform your home. After
that month, you will have a well-maintained home that will be easy to keep clean. My goal
for daily cleaning is to leave my home cleaner than I found it that morning. As simple
as that sounds, it really is all there is to it. Remember, sometimes it takes baby steps to really
make a long-term difference in your routine and your surroundings!
Can I just follow this calendar without printing the pages?
Absolutely! Don't tell anyone, but I actually prefer doing the things on the cleaning schedule without
actually printing the pages. While I love designing printables for others, I personally prefer to do most
things digitally. It can be our little secret. :)

Here's how I do it: at the beginning of each month, I sit down with my Todoist App (a wonderful,
comprehensive to do list app that allows you to organize tasks by category and priority) and use the
monthly calendars above to put in the tasks and date for each task. I have my daily cleaning tasks
(Outside Areas, Surfaces, Fridge/Pantry, Vacuum/Mop, Toilets/Sinks, and Laundry) set to repeat for
each week so I don't have to input those each time. Just type in your task and type in the phrase
“Every Monday,” “Every Tuesday,” etc. next to when you need the task to repeat to set those into
your rotation.

At the beginning of the month, I put in the tasks I'll need to complete for the “Room of the Week.” You
can go in order on the checklist or by the calendars included in this book to organize those tasks. I've
tried setting these tasks on rotation for once a month, but Todoist doesn't organize monthly the same
way I do, so I'm not sure I'd recommend that method. It only takes a few minutes to input your Room
of the Week tasks each month!

I check off the items as I do them, and each night I sit down and evaluate what I did that day and
what I would need to do the next day. I simply move the unfinished tasks from one day to the next if I
wasn't able to complete them on their assigned day. I reserve Saturdays as Laundry Day and Catch-
Up Day in case I don't finish the items needed during the week (though I don't typically like to clean
on the weekends...there needs to be time for rest and family in your schedule, too).

I also recommend having a cancel out day each week. On Sundays, if you still haven't completed
some tasks from the previous week, just mark those off and starting fresh for the next Monday. This
list can quickly grow overwhelming if you don't keep it in check. By just counting those tasks as a
loss, you're simplifying your next week and not letting your cleaning list grow too long. Don't worry –
you'll address that cleaning task next month! There's nothing on this list that can't go 2 months
without being completed.
You might consider this section of Journey to Clean the “extra credit” portion of your cleaning
schedule. While these tasks aren't totally necessary for a clean home, they will definitely fine-tune
your cleaning routine. This deep cleaning list is something I recommend starting after you have
successfully integrated the original cleaning schedule into your daily routine. If you start using the
cleaning schedule in January, April would be the perfect time to knock your deep cleaning for the
season out! I typically recommend completing this list twice a year; if you want to do it 3-4 times, by
all means, go ahead! I've found, in my home, completing these tasks twice a year is sufficient, but
your needs might be different.

Just as I did with the original schedule, I'm providing you with an overview printable of my deep
cleaning routine and 2 printables that breaks these tasks down into easy-to-complete parts. Let's
take a look at the “big picture” printable first. As with the other checklist, I've added a couple of extra
blanks for each room in case you need to add something that's necessary for your personal cleaning
routine.
Now, let's break this big list down into parts! In the following pages, I've provided a couple of ways
you can complete the deep cleaning schedule.

In the first page, you'll see that the deep cleaning schedule is broken into 4 weeks (20 days). You
could either complete this schedule in one calendar month (on top of your regular cleaning schedule),
complete one of these weeks per month for four consecutive months, or complete one day's worth of
deep cleaning per week for 20 weeks (and just start over once you finish the list).

In the second page, I've broken the deep cleaning schedule down by room of the week. As with the
first list, tasks could be completed in a single month, broken into one area per month, or even broken
down into one day per week.

My biggest recommendation as you're completing the deep cleaning schedule is to pace yourself!
The tasks on this list can be time-intensive, and cleaning burnout can be very real. Remember,
keeping your home clean is a marathon, not a sprint! If you find this list to take up too much of your
time, it is totally ok to skip it...completing the regular schedule is far more important to keeping a clean
home.
This book might seem a little overwhelming. If I'm being honest, it is a lot of information at once.
Don't let that discourage you! By using baby steps to ease yourself into this routine, you can
successfully integrate it into your day. Your home wasn't made dirty in a day, so it certainly won't be
cleaned in a day (unless you have way more time on your hands than I do).

Remember, start out by doing the morning routine each day for a few days. The next few days, add
on the evening routine (except for the Daily & Room of the Week chores). After about a week, you've
successfully started half of the routine! Next, buckle down and do every step in the system. Really
commit to doing everything on the list for the next two weeks. The first month is the hardest! Once
you work through everything on the list once, your home will be so much easier to maintain. If you're
needing a little inspiration and accountability, I'm here to help – I'll be sending a few emails to you
over the next week or two to check in on your progress.

After successfully starting the routine, I ask you to try the full routine for a whole month. Fully,
completely dedicate your cleaning routine to this schedule during this time and see how it transforms
your home. I know that you will see a difference in how you organize your time and how you see your
home. After a month of incorporating these tasks into your schedule, they begin to seem like second
nature.

I've said it a hundred times...if something isn't written down on my to-do list, it won't get done. Maybe
you're the same way – that's why I encourage Journey to Clean users to either use the monthly
printables, incorporate the paperless method I discussed earlier, or implement a to-do list system of
accomplishing goals each day. If you're one of those people that likes to have a pretty printable for
everything, even down to their to-do list, don't worry – I've got you covered in that department too. I
have an add-on pack for this eBook that includes a chore chart that will help you integrate other
family members into your Journey to Clean routine, a to-list to organize your tasks (cleaning or
otherwise), a cleaner inventory sheet, and even a 30 minute Last-Minute cleaning checklist for those
emergency cleaning sections. It is the perfect finish to your already thorough cleaning notebook!
You can click here to check that out. I also have a full set of planner printables, The Year of Intent,
that matches the printables in this set. You'll get everything from budgeting tools to meal planners in
this set of over 100 printables. You can find that here.

Now, if you don't accomplish every single task, I assure you it will be ok. I must make a confession
at this point - I don't know that I've ever checked off each and every thing on the cleaning schedule.
As long as you pick those unfinished tasks up next month, the world will never know. :)

I sincerely hope this routine transforms your home like it has mine. Now go get to cleaning!
Leslie Lambert blogs at LambertsLately.com, where she discusses everything related to home. Her
blog is a comprehensive collection of her favorite subjects: everything from productivity, to
homemaking, to family, to food. She has been blogging at Lamberts Lately since 2009. When she's
not blogging, Leslie is passionate about running a thriving home with her husband (Noah). She is the
proud mother of Emmie, 8, and Jackson, 4.

Author Note: Thanks so much for downloading the Ultimate Homemaking Bundle and this
ebook! As a token of my appreciation, I'd like to give you a discount on any of the other
Journey to Clean products in my shop – simply click here and enter the code uhbclean20 at
checkout to receive a 20% discount on digital cleaning products. Offer expires 12/31/21.