The best way to keep your apartment or dorm clean without wasting time and energy!
Nobody likes nagging their roommates to clean, and nobody likes being nagged by their roommates. And as boring as it sounds to have a cleaning schedule for roommates, it is NECESSARY and will make everyone’s life so much easier.
Trust me.
After living with the messiest roommates in the world, I had to figure out a realistic cleaning schedule that everyone would stick to without getting mad at each other.
Whether you’re looking for an apartment cleaning schedule or a dorm room cleaning schedule, you can easily adapt this checklist to your living situation.
This cleaning schedule is based on 4 roommates, but you can easily adapt it to work for 3 or 2 roommates by just dividing up the leftover responsibilities between however many people you’re living with.
This post is all about the best cleaning schedule for roommates.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll earn a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you. Our full disclosure policy is pretty boring, but you can read it here.
BEST CLEANING SCHEDULE FOR ROOMMATES:
CLEANING PRIVATE SPACES (aka your room)
MORNING
- Make your bed. So easy, but this will give you a sense of motivation and make your room look tidy for the rest of the day!
BEFORE BED
- Put clothes where they belong. You know the drill. Dirty laundry in the hamper, clean laundry in the closet/dresser. Don’t let your clothes and laundry become heaps that sit there and turn into a sense of overwhelm. Take 2 minutes before bed every day to just get it done!
- Clear off surfaces. Taking 5 minutes to clear off surfaces like your desk, dresser, and nightstand will help you wake up with a sense of clarity.
- Wash dishes. I know it can be hard at times, but if you can, clean your dishes either as soon as you’re done with them or at least before you go to bed. The #1 thing that roommates tend to hate is when the people they’re living with let dishes pile up for days on end. It’s probably one of the most common roommate complaints. Don’t be that person!
Products You’ll Find Helpful:
- Mrs. Meyer’s Natural Air Freshener
- Mrs. Meyer’s All Purpose Cleaner for Surfaces
- Magic Eraser Sponge
- Microfibre Cloths
ONCE A WEEK
- Laundry/wash bedding. Nobody likes getting behind on laundry. Throwing in a load of laundry weekly will make your life so much easier!
- Get rid of food that’s going bad. Just check what food you have on hand every week so that you can throw out anything that might be going bad!
Products You’ll Find Helpful:
SHARED RESPONSIBILITIES (Weekly)
All of the following tasks on this cleaning schedule for roommates should be done weekly. The tasks are divided between 4 people, but if you have a different number of roommates in your apartment you can just adjust the tasks accordingly (while trying to keep it even).
Something else to note:
You don’t have to assign these to the same person every week! Something that has worked really well for me and my past roommates is rotating responsibilities each week.
For example:
When I was living with just one other roommate, one of us would do bathroom/miscellaneous tasks while one of us did kitchen/common area, and then we would swap tasks every week. This was a great schedule because it just meant that we weren’t always doing the same thing and kept it super fair (that’s right, no roommate fights).
Obviously, certain things (like the bathroom and kitchen) require a lot more cleaning than the others, so I definitely recommend rotating responsibilities to keep it fair!
Another option?
If there are just 3 of you living together, pair common area + miscellaneous together as one. Then they’ll all be pretty equal 🙂
Roommate 1 – Bathroom
- Clean/disinfect toilet (this is a great toilet bowl cleaner!)
- Wipe down mirror
- Wipe down sink and countertop
- Change the garbage bag
- Scrub bathtub/shower (I love using this product for the shower/bathtub)
- Sweep/mop floors
- Wash bathmat
Roommate 2 – Kitchen
- Wipe down countertops/table
- Wipe down appliances (microwave, toaster, coffee maker, etc.)
- Sweep/mop floor
- Wipe down outside of cabinets/fridge/oven
- Wipe down stovetop
Roommate 3 – Common area/living room
- Clear off surfaces and then wipe them down
- Vacuum/sweep/mop (depending on what works best for your floors)
- Vacuum couches/rugs (this is a great vacuum for dorm rooms)
Roommate 4 – Miscellaneous
- Take out garbage
- Outside maintenance (like shovelling/salting the walkway if you have one and if you live in a place with snow and ice)
Will you and your roommates be following this weekly cleaning schedule?
This post was all about the best cleaning schedule for roommates.
OTHER POSTS YOU’LL LIKE:
Questions to Ask Your Roommate (Get to Know Them)
){kind=link}