Lots of publications offer rundowns of cleaning projects to do each month, such as cleaning out the junk drawer in January, organizing your file cabinet in April (I guess because of taxes), and cleaning your basement’s copper pipes in September. (Really, that’s not a thing, although a friend’s brother likes to do that.)
My list is a lot more commonsensical and a little more fun. Plus, I throw in some shopping tips along the way—I have worked in retail for eons, after all. No doubt I’ll be updating this list in the years to come and will share online as it makes sense to do so.
Feel free to write your own tasks in the margins. It’s your book after all! You might have other favorite things you like to do at various times of the year—say, dig out and clean the crank ice cream maker in May so it’s ready for June, or start cleaning out your garage in June for your annual sale in July. (If that last idea pertains to you, do send me a note on the date, especially if you live in Minnesota. I love garage sales.)
January
Baby, it’s cold outside. (Or pretend it is.) Soup is simmering in the slow cooker. And you’ve got enough willpower to resist that novel someone gifted you or that new binge-worthy TV show until later tonight. Now’s the perfect time to deep-clean any neglected spaces:
- It’s the darkest month of the year—that suggests dusting all your light fixtures and swapping out any bulbs that are kaput. After turning off all the lights, grab that duster, a few new bulbs, and a stepladder you can easily move from room to room, and you’ll be done in no time.
- If you’ve got seasonal décor to store away until next year, you might want to clean out and/or reorganize your attic or storage space.
- By January, it’s likely that you’ve figured out which winter clothes you no longer need. Why not simplify your mornings by keeping on hand only the items you really love? Donate the clothes you don’t want to a thrift store or sell them online.
- Clean those out-of-sight, out-of-mind spaces: the medicine cabinet, yes, that junk drawer, behind and under the refrigerator (throwing out those dusty pretzels will help prevent mice from taking up residence), under the sink, under the bed(s), and all those closets: hallway, bathroom, mudroom, etc.
- A new year often brings a new reason to simplify: What other items do you need or not need in your life? Pick up the former at after-holiday sales, and donate or throw away the latter. Ah, it feels so good to start the year organized!
- Shopping: Need to refresh your bedding? January tends to offer the best deals.
February
If there were a Super Bowl of cleaning, it would be a punch bowl filled with vinegar and rags. Now’s the month to show your home some love—it is the month of valentines, after all—by moving up on the to-do list those things that are a tad tedious.
- Start with what’s underfoot: Steam your floors, clean the grout, wax any hardwood floors, and touch up any floor scratches.
- After your valentine cookies are done baking, it’s probably time to clean the oven with water, vinegar, and baking soda. (For the deets, see here.)
- On a day that feels like spring, open up a few windows for fifteen minutes to freshen up your house and get rid of stale air. (Perhaps you do this on an evening when your husband is out at a concert to ensure you won’t hear these words being yelled from another room: “Are we paying to heat the outdoors?!” This example may or may not be taken from my own life.)
- Once again, consider grabbing that duster and a stepladder, and then moving from room to room, dusting the tops of kitchen cabinets, tall pieces of furniture, and more.
- Speaking of large furniture, enlist a friend or partner to help you move them. Then sweep or vacuum under them—plus retrieve those missing Legos, random change, and maybe even that dog toy that’s been lost forever.
- If you take this opportunity to move your furniture around, you may need to get rid of those impressions on your carpet. Just place ice cubes on the impressions, let them melt over a couple of hours, blot the dampened impressions with a clean rag and then use your fingers to fluff the carpet back up. By the time the carpet dries, the impressions will be gone.
- In honor of Valentine’s Day, consider doing the chore that your partner or roommate or child likes least. (If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll do yours too.)
- Shopping: Need new flowerpots? Buy them now while the selection is best.
March
Spring is coming, and that means your entryway is going to get “mud-luscious” and “puddle wonderful,” à la E. E. Cummings. This room needs lots of extra attention.
- Your front door: Clean it from top to bottom, and both sides. If there’s a window in your front door, eliminate any fingerprints with a squirt of your vinegar-water solution and a swipe. Perhaps it’s even time to repaint—the same color or maybe orange like mine.
- Your entryway closet: After a long winter, depending on where you live, those heavy coats need laundering and putting away until next year. (If you live in the frigid north like me, this task should happen in May. Not kidding.)
- Your shoe tray: Time to swap the snow boots for the rain boots (again, this is delayed until April or May in the north) and add a towel or two for wiping Bo’s paws.
- Your entryway floor: Scrub the grout, steam the tile, and refresh that rug, whether by washing or replacing.
April
Finally—it’s time for spring cleaning—before the weather is so nice that you’re practically living outside. I’d recommend flipping back through each chapter and cleaning one or two rooms per weekend. By the end of the month, your house will gleam. Here are some extra tips:
- When it’s warm enough to open the windows, dust everything, including your window treatments, windowsills, and books.
- Then vacuum every room to suck up all that dust.
- If you can, carry your area rugs outside and shake or beat them. If not, flip them over inside and vacuum their backsides.
- If you’ve got any firewood left, make another winter fire or two, light your candles, and enjoy a few last chilly nights full of hygge.
- Take stock of any lingering winter foods in your pantry or cupboards. Got half a dozen cans of tomatoes, wild rice, or creamed corn? It’s obviously time to make more soup or a few cozy casseroles. As soon as it’s summer, you’ll want to be outside grilling.
- Shopping: Need any grill utensils? Ensure you have what you need now so you’re ready on that first day you’ve got a hankering for kebobs or burgers.
May
If you have kids, May is arguably the busiest month of the year, with recitals, performances, sporting competitions, picnics, graduations, and more. Maybe cut yourself some slack inside and pay a bit more attention to your outdoor living spaces. After all, it’s likely that in many places mosquitoes haven’t yet arrived in full force, the temperature is near perfect, and the spring flowers are blooming.
- Depending on where you live, it’s likely time (if you haven’t already) to bring your houseplants outside. That’s when I move my lime tree, Brian Jones, from the bathroom to the deck. Be sure too to clean any spaces indoors where those plants sat.
- Now take your cleaning outside. Scrub your grill so it’s ready. Get out the hose and spray down the garage, the deck, and/or the patio.
- Update what’s in your car—swap out that shovel and ice scraper for a picnic basket and portable chairs for baseball games or camping.
- Scrub the stains off any patio furniture.
- Call the chimney service and get your home on the summer schedule, so you’re ready for the fall.
June
Maybe this is the summer that you plan to replace a few windows, add more landscaping, expand your garden, or stain your deck—again. Whatever’s planned, you likely don’t want to while away your hours inside. But if there’s a rainy day or two, consider these ideas:
- If you’ve got kids, now that school’s out, give them a day or two to clean their bedrooms, chuck those old papers and notebooks, and start fresh. And as long as they’re dusting, maybe dust off that library card and head to the local library for a stack of summery books.
- Give some love to the kitchen, clearing space for favorite items from the farmer’s market and for summery snacks and lunches.
- Move your summer clothes into your closet and pack away your freshly laundered winter clothes.
- Pull out all the fans and wipe them down with your vinegar-water solution. If you’re unable to wipe down the blades of a boxed fan, use canned air to remove the dust. For ceiling fans, gently wrap an old towel around a blade and pull away to remove the mother lode of dust; repeat with each of the blades. Then when most of the dust is gone, use the vinegar-water solution to wipe down the blades again.
July
It’s va-cay time! If you’re out of town, you can’t very well clean your home. And if you’re doing a stay-cation (my frequent preference), you shouldn’t be cleaning either, especially if the weather happens to be beautiful. That said, you could put a few things on your to-do list:
- If you’re grabbing your suitcases this month, perhaps it’s time to clean out the closet where they’re stored.
- If you have air-conditioning, be sure to change out the filters again. (No doubt they’ve gotten lots of use so far this season.)
- Carpets need some care? Now’s a good time to shampoo them—after all, they’ll dry so much faster with the windows open or the air-conditioning running.
- Shopping: This is the perfect month to start thinking about fall—yep, school clothes are back in stores.
August
It’s summer’s last hurrah. Keep your home tidy, but cut yourself some slack. There are still pools to swim in, bike rides and hikes to take, marshmallows to roast. Everything else can wait.
That said, if redoing a kid’s room has been on your to-do list, now’s a great time, right before school starts. Doing so also doesn’t have to be hard: Repaint, refresh the bedding (and maybe the mattress), change up the posters, and get a new area rug. Check, check, check, and check!
September
If you’ve got young kids, life gets super busy in September. And even without kids, schedules change, projects pile up, the social calendar fills. You’ll want to crank up the cozy with any downtime you can grab. And with temps dropping, now’s just the time:
- Clean your light fixtures—it’s likely they’re super dusty from having your windows open all summer long. Double-check that all your bulbs are working.
- Turn your attention to your entryway(s) again. Ensure you’ve got hooks and/or hangers for coats, a basket for hats and mittens, and a tray for boots.
- Deep-clean your den and living room, including vacuuming the sofa(s). No doubt you’ll be spending a lot of time there.
- Vacuum your mattress(es). Wash all the blankets before adding them to your bed(s). And swap out those crisp summer sheets for flannel.
- If you took up your rugs for the summer, return them to your floors. They’ll feel good during chillier winter days.
- Shopping: Stock up on candles. Maybe you need some spicy fall ones now and a Fraser fir one for December? A lovely flicker and a beautiful scent can help create a bit of serenity whenever it’s needed.
October
Fall is getting in full swing. Now’s the perfect time to focus on two disparate spaces—your kitchen and your garage.
- Clean your kitchen, but stretch out the process over a week if need be, cleaning every pot and pan, every cupboard, every surface—plus the stove and the refrigerator. Pull out that slow cooker, those new cooking gadgets you bought on vacation, and your favorite fall recipes. It’s time to start cooking in earnest again.
- Take stock of your spices and herbs. Perhaps a few are a bit old and need replacing. You might also buy a couple of potted herbs (or pot up an herb or two from your garden), so you can keep using fresh herbs all winter long.
- Do an inventory of your cooking tools. Do you have your pumpkin-carving tools ready? Do you have a candy thermometer on hand for that divinity recipe you want to try? Thanksgiving is right around the corner—do you have a turkey baster and a meat thermometer?
- Get your garage ready for colder weather: Put away the bikes and the toys, pull out the snow shovels, and rearrange your storage so you can actually park again in your garage (and the kids can ride around on their trikes in the garage during midwinter). Stock up on sand (preferably) or road salt to help with traction on ice. And while you’re at it, deep-clean your car, washing and vacuuming it—or take it to a full-service car wash.
November
- It’s nearly go time! Early in the month, especially if you’re hosting guests or entertaining, check these to-do items off your list to make your weeks go smoothly: Deep-clean any entertaining spaces: entryway, living room, and dining room. If you currently use any of these spaces as a home office, figure out a conversion plan now so you don’t have to do so in a hurry when the time comes.
- Clean the guest bedroom if need be, including dusting, vacuuming, and laundering all the bedding.
- Polish the silverware, including any serving pieces and candlesticks if you plan to use them.
- Wash all your serving pieces. If they’ve been on display in your china cabinet and you previously washed them with ammonia (to make them gleam), wash them again, this time without the ammonia.
- Freshly wash and starch all your table linens, including any tablecloths, table runners, and cloth napkins, to prepare for holiday hosting events.
- Consider wiping down the walls and shampooing the carpets as well.
- And if you feel particularly inspired, touch up those spots on the wall with paint.
- Shopping: While Black Friday and Cyber Monday used to be single-day events, now great deals are available all month long. Also, early November days bring great deals on children’s costumes they can use all year.
December
This isn’t the month for deep cleaning. Rely on the ten-minute cleans and just aim to keep your home tidy. A little dust isn’t fatal. (Plus, is it dust or is it soot from Santa—or that magic dust that makes the reindeer fly?) You’re plenty busy already—entertaining, shopping, cooking, doing dishes, and washing table and bed linens. Be kind to yourself during the holidays. Cut yourself some slack. It’s the memories with loved ones that count, not how perfect your house looks.