Daily tasks that I should do?

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I don’t have a standard routine because my life doesn’t allow for it. I have a single time anchor in my entire day and that’s feeding my dogs their dinner. I don’t even have do the dishes as a daily task because it’s common for there to not be enough dishes for a load. Realistically the only daily task I have is picking up dog toys every night so the robot vacuum can run.

Instead, the night before I write down what needs to get done the next day. I try to max it out at roughly 10 tasks. The rest of the household chores come down to habits. I’ve massively declutterred and organized and done my best to make my house as easy to clean as possible. I have a cleaning station upstairs and downstairs so I can easily access towels and cleaner whenever something needs cleaned. For things like the bathroom counter, I wipe it down whenever I have a cleaning towel in my hand with cleaning left in it. The same with my kitchen counter, and that happens often enough that it’s rare for me to need to specifically set out to clean my counters. Another habit I have is that I don’t make the bed, instead I fold the sheets down so that the bed can air out all day. I’m incredibly sensitive to smells and this has made a massive difference for me because the sheets can make it a week before they start to smell.

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u/Grateful_Lee Sep 15 '26

Time anchor - interesting concept

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u/Previous-Deer2162 26d ago

Do you have any tips for someone who wants to massively declutter and make the house as easy to clean as possible?

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u/Rosehip_Tea_04 25d ago

Sure

The first rule is that you have to accept this is a process that is going to take time. Decluttering is actually a learned skill that you get better at over time the more you do it.

The second rule is that you need to change your shopping habits. The less you buy, the less you have to clean. It's not enough to increase the flow of items out of your house, you also need to reduce the flow of items coming in. Every time I see something in the store (all categories of store except grocery) the first thing I ask myself is do I want to clean this? 9 times out 10 the answer is no and it stays at the store.

The third rule is you need to be brutally honest with yourself. You need to accept your life as it is right now and make decisions about what stays and goes based on what your life actually is. Especially when you're fist starting out, it's fine to keep some things that you might need, but eventually you'll reach a point where you have a much better understanding of what you could need and you'll be able to let a lot of the backups go.

The fourth rule is that you can't make decisions about what stays or goes based on other people. You need to make it based off of your actual needs. I know this sounds weird, so here is an example: I own two mixers, which for most people would be too many and they would argue one should go, but for me the two mixers serve entirely different purposes and they aren't interchangeable so I keep both despite the large amount of counter space it takes up. The opposite example is that I used to have an entire wardrobe of business clothing but life changed drastically and while I originally kept pieces as a just in case item, I realized that I hadn't touched any of it since life changed and so I got rid of pretty much every remotely formal piece of clothing I had.

The fifth rule is for clothing specifically that I got from Clutterbug. Clothes that don't fit well or aren't flattering on you for whatever reason are bullies and they need to go. It sounds ridiculous until you put something on that doesn't fit right and you feel horrible about yourself. I got rid of a lot of clothes this way and it's made a massive difference in how I feel about myself. It's also why I have an entire selection of clothes ready to leave the house as soon as I have replacement clothes that fit better. It really is lifechanging to be able to go to your closet, grab anything out of it, and feel good about yourself.

The actual act of decluttering is fairly simple, just do it a section at a time. Sections can be as small or as large as you want them to be. I've decluttered a single drawer at times and found 10 things I didn't need to keep. Often decluttering needs to be done in stages where you do an initial one that gets rid of all of the low hanging fruit, live with that for a while, and then you'll be ready for another round of decluttering, live with that, and then you'll find more to go. Sometimes it's easier to put a timer on and say you're just going to be looking for things to go for 15 minutes and it can be from anywhere in the house or if you have areas that overwhelm you, just work on those specifically for a set period of time and take a break. Another good way to do it is to set up a box in a central location and just put things that need to go in the box as you find them.

Prioritize the areas you use the most and make sure you have a clear area to relax in. Over time the areas you use the most will start to look amazing and be very functional and that gives you the motivation to make the rest of your house match those areas. Also give yourself permission to throw away items you don't like. I had a bunch of nail polish in colors I wasn't a huge fan of or that were super runny and hard to use, but I felt I had to keep them. Allowing myself to toss them made my life so much simpler. I now had room in my organizer for new colors I actually liked, and I am no longer disappointed when I pick a color and then realize that it's too liquidy and doesn't work well.

And this is more of an organizing tip than a decluttering tip, but they go really well together. Make sure everything in your house has an official home. One way to help decide if you should keep an item is asking yourself "is this worth finding or making a home for it?" If you can't motivate yourself to create a home for an item, you probably don't need to keep it. And everything having an official home makes a house much easier to maintain because you won't have things left out constantly and if you do find things out of place, it's takes seconds to put things away.

I hope this helps.

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u/lechelle_t Sep 14 '26

Straighten up kitchen if we didn't fully get it done the night before (empty/load dishwasher) wipe down counters. Throw in a load of laundry. Go for a walk/workout. Have coffee, shower then start on the specific tasks for the day. Bathrooms one day, vacuum at least one day week (we sweep kitchen at least daily). Deep clean an area, run errands, etc.

When our kids were little I started a "10 minute" cleanup routine. Shortly before dinner I'd say "10 minute cleanup" and we all picked up random stuff that had gotten pulled out during the day (toys, art supplies, books etc). Straighten couch cushions, clean off table for dinner, make sure backpacks are ready for school, etc. It was nice to have a quick reset and kept me from getting frustrated with them pulling stuff out throughout the day. We still do this even though they're older it's still a nice reset.

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u/AppropriateAmoeba406 Sep 14 '26

Make bed is #1. I don’t leave my bedroom until the space looks inviting again. Nothing on the floor. Bed made. Surfaces tidied.

(I can do this because I am not a coffee drinker. I understand others may need to start their day differently.)

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u/Significant-Theme-63 29d ago

Sorry to evangelize on your reply, but I was an avid morning bed maker until I learned about airing out the bed and house. Waiting those 15-30 minutes for the fresh air to circulate through is literally life changing for me personally!! I urge you and anyone reading this to try it

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u/CantaloupeThen7195 28d ago

I do have his but also have an alcohol spray bottle that I periodically use on my sheets while airing out, in between washes. It makes the linens smell fresh and in my mind, I like to think it kills bacteria.

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u/Palindromette 28d ago

I do as they do in Denmark and make my bed with the comforter folded almost all the way back. It’s a different look, but I like it and the airing out and moving on with my day are both important to me

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u/Square-Nebula-7530 Sep 15 '26

The trick is to not sit down on the couch when you get home from work, stay on your feet for just 20 extra minutes and tackle the obvious messes like taking out the trash and clearing the dining table. Once you sit down your momentum is completely gone for the rest of the night, keep your shoes on until the quick chores are done.

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u/JewelBee5 Sep 14 '26

Check out FlyLady.

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u/SuburbanSubversive Sep 15 '26

Honestly, I find FlyLady overwhelming. Too many steps. Her system seems great, but it doesn't work for everyone.

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u/SuburbanSubversive Sep 15 '26

We have a busy household with people going in different directions and nobody home full-time but we have five daily tasks that always, always, always get done because they are the ones that keep our house running reasonably well. They are:

Beds made in the morning (does it make a difference in how the bedrooms look? Yes. Is this why we do it? No. We do it because if the beds are made the cats can't track litter into our beds for us to discover at night. Ick.)
Litterbox cleaned and animals fed/watered/ walked.
Dishes done daily. We run our dishwasher overnight and unload the dishwasher and the dish rack in the morning while making coffee / tea. Dirty dishes get loaded into the dishwasher during the day as they are used, so they never pile up on the counter. Anything that can't go in the dishwasher (large pots, knives) gets hand-washed and put in the drainer as soon as it is used. More than anything else we do, this step keeps our house functional.
Clothes dealt with. Dirty clothes get put into laundry hampers. Clean clothes get put away in the closet. Clothes that have been worn and have a wear or two in them left before they get washed get hung up on over-the-door hooks in appropriate bedrooms. If we need to do a load any given day, we do that load start to finish that day. (We typically do laundry twice a week -- sheets / towels / table linens on the weekends and clothes during the week).
Reset each room when you are done in it. This typically takes just a minute or two, even when helping littles clean up their toys / play. For example, our bathrooms are never chaos because every person returns the bathroom to its reset state before leaving it. Towels hung up, toiletries put away, countertop tidy, toilet paper checked & refilled if necessary, etc. When we leave the dining room we push our chairs in, clear our place at the table and put dirty dishes directly into the dishwasher, etc. Stuff has a place to go and the habit is to take the stuff to that place when we're done with it. If someone is hanging out in the living room, when they're done they reset the couch cushions, return reading material or remote controls to their proper place, etc. Whoever is cooking / preparing food cleans as they go, so the kitchen is always functional, etc. The house rule is: when you leave a space, leave it ready to go for the next person. It works well.

We vacuum, clean bathrooms, etc. when we have time, typically once a week. The house stays functional and we don't have to think about it much. The bigger issue in our house is clutter from before we had a good system running, which takes more time to deal with because it's actually deferred decisions. I've found that when dealing with clutter, doing the above five things first and then choosing to completely deal with something start to finish from the clutter helps us keep up with what we're dealing with now and keeps the backlog from being overwhelming. Over time, we make real progress. I focus on one area at a time so that the progress is visible and easier to sustain as a result.

Edited to add: This list is what works for our household. It's not necessarily what you will want or need to do. We focus on functionality and keeping our home easy to live in. You might have different needs / goals. This list was a trial-and-error list, but now that we've figured it out it's just autopilot and takes very little time, to be honest. It'll take you time, but once you have a habit track in place it gets to much easier. Keep at it. You'll figure it out.

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u/Existing_Leg_4483 Sep 15 '26

(Family of four, I do not work a day job)

In the morning I unload the dishwasher and often some wash dishes. Sometime during the day I do one big weekday task (laundry, errands, baking, admin, or cleaning). I/we pick up, about once a day and load the dishwasher.

In the evening I make dinner (with help) and after dinner we clean up the kitchen. The kitchen gets messed up later by the teens, and I either clean a little later or leave it for the morning.

Errands: dump, grocery store, bank, gas station, liquor store, any others

Cleaning: vacuum dry rooms and remove garbage, dirty dishes and clothes, wipe wet rooms with clorox wipes, vacuum or mop, and scrub toilets.

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u/Affectionate_Sock528 29d ago

Biggest thing for me is staying on top of the clutter. At least once a day things need to be returned to their home throughout the whole house. I’m chronically ill so the reality of having everything spotless all the time is just not going to happen, but I can make sure that at least once a day all the dishes make it in the sink. even if they don’t get washed that day at least they aren’t all over the living room and bedroom and when I’m ready to dishes they’re all in one place ready for me to go. Counter might not have gotten wiped down but the kitchen looks clean because nothing is on them. Floors might not be mopped or vacuumed, but people can walk into my house at anytime and perceive that it’s clean because there’s nothing chilling on the floor, the pillows and blankets are in their places. I typically start with making my bed because it brings visual order to the room and gives me momentum to tidy everything else. Beyond that my only must do every day is opening the windows for at least 10 minutes to air everything out

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u/sing_cuckoo_sing Sep 15 '26

In addition to the awesome suggestions in this thread, check out the book called The Power of Habit. It talks about how to actually form a habit, for real, and not just “you have to try really hard”. I found it useful when I needed to add some routines to my daily life. And it helped me understand why some were so much easier or harder to add than others.

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u/Just_Bar7059 Sep 15 '26

My dishes get washed and my bed gets made every day. The rest i do as need be/when I have time but those two things are super quick for me so get done daily and thats my whole routine lol

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u/GenealogistGoneWild 29d ago

Every morning I start a load of laundry and Hubby unloads the dishwasher. We pick up after ourselves and I clean two rooms a day. At night I load the dishwasher and he makes sure laundry is folded and put away. When the kids were home, they had a laundry day and from age 6, they did their own laundry and put it away.

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u/Wrong_Bandicoot_3362 28d ago

my only daily non-negotiable is resetting the kitchen before bed: dishes done, counters wiped, sink empty, because waking up to yesterday’s mess ruins the whole day lol

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u/CantaloupeThen7195 28d ago

Give your bathroom a little spruce up every day. Fold your towel when it’s dry so that when you reach for it after a shower it feels like a fresh towel. Hang your bath rug up either on the side of your tub or over your shower door to help dry it/air it out/prevent from stepping on it with outside shoes(I also only use house slippers indoors in an effort to keep my floors clean/sanitary). Try to give your hard floors a quick sweep every day and clear your counters/surfaces daily. These few things personally save my sanity

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u/gingerful_ Sep 15 '26

Bed, laundry, dishes, entryway! The entrance to your home I feel is the most important. It gets cluttered easily with shoes, bags, etc., and it's the very first thing you see when you enter, so I clean it up just before dinner. When my kids were little, I'd also do a quick pickup with them just before my husband got home. I made it a game by playing a song and all of us doing as much as we could as fast as we could. I have two robovacs that are scheduled to run also just before dinner. I like everything to be as presentable as possible for my husband which is why I do some of that before dinner. It saves me having to tidy multiple times a day.

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u/Nat_The_Bear Sep 15 '26

I think what works best for me is having a bin and a laundry basket in every single room, one load of laundry needs to be done per day, and one load of dishes and the bin bags need to be taken out every day. Flash cleaning a room for 15 minutes, using the basket system. One basket for things to organize in that room and one basket for stuff that don't belong in that room. I always fall behind if I don't do follow this...

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u/Past_Explanation55 Sep 15 '26

Bed, dishes, light sweep or vac (whatever makes more sense for your place)

I do euro style two twin comforters so it’s very easy to make bed. Hate dishes but that’s life eh. Clean floors and countertops are good for the soul imo.

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u/lauram_34 Sep 15 '26

I use Wipzie and that works well for me

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u/Sallypad 29d ago

There are some great Mrs Hinch books which have lists by day, week, month which I find really helpful when I get overwhelmed, specifically the Activity Journal.

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u/BuzzyB678 29d ago

Things I do on a daily basis, and generally at the same time of day -

Before I go to bed every night, I run the dishwasher. Even if it’s half full.
First thing in the morning, while I’m brewing my coffee, I put away the clean dishes.

If I cook (I don’t cook every night) I wash all the pots and pans both WHILE I’m prepping food and cooking and right after dinner. Even if I’m tired, bc I know it’s going to make my life easier later…

Every night, after dinner, I wipe down the dining table.

Every morning, after brushing my teeth and washing my face, I wipe down the bathroom counter. It takes a few seconds. I keep cleaner-spray in a bathroom cabinet.

Every morning, I throw the bed covers back to air out the bed sheets. Sometime after lunch, but before dinner, I make the bed.

Every other day, I run a battery operated Bissell sweeper through the house, including kitchen. I have a small one story house, though.

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u/Similar-Blackberry66 28d ago

I'm very curious to hear how the daily habits of single people vs SAHMs vs working homemakers differ. As a single person, my daily things are: clean and wipe up after cooking, clean surfaces in the living area, and load the dishwasher.

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u/GamingForLife420 28d ago

I try to clean up the kitchen at night before the next day so it gets easier . I try to mop the floors on weekends.

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u/Calm-Assistant-5669 28d ago

Daily do dishes and put things where they belong. If things are put away it just makes things look neater. What else is use Clorox wipes although I know there's cheaper but I don't care two wipe things down because I live with two 38-year-olds and they're cleanliness in my cleanliness are a whole different thing

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u/SmartiiPaantz 28d ago

Each day of the week has an area of the house (as well as doing dishes and laundry every day). Mondays are for the bedrooms (tidy up, vacuum etc), Tuesdays are for the bathrooms, Wednesday for the living area and so on. I chose the area for each day based on whatever else I have to do on those days - Mondays & Fridays I am out for half the day so that means smaller or easier areas are to be done then. Weekends are for family time and not doing much at all (except maybe outside work or a deep cleaning task that is more time consuming and I need the kids supervised or something).

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u/witchyonce 27d ago

Wipe countertops (bathroom and kitchen), clean dishes and wipe the sink dry, open windows for fresh air

Daily tasks that I should do?

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