The Things Everyone Should Clean Every Day (No Matter What)

updated May 4, 2019
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(Image credit: Marie-Lyne Quirion)

Whether you’ve got a trusted cleaning routine that keeps your home in tip-top shape or not, there are six things you should never let go uncleaned, not even for a day (barring vacation and illness, of course). Every day, take a few moments to tackle this handful of cleaning tasks — you’ll live in a cleaner home for it!

1. Dishes (and the kitchen sink)

You’ve heard it said before — don’t let those dishes pile up. Either hand wash them or at the very least stick them in a dishwasher (even if you don’t have enough to load). But then take it a step farther and give your kitchen sink a quick swipe — cleaning this main area will make your whole kitchen feel cleaner.

2. Bathroom sink

Because glued on globs of toothpaste aren’t the sort of thing you want greeting you every morning.

3. Kitchen counters

A few quick swipes a day keep the “ugh my kitchen is so dirty” feelings away.

4. Sweep the kitchen floor

Why so many kitchen tasks?! Because we use our kitchens so much AND because they’re one of the first places bugs will invade when we let the cleanliness slip. You don’t have to mop every day, but a quick sweep of crumbs will not only keep your kitchen cleaner, it’ll help keep the rest of your home’s floors cleaner more often by not letting you track crumbs from the kitchen.

5. Make the bed

Not so much a cleaning task as more of a picking up sort of task, this one small action will make coming home from work sooo much nicer and make you feel like your home is cleaner and more put together than it might be.

6. The nightstand

This might be an odd one, but we don’t think so: it’s the closest place to your face for hours and hours a day. Letting dust build up can mean more dust being inhaled while you’re at your most vulnerable. A quick swipe will keep dust and grime off this small area.

Bonus one: Clean the cat’s kitty litter box

If you’re a cat owner, you know that cleaning this spot every day will mean a much fresher smelling home, but also mean less dirty litter tracked into your home!

What would you add to (or subtract from!) this list?

Re-edited from a post originally published 7.30.15-NT