The Truth About How Often You Should Clean These 20 Items In Your House

There’s often this question of “how often should you clean your house?” lurking in the back of people’s minds. It’s a hard question because we all have our own level of hygiene, of frequency of use, of preference, and of time constraints.

Most people don’t really love to clean the house, preferring to spend their time doing just about anything else, but it’s one of the most necessary things in running a properly functioning household and life. This is especially true if you have kids! You want to be sure the spaces they play on are sanitary!

Unfortunately, different areas of the house might actually be dirtier than you think. For example, did you know that most kitchen sinks are dirtier than the toilet? The mix of germs from food and dirty hands can create a breeding ground for sickness (which is one of the reasons copper sinks are amazing – they are naturally antimicrobial).

I didn’t grow up in a household where I was taught what to clean and how often you should clean them, so I’ve never really been sure as an adult what is the correct answer to “how often should I wash my sheets?” or “how often am I supposed to dust?”

What I do know, as an adult and especially as a parent, is that I don’t have all the time in the world to clean everything every single day! But, I also know I lack cleaning some items as often as they should be cleaned too (ahem, dusting).

If you don’t believe me, you can look at my free printable household chore list and see how infrequently I clean my sheets (oops!) and why I instead prefer employing secrets to a clean home that start before cleaning day even begins.

So, to give you a better idea of how often you should be cleaning some of these things, HireAHelper put together this room by room cleaning checklist. In it, you can see which areas of your home might be deceptively dirty.

Your living room is one of the cleaner areas of the house, but some of the areas that need frequent cleaning include the carpet (which can collect dust, dirt, and allergens) and the couch (which gets all kinds of things on it). These should be cleaned once a week and once every other week respectively.

• How to Remove Poop Stains and Smell from Carpet
• How to Get Slime Out of Carpet
• How to Remove Carpet Stains with Only Water

In the bedrooms, the items that need to be cleaned the most often are your bed sheets. These should be cleaned weekly since they collect so much sweat, dirt, and so many dead skin cells. Did you know you should be cleaning your bed pillows (yes, the pillows themselves) every three months as well?

• How to Remove Pee Stain and Odors from Mattress
• How to Fix Mini Blinds

The bathrooms obviously get pretty gross, and to keep things as sanitary as possible you should wipe down the bathroom sink and toilets with disinfecting wipes daily. While this might seem excessive, it’s better to be safe than sorry!

• How to Clean Bathroom Grout
• How to Clean Porcelain Sinks

Finally, the kitchen should be cleaned daily, especially the counters and sink. A disinfecting wipe will work here, too. They recommend cleaning your sponges every week as well, as they are teeming with bacteria!

• How to Clean Inside of a Dishwasher
• How to Remove Bad Fridge Odor and Smells
• How to Clean Your Oven with Baking Soda

Check out the infographic below for the full lowdown:

I don’t know that I can personally keep up the cleaning schedule mentioned above, but at least I now know what the experts say for “how often should I clean my home?” at least for these 20 common household items!

If you want tips on how to clean these 20 items, pick up a copy of my ebook Speed Clean the Deep Clean and/or sign up for my mailing list where I send out weekly cleaning tips!