10 Monthly Cleaning & Laundering Tasks {Make Sure These Are In Your Routine}

Here are 10 monthly cleaning and laundering tasks that should be done around your home. Are they all part of your current routine?

It's relatively easy to remember all the stuff in your home that has to be cleaned daily, like the dishes in the kitchen sink. You can make it a habit to get these things clean and eventually do it on auto-pilot.

It's even somewhat easy to remember the stuff that needs to be cleaned frequently, but not necessarily daily, like washing your sheets and pillowcases. These are the types of things you clean or wash weekly, so again you can get into a routine, such as always doing the task on a specific day of the week.

I've found though that the less often something needs to be cleaned the easier it is to forget about it, or not give it priority.

However, there are things that need to be cleaned frequently in your home, but much less often than once a week, and eventually if you don't do these things you can begin to notice it in your home.

Therefore, to help you remember these types of tasks here's my list of 10 monthly cleaning and laundering tasks you should plan to do approximately every 30 days or so in your home.

Make sure you add them into your cleaning routine, such as adding them in a rotating fashion into your weekly cleaning list, so they get done about every month.

1. Vacuum Carpets Thoroughly

You might be surprised this is on the list, because I do think you should vacuum your carpets more frequently than once a month. But let's face it, when you're busy if you vacuum the middle of the carpets, and get the most highly trafficked areas, one to two times a week, you're doing pretty good.

So each month make sure you take the time to do a more thorough vacuuming job of your carpets, getting behind and underneath some of the furniture, and also focusing on the edges of the room more, to get the whole carpet looking great.

2. Vacuum Upholstery

Vacuuming your upholstered furniture regularly helps with wear and tear of the fabric, and also keeps dust and debris from settling into the fibers, causing dinginess.

At least monthly you should vacuum all of your upholstered furniture for these benefits, including the throw pillows, and between the cushions.

You can get more tips for how to clean upholstery here.

3. Launder Coats & Other Winter Gear

During the winter season you should launder your coats and other winter gear, such as scarves, gloves, and hats, at least monthly.

For kids you may want to wash even more frequently, like every two weeks, since kids tend to play more in their coats, and therefore get them dirtier.

You should also launder these items before you put them into storage at the end of the season.

4. Switch Plates, Door Knobs & Telephones

Your whole family's hands touch the light switch plates, door knobs and even your telephone on a daily basis, getting them dirty with smudges, fingerprints, and germs.

To keep everyone from passing germs amongst each other, each month wipe these surfaces down with a disinfectant cleaner.

You should also wipe them down sooner if there's been an illness in your household. In fact, check out these 9 things to clean and sanitize in your home when someone's been sick.

5. Trash Cans & Recycling Bins

You purposefully throw away trash and recyclables into your trash cans and recycling bins, and things can leak in there, and otherwise get dirty.

To keep odors down, and to avoid attracting pests, wash out your trash cans and recycling bins each month and dry them thoroughly afterward before putting more into them.

You can get more instructions for how to clean a trash can or reycling bin on the sister site, Household Management 101, in this article about trash can cleaning.

6. Dishwasher

Your dishwasher is designed to clean your dishes, but the appliance itself gets dirty, and should be cleaned on a regular basis, at least monthly.

If you find your dishwasher gets a build up of hard water or excess soap residue, here are tips for how to clean your dishwasher with vinegar.

To keep the dishwasher smelling fresh, and to clean dirt, debris and forming mold and mildew a dishwasher cleaner product can also be used. Here are lots of dishwasher cleaner reviews on the site, so you can find the best product for the job.

7. Washing Machine

Another appliance in your home that needs regular TLC is your washing machine, and it should be cleaned monthly.

Here's my article about how to clean your washing machine, to both sanitize it and remove smells.

8. Wash Bedding

Again, you might be surprised to see this on the list, and yes, I do think you should wash your sheets and pillowcases at least weekly (check out this handy list of how often to wash all types of household and clothing items in your home here).

However, you have more bedding on your bed than just sheets and pillowcases.

Monthly you should completely strip the bedding from your bed, including the mattress pad, and blankets, and get them washed as well.

You can get more tips for how to wash bedding here.

9. Dust Blinds

One of the most insidious things that accumulates in your home with time is dust, and it especially seems to accumulate around your windows and blinds.

If you don't remove the dust from your blinds regularly it seems to develop an almost greasy film, which makes it even harder to remove from these surfaces.

Therefore, each month you should dust your blinds thoroughly to keep these surfaces easier to clean and looking good year round.

Here are some window blind cleaner reviews to help you find a good tool to clean your blinds.

10. Wash Car

Your car gets dirt, mud, salt, bugs and more on it, on a regular basis as you drive it around town.

To keep your car looking good, and to remove these substances, some of which can corrode the finish and even the body with time (like road salt), wash your car, or take it through the car wash, on a monthly basis.

You can check out these homemade car wash soap recipes here.

Looking for even more cleaning tips? Check out this round up of tips for cleaning the bathroom here.

In addition, don't forget these 10 places when you clean your house.

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CAUTION: This website is provided for informational purposes only. It is provided as is, without warranties or guarantees. Some stains and messes just won't come out, and are permanent. Further, some cleaning methods can harm your item, so if what you want to clean or launder is sentimental or expensive call a professional. See disclaimer of liability for more information.