Here's How Often You Should Clean Everything In Your House

While it can sometimes be hard to gauge how often to tackle certain household chores, keeping your living space tidy just got a whole lot simpler. Good Housekeeping has created a handy infographic showing how often you should clean everything in your house.

To keep everything neat, Good Housekeeping recommends that you perform certain cleaning tasks every day, including sweeping the kitchen floor, wiping down the kitchen counters, and sanitizing the sinks. Then, once a week, you should change your bedding and clean the inside of your microwave. (Note, though, that you shouldn’t actually try to sanitize your sponge—researchers suggest throwing it away and replacing it with a new one instead.)

The timing of other chores is more flexible. You can tackle scrubbing the insides of your fridge and oven every three to six months. As for big projects like deep-cleaning carpets and windows, you only need to do those once a year.

Just because you should clean regularly, though, doesn't mean you have to spend ages doing it. There are a variety of cleaning hacks that can help you speed up the process, like using a lemon to wipe away hard water stains or putting dusty artificial plants in the dishwasher. There are also plenty of products guaranteed to make cleaning easier, like this steam cleaner designed specifically for your microwave.

Or, just let a smart mop do the cleaning for you. That’s probably healthier, anyway.

Check out Good Housekeeping’s infographic here. The magazine also made a companion chart for laundry, so head over there to learn what articles of clothing you only have to wash every three months.

A version of this story ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2023.