The complete household chores list

A household chores list helps you and the members of your household put upkeep on autopilot. Not only does creating one ensure that everything gets done on time, it also takes the guesswork out of navigating conversations about cleaning. It can be awkward to broach this subject with the people you live with, and if you haven’t practiced communicating about household tasks, you might be tempted to avoid it, eventually compounding the issue. That’s why creating this list (maybe as an addendum to your roommate agreement, if you have one) is essential. 

Once your list is made, check out our guide to creating a roommate chore chart to split the responsibilities.

Whether you live alone, with a partner, or with roommates, the process for creating a chore list is pretty consistent: You compile a comprehensive list of all the tidying and cleaning tasks that needs to be completed for your home to feel clean. If you live alone, you’ll compile this list yourself, according to your own standards. If you live with others, you’ll need to put your heads together to create a list that captures everyone’s preferences.

If you colive with others, you’ll want to include both personal chores and communal chores. Personal chores are things you need to do to keep your own space clean and tidy; communal chores are those that go towards the spaces you share. 

You can organize your master list by room or type of task, but a more action-oriented method of organization is grouping by frequency. Everyone’s list will be a bit different depending on what type of space you live in and what’s important to the members of your household. Below are some common types of chores to get you started.

Some tasks are even more frequent than daily household chores. Decide which tasks fall under this category in your home and discuss expectations surrounding them. Some examples could include:

• Meal preparation

• Doing dishes after each meal 

• Removing shoes when you enter the home

• Putting items in shared spaces like the living room away in their proper places

• Cleaning up messes like hair in the bathroom, spills, or stray food scraps

Daily chores can also change depending on your individual needs, but here are some common ones.

• Taking out the trash when it’s full

• Taking the trash out for pickup, if required 

• Unloading, loading, and running the dishwasher if you have one

• Sweeping the kitchen floor

• Wiping down countertops

• Squeegeeing shower doors and walls

Your weekly chore list is probably the most important. This should consist of:

Cleaning the bathrooms, including:

• Scrubbing sinks, tubs, showers, and (yes) toilets, 

• Sweeping and mopping the floor

• Windexing mirrors

Cleaning the kitchen, including: 

• Removing items from countertops and cleaning the countertops with soap and water

• Wiping down the outside of the items if they’re dirty

• Cleaning the stovetop

• Cleaning inside of the microwave

• Cleaning out the fridge, throwing away food that’s gone bad and washing out containers that can be reused

• Vacuuming and/or mopping floors 

• Dusting surfaces

• Laundering and replacing dish and hand towels

• Maintaining your personal space, including changing your sheets, tidying up your room, and sorting your mail

• If you’ve decided to do shared shopping, making a grocery list and visiting the store, then putting grocery items away

Some tasks aren’t realistic to accomplish once a week, but setting a monthly reminder can help maintain your home over time. Some of these things fall under the category of deep cleaning, which you might want to do monthly or even seasonally. We’re talking about stuff like:

• Cleaning inside and outside of kitchen cabinets 

• Scrubbing out the fridge

• Reorganizing and wiping down the pantry and cupboards in the kitchen

• Reorganizing closets, storage cupboards, and medicine cabinets

• Laundering curtains, carpets, furniture, and other fabrics throughout your home

• Tackling tough dirt that has accumulated on floors, walls, baseboards, and tile

• Checking for mold and mildew in bathrooms and scrubbing grout on tile floors and walls

• Washing windows inside and out (if you’re able to do so safely)

• Dusting difficult-to-reach spots like light fixtures

Living in an organized space free of grime and germs will improve your mental and physical health, and communicating with your roommates about chores will improve your relationships. It can even be cathartic and satisfying to put away your phone for a few hours, blast some tunes, and make your new home sparkle. So don’t fear the household chores list—instead, fill it up and learn to love checking off those to-dos.

Having a cleaning service come monthly reduces your chore-load—leaving more time for doing the things you love. Bungalow offers private rooms in shared homes where monthly cleaning is always on the books—and included in your monthly rental cost. Find a Bungalow near you.