How to Have a Family Cleaning Night – My Favorite Thing Ever!

Starting a family cleaning night is the BEST thing our family ever did – you teach your kids while keeping your sanity! I’m sharing some tips and tricks you can use on how to delegate tasks, encourage participation, and create a fun environment that the whole family will enjoy. Say goodbye to stress and hello to a clean and organized home.

We’ve done the same thing every Thursday night for almost 20 years. When my kids were home, I’m sure they wished I would be talking about a movie night or pizza night, but Thursdays are all about something I like.

No, something I LOVE – our weekly family cleaning night.

Yep, on Thursdays (or on Wednesdays in some seasons) we clean – ALL of us. We crank up the music, each take a job, and 30-45 minutes later our house is presentable for another week. People can stop by unexpectedly and we don’t need to freak out (which is a total blessing).

Now that it’s just Brian and I, we still have a weekly cleaning night – but now we each pop in our earbuds and listen to podcasts or books and we don’t need ice cream afterwards, lol.

Why Have a Family Cleaning Night

There are a number of reasons why this is a good idea, but these three things are at the top of the list:

1. Have basic cleaning done on a consistent basis (of course…).
2. Teach the kids how to do said basic cleaning (this is a life skill – everyone needs to know this without being paid for it, just like when they’re living their adult life).
3. Save mom’s sanity.

This last point can’t be emphasized enough, lol.

To be honest, before we instituted cleaning night I just felt like I was running around all day trying to get everything done while the rest of the family dirtied everything up. And I don’t think I’m alone in this, right?

So when my sister-in-law said their family had a cleaning night, I grasped the idea like a woman grabbing a lifesaver (oh, how I wish I had thought of it, but I’m so glad she did!).

And guess what? After years of cleaning nights my kids know how to clean – and in college they were in the minority for sure!

How to Have A Family Cleaning Night

1. Choose a night (or day)

Decide which night will work best for your schedule. It may be a Thursday night like us (we wanted to have our weekends free) or a Saturday morning. Any time that works for you is the best time.

2. Divvy up the chores

Have a family meeting to talk about this. Make a rotating list if there are lots of kids or lots of complaints about chores. Make sure, though, that through the years the kids get to learn about cleaning all the basic areas.

For example, our daughter knows all about cleaning bathrooms. She can also dust and vacuum. She started at age five dusting, then started vacuuming the stairs when she got older. Now she and her brother alternate months between cleaning bathrooms and dusting.

3. Start them young

Once a child is 2.5 and older they can help the family. Plus, when they’re young they often thinks it’s cool and fun, so take advantage of that!!

Some ideas on how to start younger kids cleaning include:

• A kid-sized broom and one room they are in charge of (and if you need to ‘fix’ it, do it later when they can’t see so they aren’t discouraged).
• A duster and some easy-to-reach surfaces.
• A basket they can use to collect items that need to go back to rooms.

Our son was eight when we started cleaning as a family. He was in charge of the half-bath the kids used and cleaned the bathroom until his sister was old enough to share that chore. 8-year-olds CAN clean toilets – really!

4. Set the example

I really feel it’s our duty as parents to make sure our kids know what it takes to maintain a home by cleaning, picking up and doing laundry (by middle school-high school my kids were doing their own laundry). Sure, it makes my life easier (amen), but I would be shirking on my job as a mom if I just did everything for them.

5. To pay or not to pay

Here’s another important point about kids and regular cleaning:

• They don’t get paid for this work.

This is something we do as a family, all of us pitching in to make our home life easier and more pleasant all the way around. It’s something normal people do all the time as adults and we all need to get used to doing this without payment.

The kids have other jobs that they can do to earn money each week, but this (and also setting the table and doing dishes) is just a part of being in a family.

6. Everyone participates

Brian vacuums all the living areas and empties all the trash.

For family cleaning night this has been key: we all do it- no one is exempt. If someone has to miss the actual night, then they are on task to get it done the next day when they can.

Of course there are many nights we wish we didn’t have to clean. In fact, we’ve found we tend to sit at the table longer on Thursdays…we just “happen” to find so many things to talk about. But we know if we just push through, it’s over quickly and we all enjoy having a clean house.

7. Make it as fun as you can

Here’s the main thing that’s made it just a little better for our kids: cleaning night is the only night we have ice cream during the week…after we’ve finished cleaning.

It’s nice to have something positive the kids can look forward to each cleaning night. Plus the power of a little bribery, right?

Here’s how we make cleaning nights more fun:

• Make fun music mixes of all your favorite songs and get the kids involved in choosing.
• Play the music loud – it’s the difference that makes it fun!
• Sweeten the deal with ice cream or other special treat. It helps to make this the only night for it, though (other than special occasions, of course), otherwise it’s not special.

Our daughter often tells me that her friends think its weird that she has to clean. I ask her who she’d like to have as a roommate when she’s older- one of her friends who don’t know how to clean, or some “weird” person like her. Guess which she chose?

There’s not much I guarantee on this blog, but if you institute regular cleaning nights, I do guarantee that you will LOVE it!

This is one of our family’s traditions – see more great family tradition ideas here.

This article has been updated – it was originally published in January of 2010.