How Often Should I Have My House Cleaned?

If you are thinking of hiring a professional cleaner, your first question is typically: how often should cleaners come? Do you need a weekly service, bi-weekly or fortnightly service? The short answer is: it depends on your budget and the size of your home. 

Let’s break down the four main factors that will determine how often your cleaner should come.  

Factor #1: the size of your house and how many people live there. 

The first factor is arguably the most obvious, but the size of your home is going to affect how often your cleaner should come. If you have a mansion with five bathrooms, it will naturally take more time to clean than a single bedroom city apartment. Similarly, heritage-listed and older homes typically require more upkeep—perhaps floors to polish, high ceilings to dust and fireplaces to clean. 

Factor #2: what you want cleaned 

What you want cleaned and how often you want it cleaned will affect the frequency and duration of your cleaning service. Most of our cleaning clients want the basics done like cleaning the floors, bathrooms, kitchens, toilets and other areas. Cleaners typically dust, vacuum, mop, wipe surfaces, clean the kitchen, bathroom and toilets. If you want the basics and some extras such as skirting boards, under furniture or other nooks and crannies, chairs, splashbacks, couch cushions, microwaves or ovens, mirrors, windowsills, walls and light switches you may need to book extra time.

For a full rundown of what’s typically included, take a look at our Ultimate House Cleaning Checklist. Or you may want a weekly service and create a rotating roster of when the additional items are done in the month.

Factor #3: your messy level 

Are you a neat freak, living alone and rarely at home? You definitely don’t need super-frequent cleaning. But if you have pets or children (the messy darlings) you may need to have cleaners come more often to deal with the aftermath of all that pet hair, crumbs and general mess that they’re so good at creating. All of these factors impact how often cleaners should come. 

Factor#4: your budget 

You need to factor in what you’re willing to spend on a cleaner. For many of our clients, they’d rather invest in a cleaner so they can free up their valuable time. This may be to enjoy life with friends and family, without worrying about cleaning. Or, to earn money that far and beyond covers whatever cleaning costs are incurred. (Usually, it’s both) Investing in cleaning gives you the gift of more time, and less stress—so we think it’s invaluable. But you should always get what you can afford and what your budget allows. 

 If budget is a factor, you can also customise your service, keeping the bigger, more time-consuming jobs like bathrooms and floors on your cleaner’s visit and handling smaller daily tasks yourself in between. For a guide to typical pricing, see our post on the average cost of a house cleaner.

Our furry friends and little munchkins help us make priceless moments and much more mess.  

Having pets and/or children means you will probably need frequent house cleaning. 

Kids and pets mean messy houses—it’s a sign of all the fun you’re having as a family.  Your adorable dog or cat leaves pet hair everywhere. Younger kids are experts at leaving crumbs and mess all over the house. Teens are famous for their slovenly ways. 

Big families or small can still enjoy a fresh clean home each week with cleaning. Most families find that a weekly cleaning service is suitable to keep their home maintained. 

Cute dog, but you might need a cleaner more frequently.

When You Live Alone, How Often Should Cleaners? 

Are you one of the almost one quarter of Australians who live alone? If you live alone and don’t have pets, we still recommend a weekly or fortnightly clean, to avoid the buildup of grime, dust, cobwebs and dirt. If you have a smaller property, like a one-bedroom apartment, a regular two-hour clean will help you keep on top of everything. 

Can I Get A House Cleaner To Come Every Day? 

Yes! Some people are looking for a housekeeping service where the cleaner arrives every day or multiple days a week. When cleaners come daily or a few days a week, everything is always kept spick and span. Things don’t get a chance to build up and your house can be absolutely spotless, every single day. Some clients love to invest in this service, so they can come home to a fresh clean house every day of the week. A minimum two-hour clean is all that’s necessary when you have a housekeeping service. 

Cleaner or Housekeeper: What’s the Difference?

If you’ve got a bustling household with mountains of laundry, dishes piling up and a hectic schedule, a regular cleaning service might not quite cover it. This is where a housekeeping service can help. A housekeeper provides the same cleaning tasks as a regular cleaner but comes more often, using that extra time for washing, ironing, tidying and organising, rather than just a quick clean of the floors and bathrooms. If your home needs more than a once-over each week, ask about upgrading from a cleaner to a housekeeping service.

How Often Should I Schedule Home Cleaning Services for a Busy Household?

If your household is juggling work, school runs and everything in between, a weekly clean is the most common starting point, with many busy families upgrading to a housekeeping service so laundry, ironing and tidying are taken care of alongside the clean. Start with a weekly trial and adjust from there based on how the house holds up between visits.

How Often Should Cleaners Come?

There are multiple service options available for home cleaners:

• weekly clean: most popular
• twice weekly: if you have pets or children
• fortnightly: suitable if you are rarely at home
• one off: good for a deep clean every month or so, or a couple of times a year, but you’ll need to clean yourself in between visits. Great for a one-off clean before an event or after a big gathering.

How Often Should You Clean Each Task? A Room-by-Room Breakdown

Knowing how often to book a cleaner is one part of the puzzle. It also helps to know how often different tasks around the house actually need doing. Here’s a simple breakdown to take the guesswork out of your cleaning schedule.

Daily:

• Make the bed
• Wipe down kitchen benchtops
• Wash the dishes
• Put away clutter
• Handle spills as they happen
• A quick vacuum or sweep of high-traffic areas

Weekly:

• Dusting surfaces, shelves and furniture
• Vacuuming and mopping floors
• Changing bed sheets
• Cleaning the bathroom – toilet, shower, mirrors and sinks
• Wiping down the kettle, toaster, microwave and fridge exterior

Monthly:

• Cleaning windows and blinds
• Wiping down cupboard fronts
• Decluttering the fridge and pantry
• Vacuuming the mattress
• Reorganising cupboards and drawers

For a more detailed month-by-month plan, see our Monthly Cleaning Tasks guide.

Once or twice a year:

• Oven and rangehood deep clean
• Wiping down ceiling fans and air vents
• Deep cleaning skirting boards and window tracks
• Carpet or upholstery cleaning

If that list feels like a lot, it’s exactly the kind of workload a regular cleaning service is designed to take off your plate. The day-to-day and weekly tasks are covered by your cleaner, and the bigger seasonal jobs can be booked in as a one-off deep clean when they’re due.

Don’t Forget the Seasons

Your ideal cleaning frequency can shift throughout the year. A spring clean helps declutter and reset the house ahead of summer, while winter often calls for more frequent visits to manage mud, rain and extra time spent indoors. If a big event, holiday or change of season is coming up, a one-off clean is a good way to reset before going back to your regular schedule.

Allergies And Health Issues: Frequent Cleaning May Help 

If you or your family suffer asthma, hay fever, allergies or other health issues, cleaning becomes more than a luxury investment to save yourself time and stress – it’s a health consideration. So, if that’s you, consider a more frequent cleaning schedule to prevent the buildup of dust, mould and allergens in your home. 

Questions To Ask When Deciding How Often Your Cleaner Should Come

When you are hiring a cleaner for the first time, you are often not sure what is suitable.

Here’s some elements to consider:

• What cleaning do you need done?
• Are you willing to do touch-up cleans in between professional cleaner visits?
• Is there anything you’d prefer to clean yourself? (some people enjoy keeping favourite cleaning chores to themselves)
• Do you have an iRobot or Roomba that will save cleaners needing to vacuum?
• If the budget is limited, could you get a basic clean and do more yourself?
• Do you want housekeeping services as well as cleaning? This includes stripping beds, washing sheets, doing other laundry and putting it away, as well as other chores like light tidying, emptying dishwasher and putting dishes away, cleaning the fridge or pantry, or other housekeeping duties.

And if you’re still weighing up your options, our guide on how to find a trustworthy cleaner can help you narrow it down.

When You Are Not Sure How Often To Get Your House Cleaned 

We recommend starting with a weekly clean for two hours as a trial for a month or so. This is the most typical arrangement for our customers. After your trial, you’ll know whether the frequency is suitable for you. If you are finding the grime building up in your home between visits, you can increase the booking to twice a week. Or if your cleaner has nothing to do because the home is still spotless, you can drop it back to fortnightly cleans. 

Final Thoughts 

Most people get a two-hour clean once a week or once a fortnight, but if you have a bigger home, an older home or a home filled with pets and little humans you might need a more frequent service.  People living alone or those who aren’t home very often and people living in smaller homes may need a less frequent cleaning service.  

Consider what you want your cleaner to do and your cleaning budget to determine the best frequency for your professional house cleaning service. 

Ready To Enjoy The Benefits Of Hiring A Professional House Cleaner? 

Tired of spending your spare time cleaning? You can arrange your cleaning trial today with our easy online booking system. Our professional house cleaners are ready to save you time and make your life easier by taking care of all your cleaning needs.