How to create a house share cleaning rota

You’ve moved into a professional house share and it’s been going well overall but you are starting to either feel or sense a little resentment regarding cleaning.

Perhaps you feel that it’s always you who ends up washing up, hoovering, or tidying the living room.

Or, maybe you can feel a housemate getting tense because they can’t live in an untidy environment whereas a fellow housemate can.

Whatever the scenario, disagreements about cleaning are a common issue when living in a house share, and can easily be dealt with by the introduction of a house share cleaning rota.

Do you need a house share cleaning schedule?

If you’ve not yet moved into your house share or have just moved in, there’s no better time to sort out your cleaning rota.

This simple document will help you to navigate and avoid future disagreements about household chores — there’s simply no better way to do it.

If you’ve been living in a house share for a while and you don’t yet have a cleaning rota, now is the time to get it sorted. Honestly, it will improve your home life!

Most house share disagreements are about cleaning and tidying, so why not prevent them altogether?

Additionally, keeping on top of the cleaning will lead to the house being in a better condition when it comes to you moving out, which in turn will mean you are more likely to receive your full deposit back from your letting agent.

What to include in your house share cleaning rota

So, you’ve decided to create a cleaning rota. Next, you need to decide what to include in it.

The list below covers most universal household tasks, so you’ll just need to tweak it to suit your house and household.

For example, if you have plants, do you want to add “watering plants” as a task in the cleaning rota?

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Kitchen

The heart of any home, the kitchen deserves some love, so keep it clean and tidy by including the following tasks in your house share cleaning schedule:

• Vacuum or sweep the floor
• Mop the floor
• Wash up and dry the dishes or empty and fill the dishwasher
• Put clean crockery and cutlery away
• Clean the surfaces
• Clean the dining table
• Clean the oven
• Clean the microwave
• Clean the hob
• Clean the fridge
• Check the fridge for out-of-date food
• Wash the dishcloths, tea towels, and hand towels

Bathroom

A busy room in any flat or house, it’s crucial that the bathroom is kept clean and tidy. This list will get you all on the right path:

• Hoover the floor
• Mop the floor
• Clean the toilet
• Clean the sink
• Clean the shower
• Clean the bath
• Remove and recycle empty plastic bottles (shampoo, shower gel, etc.)
• Wash the bath mat(s)

The rest of the flat or house

Not to be forgotten, here are some general household tasks to include:

• Vacuum/mop the rest of the house (living room, hallway, etc.)
• Dust surfaces and ornaments
• Tidy things away
• Empty the bins and take the rubbish outside

As a bedroom is a personal space, the flatshare bedrooms don’t need to be included in the rota. It’s up to you if you keep your bedroom clean and tidy or not but, if it does get messy, don’t let that spill over into the communal areas as that wouldn’t be fair on your housemates.

So it doesn’t get forgotten, you could dust and vacuum your bedroom when it’s your turn to dust and vacuum elsewhere in the house.

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Creation of a flatshare cleaning rota

Firstly, you need to call a house meeting and get everyone on board with the idea of a cleaning schedule.

If everyone is in agreement, then you can move on to discussing the jobs that everyone feels should be included. This is an important step as, while a clean floor might mean a lot to one housemate, another could be more bothered by all those empty shampoo bottles in the shower cubicle.

Write all of the tasks down and check our list above to make sure you’ve not missed any of the main tasks out.

Now you have your ultimate cleaning list, it’s up to you how you turn it into a rota. You might want to create a calendar on paper to stick on the fridge door, or you might want to take it online via Google Docs or similar.

However you create your rota, make sure each housemate is aware of exactly where it is.

In order to further prevent issues before they arise, make it clear to everyone that they must stick to the rota. Also, make a plan for what happens if a housemate is out on the day they’re meant to be doing a chore.

What happens if a housemate doesn’t stick to the cleaning rota?

If one of your housemates has started to skip their turn on the cleaning rota, this can cause friction in the house, so the issue needs to be dealt with quickly.

Have a quiet word with the housemate in question and remind them that, while everyone will miss their turn occasionally, it’s not fair for them to regularly do so.

If cleaning enthusiasm is low amongst all of the flatmates, call a meeting and discuss investing in some new cleaning supplies — for example, a mop that makes lighter work of cleaning the floor. Bonus points if you can find products that actually make cleaning fun!

On our blog, you’ll find more tips for living in a happy house share.