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Keep on Top of Routine Cleaning and Maintenance Using Google Calendar

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A Google calendar cleaning schedule and home maintenance reminder will ensure you never forget essential maintenance tasks, which can save you money! (A stitch in time and all). Here’s how to set up a maintenance schedule using Google calendar.

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For most of us, our home is the largest investment we will make during our lifetime. It makes sense then to keep it well maintained.

The problem is, it’s easy to forget to do routine cleaning and maintenance tasks, especially ones that only need to be done once or twice a year.

It’s easy to see when the laundry needs doing: you’ve run out of clothes and the laundry basket is overflowing. There’s a visual reminder to clean the shower or fix a dripping tap. But what about other cleaning and maintenance tasks that don’t show obvious signs… until it’s too late? Then it ends up costing a fortune.

Things like checking for termites, cleaning the filter on the air-conditioner or clearing out the gutters.

This is where a cleaning and maintenance schedule comes in handy.

A pen and paper schedule works perfectly, but you have to update it each year. The good thing about using Google Calendar (or similar electronic calendar) is that you can set a task to repeat – no need to update it. Then all you have to do then is check your calendar. And if you set up automatic reminders, then you don’t even have to do that.

Benefits of Using Google Calendar to Schedule Household Chores

Digital schedulers work as a second brain and make life easier. Using Google Calendar means that you can:

  • Set tasks to repeat at any interval you want so you never forget a task.
  • You can easily move tasks around to fit your schedule.
  • You can set reminders so that you never forget a task.

HOW TO CREATE A CLEANING AND MAINTENANCE SCHEDULE

There are lots of cleaning and maintenance schedules on the net, but because we all live in different houses that have different needs, it’s important to make your own schedule.

First of all, go round your house and list down all the cleaning and maintenance tasks that need to be done each year and how often you have to perform them. You can put weekly tasks on your calendar if you wish – I only use mine for infrequent tasks.

While following other people’s schedules to a letter doesn’t make sense, checking them out for ideas is a good way to make sure you’re not missing important maintenance tasks. So the next step is to look at home maintenance and cleaning schedules for ideas (you can find some schedules on my Pinterest board – some are intense! There’s no way I clean my oven once a decade day. Don’t feel you need to keep up with other people’s schedules!).

Finally, schedule your tasks into Google Calendar. If you already use Google Calendar, then you can see if your cleaning schedule fits with the rest of your schedule. If pruning the bushes is going to clash with Aunt Agnes 80th birthday bash, you can simply drag the pruning task to another day.

This post explains how to create recurring reminders in Google Calendar to schedule cleaning and maintenance tasks. There is both a desktop version and an Android version below.

You might also like: Household Routines that Save You Money.

How to Schedule Recurring Tasks in Google Calendar (Desktop Version)

Below is an outline of how to schedule cleaning and maintenance tasks in Google Calendar.

Before you start, you might want to set up a specific calendar under your account for your home chores. Having several calendars means you can share some calendars with your family and keep some personal.

Create a Chore Calendar (Optional)

At the bottom left, click the + sign next to ‘other calendars’ and click ‘create new calendar’.

Name Your Calendar and give it a description.

Here are some different calendar ideas. You can turn calendars on and off by clicking them to just see the events for one calendar.

You might also like to check out: Keeping on Top of the Bills Using Google Calendar.

1. Create Your First Cleaning Task (Event)

Click the date on which you want to add a task (just to be confusing, we’re actually going to schedule an ‘event’).

Add the title of the task and then click ‘more options’ as shown below *not* save just yet.

Example 1

2. Fill In Details and Reminders

Enter the details of the cleaning or maintenance task. You can make notes in the description box if you need to.

For example, if a maintenance task involves calling in a professional (like pest control) you can add the phone number in the description so you don’t have to look up their number every time you need a pest inspection.

3. Apply a Repeat So You Never Forget a Task Again

Set how often you want to do a task. If you want to be reminded to clean the windows every four months on a Saturday, this is how you do it.

You can set a task (event) to be repeated at any interval you wish.

Example 2

4. Save Your Task

Check the details and save. Now the only thing left to do is the actual cleaning and maintenance!

Example 3

Using the Google Calendar Android App

Times have changed since this post was first written. Most of us use the app on our phone rather than a desktop. Here’s how to create a reminder in the app version.

1. Create a New Event

Click the + button at the bottom of the screen to create a new event.

Click on ‘Event’.

2. Add Your Task Details

When your event is open, give it a name, choose which calendar you want to put it in, choose a time (I usually put all day).

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3. Set the Task to Repeat

Next, set the repeat on the task at the interval you’ve already decided so it will remind you every time you need to do it.

4. Add a Notification and Details

So that you never forget, add a notification (or two) to remind you when each task needs to be done.

This reminder will come up on your phone.

Also, if you like, you can add any pertinent details for the task. As mentioned above, if a regular task is pest control, then add the phone number of the pest company to the description box.

That way, you don’t have to look up their number every time you need to schedule a pest inspection.

Performing routine cleaning and maintenance tasks regularly will save you money by helping to avoid big repair jobs. Use a schedule (and automate it with Google Calendar – or any other electronic calendar) to ensure these routine tasks get done.

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3 Comments

  1. Thank you for all your awesome tips

  2. Sapphire Beaumont says:

    This is exactly what I’ve been looking for! At Christmas I had family decide last minute they were coming to stay so I had a frantic clean up which took away a bit of the magic leading up to Christmas. So I’ve made it one of my New Years Resolutions to create and maintain a cleaning schedule throughout the year. Not only does this mean not feeling like a whole day of the weekend is dedicated to cleaning, but you feel good having a clean home all the time!

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Hi Saphire, good luck with your resolution, Hope this helps :)