Photography: Chris Warnes | Styling: Lucy Gough
Ever spent an entire day cleaning your house only to look around and see that it still looks messy? Read any guide to keeping a tidy home and you’ll find one exhaustive cleaning checklist after another – but try as you might – you just can’t keep up.
Enter the viral ‘6/10 list’, an easy house cleaning schedule created by Audrey Barton of Organized Chaos. Since its debut on TikTok, Audrey’s list has been viewed millions of times. “People hear the words cleaning schedule and immediately get intimidated or discouraged,” says Audrey. “Trust me, this is the easiest cleaning schedule you will ever try.” We chat to Audrey (who says her 6/10 list has been downloaded more than 375,000 times this year alone) to find out how it works, why she created it and how it can change your life.
As the name suggests, the 6/10 cleaning list comprises of 6 cleaning tasks to be completed daily and 10 cleaning tasks to be completed weekly.
The routine really trims the fat off the never-ending list of household chores, leaving you with a) a manageable set of tasks you can complete in less than an hour, b) fewer ‘panic cleans’ before guests come over and c) more time for things you’d rather be doing.
What is the 6/10 cleaning list?
Why the 6/10 list was created
“I created the 6/10 list after I had tried and failed at every other cleaning schedule I found online,” says Audrey. “‘I’m a working parent, which is why I kept failing at other cleaning schedules. [Parents] need something that can be done quickly and make the biggest impact, and this is it. I promise, anyone can do this,” she says.
“I finally decided I was putting unrealistic expectations on myself. It’s not that the cleaning schedules weren’t good ones, they just didn’t work for my busy lifestyle. I needed something extremely simplified and straightforward,” she says, adding, “I just thought to myself, ‘What cleaning tasks are quick and make the most impact on the tidiness of your home?’”
6 cleaning tasks to complete daily
It took one hour for Audrey to identify the six most-important cleaning tasks that should be completed daily. “How ironic after scouring the web for something I could use!” she laughs. “I just thought to myself, ‘What cleaning tasks are quick and make the most impact on the tidiness of your home?’”
Here’s what she came up with:
- Make beds
- Wash dishes
- Scrub sink
- Wipe benches
- Vacuum floors
- Wash, dry, fold and store one load of laundry
All of the daily tasks are aimed at keeping visual clutter at bay, says Audrey. “Let’s say I’m scanning my living room and I see clumps of pet hair on the floor, or in the kitchen I see dishes in the sink. That immediately tells my brain that my home is messy, even if it’s not. So, putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher or handwashing them and running my stick vacuum over the floors is another quick way to trick your brain into thinking your house is clean.”
10 cleaning tasks to complete weekly
Daily six feel like a piece of cake? Roll up your sleeves and slot in these 10 cleaning tasks each week. You can either do them all in one go (if marathon cleans are your thing) or tick them off one-by-one throughout the week whenever you have time.
- Wipe out fridge
- Wipe out microwave
- Tidy pantry
- Mop floors
- Clean bathrooms
- Clean sink drains
- Dust furniture
- Wash bedding
- Tidy car
- Clean pets’ bowls
(Credit: Photographer: Armelle Habib | Styling: Julia Green)
While Audrey created this list to suit her own family and lifestyle, she says you can absolutely tweak it to suit yourself. “That’s something I’m always reminding people. The 6/10 list may not suit everyone ‘as is’.”
What about ‘deep cleaning’ tasks?
The 6/10 list also includes deep cleaning tasks, such as washing windows, dusting skirting boards, cleaning appliances and so on, but these tasks have been relegated to separate monthly or even quarterly checklists. The idea of the 6/10 list is to focus your energy on small tasks that make a big impact, rather than exhausting yourself trying to deep clean everything, every day and getting nowhere.
The power of a simple cleaning checklist
The video of Audrey’s simple cleaning checklist has been viewed on TikTok over 3 million times. Since then, she says she’s received countless messages from people all over the world who have put the schedule into practice. “To get messages from people in the Netherlands, South Africa, India, South America and more saying I’ve changed their life or made their life better in a small way means everything to me,” she says.
“When I had a much calmer life, my house looked like a tornado ran through it. It seems so strange to have an always tidy home now when I’m busier than I’ve ever been,” she says. She urges anyone who is feeling overwhelmed and anxious by the sheer amount of housekeeping tasks to stay on top of, to give the list a try. “I promise, anyone can do this, you just need to start.”
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