Use the 6/10 List to Take the Stress Out of Cleaning

Making a to-do list is a major step in being productive in any area of your life, from your personal pursuits to your work responsibilities, but when it comes to cleaning your home, you may not think to make one—let alone realize that some kinds of lists are better than others. You should definitely have an attack strategy before you start tidying up, which is why the 6/10 List is such a useful tool for busy people who still want their personal space to look nice.

What is the 6/10 List?

This cleaning method comes from Organized Chaos, which guides people through organizing, cleaning, meal planning, and more. The brand’s TikTok has over 800,000 followers and its video on the 6/10 List has over 3 million views, so it’s CleanTok-approved.

Basically, this method acknowledges and leaves space for the fact that you’re busy and cleaning is overwhelming. It provides an easy framework for how you should schedule and prioritize your cleaning tasks, taking the work out of figuring that out yourself and divvying the tasks across multiple days. 

The list is split into two main categories: “The Daily 6” and “The Weekly 10.” 

The Daily 6 are, roughly, these:

1. Make beds

2. Wash dishes

3. Scrub sink

4. Wipe counters

5. Vacuum floors

6. One load of laundry

The Weekly 10 are generally these:

1. Wipe out fridge

2. Wipe out microwave

3. Tidy pantry

4. Mop floors

5. Clean bathrooms

6. Clean sink drains

7. Dust furniture

8. Wash bedding

9. Tidy car

10. Clean pets’ bowls

Beyond that, there’s space for monthly tasks (scrubbing showers, deep cleaning appliances, cleaning out the garage, and vacuuming vehicles) and quarterly ones (wiping baseboards and doors, cleaning fans and lights, cleaning windows, cleaning furniture, changing your air filter, wiping down cabinets). 

How to use the 6/10 List

According to Organized Chaos, you can start small by choosing three of the six daily tasks to work on every day, then build your way up to tackling more. Those are the most necessary, basic cleaning steps that will keep your house looking nice, so it’s key to get in the habit of doing them every day. Of course, there are all kinds of other little tasks you could do on top of those—but like the 1-3-5 method of creating a to-do list, this recognizes that there really is a finite amount of things you have energy for in the day, so you should choose which ones you take on strategically. (And don’t forget the Pareto Principle, which says that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort, so don’t waste your time on unnecessary tasks.)

The weekly tasks can—and should—be spaced out across the week so you don’t get overwhelmed. Once you get the hang of getting the daily and weekly chores done, reevaluate how using the list is going and feel free to swap out some tasks that might make more sense for your space. You might not have pet bowls to clean weekly, for instance, so something more specific to your life can fill that slot. The goal here isn’t to clean exactly as someone else prescribes, but to build timely habits that you can maintain and which will take the stress off of figuring out what you should even focus on in a given day.