Use the 6/10 List to Relieve Cleaning Stress
Creating a to-do list is an important step to productivity in any area of your life, from personal activities to work responsibilities, but when it comes to cleaning the house, you may not even think about making one, let alone realize that Some types of lists are better than others. Before you start cleaning, you should definitely develop a strategy of attack, which is why the 6/10 List is such a useful tool for busy people who still want their personal space to look beautiful.
What is the 6/10 list?
This cleaning method comes from Organized Chaos , which helps people declutter, clean, plan meals, and more. The brand’s TikTok has over 800,000 followers and its 6/10-listed video has over 3 million views, making it CleanTok approved .
Essentially, this method acknowledges and makes room for the fact that you are busy and cleaning is tedious. It provides a simple framework for how you should plan and prioritize your cleaning tasks, allowing you to tackle it yourself and spread out the tasks over multiple days.
The list is divided into two main categories: “The Daily 6” and “The Weekly 10”.
Daily 6 is something like this:
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Make the beds
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Wash the dishes
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Sink scrub
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Clearing counters
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Vacuum floors
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One load of laundry
The weekly 10 is usually like this:
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Wipe down the refrigerator
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Wipe down the microwave
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Tidy pantry
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Wash floors
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Clean bathrooms
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Cleaning Sink Drains
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Dusty furniture
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Wash bed linen
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Neat car
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Clean pet bowls
In addition, there is room for monthly tasks (cleaning showers, deep cleaning appliances, cleaning garages and vacuuming vehicles) and quarterly ones (wiping down baseboards and doors, cleaning fans and lighting, cleaning windows, cleaning furniture, replacing air filters, 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 each day, and then gradually work your way up to more tasks. These are the most necessary and basic cleaning tasks that will keep your home looking beautiful, so it is important to get into the habit of doing them every day. Of course, there are many other smaller tasks you can do on top of these tasks, but just like the 1-3-5 method for creating a to-do list , it recognizes that there are actually only so many things you have the energy to do. throughout the day, so you should choose which ones you will take on strategically. (And don’t forget the Pareto principle , which states that 80% of your results come from 20% of your effort, so don’t waste time on unnecessary tasks.)
Weekly tasks can (and should) be spread out throughout the week so you don’t get overwhelmed. Once you get the hang of your daily and weekly tasks, evaluate how your list usage is going and feel free to swap out some tasks that may make more sense for your space. For example, you may not have pet bowls that need to be cleaned weekly, so something more specific to your life could take that space. The goal here is not to clean exactly the way someone else prescribes, but to develop timely habits that you can maintain and that will relieve the stress of figuring out what you should focus on in a given day .