Keep your living room neat and tidy with this living room cleaning checklist. Whether you need ideas for deep cleaning jobs or daily living room cleaning jobs, these free printable lists can help de-stress the mess!
Ah, the living room…the first thing that you probably see when you come inside your home after stumbling through the front door with arms full of groceries, diaper bags, and the like.
It’s also where unexpected guests settle in (hopefully not grinding yesterday’s goldfish crumbs into the couch cushions). If you’re a mom with at least one child, you can probably relate to that one!
There was a time when my living room was a simultaneous minefield of Duplo blocks and a vortex where random socks, figurines, and tiny cars got sucked under the couch, never to be seen again.
Honestly, it can drive a person completely nuts, especially with toddlers and young kids at home. You can spend hours of your life decluttering, cleaning, and organizing your living room space only to have a two-year-old wreak havoc in five minutes flat!
It can be enough to drive a stone man crazy, but this living room cleaning checklist can help with the overwhelm!
You can print out these cleaning lists on copy paper or card stock, laminate them, and put them in a home management binder or folder when you’re not using them.
I’ve included my best living room cleaning tips and the daily, weekly, and deep cleaning jobs to make your cleaning routine a success.
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Deep Cleaning the Living Room – A Step-by-Step Guide
Follow this deep cleaning living room checklist to eliminate clutter and achieve an organized living room in no time!
Step 1: Straighten Up
I recommend starting here if your living room requires some serious cleaning. Begin by putting things away that are out of place. This includes returning throw pillows and blankets to the couch, re-stacking DVDs on the DVD rack, and walking around with a laundry basket to gather clutter to put away later.
This step should take about 10-15 minutes and will make your living room look much better!
Step 2: Declutter and Organize
The next step to transforming your living room into a space any mother-in-law would be proud of is decluttering and organizing.
To avoid feeling overwhelmed, divide your living room into sections and tackle them one at a time. Remove the clutter from each area, wipe everything down, and tidy up and organize what you want to keep there.
As I’ve mentioned in my kitchen decluttering post, a cluttered room will NEVER look clean. It doesn’t matter how often you rearrange, vacuum, or dust! It’s super important that you minimize the number of THINGS if you want to achieve a clean living room.
Here is a list of specific items you can eliminate to declutter your living room:
- Old magazines
- Old newspapers
- Worn-out throw pillows
- Old blankets that you no longer want
- Seasonal decor items
- Decor items that no longer match your home decor
- Coasters that you don’t use
- Remotes for electronics that you no longer use
- Kids’ toys or other things that don’t belong in the living room
- VHS tapes/DVDs
- Old books
- Candles that are almost entirely burned down
- Worn-out pet toys
- Random knick-knacks that just collect dust
Need some decluttering help but don’t know where to start? Check out my post on How to Start Decluttering When Overwhelmed By the Mess!
Step 3: Clean Furniture
Once you’ve decluttered and organized your living room, it’s time to apply a little elbow grease! I like to start with the furniture since dirt and dust will likely make a mess on the floor. No sense in vacuuming more than once!
- Dust all hard surfaces (coffee table, entertainment center, etc.).
- Wipe down the ceiling fan and light fixtures. A duster with an extended handle like the Swiffer Duster Super Extended Handle Starter Kit is perfect for this!
- Dust the TV and wipe down the screen, gently removing smudges and fingerprints.
- Clean all glass surfaces using a high-quality glass cleaner like Invisible Glass.
Step 4: Clean Living Room Fabrics and Linen
Your next step is cleaning all living room fabrics, laundering everything possible, and thoroughly vacuuming the rest. This is especially important if you have family members with allergies.
Here are some cleaning jobs to do for a super clean living room:
- Vacuum fabric surfaces on couches, recliners, loveseats, etc.
- Use a lint brush on lampshades and vacuum if necessary.
- Vacuum all area rugs/carpet.
- Remove curtains and wash on the appropriate setting. Then either tumble dry or iron them before re-hanging.
- Remove throw pillow and couch cushion covers and wash/dry.
- Wash and dry any blankets you typically leave on the couch.
Step 5: Clean Floors and Walls
I like to do this step last so that dust, dirt, and pet hair from furniture don’t fall right on the clean floors. Make sure to clean the walls before the floor!
- Wipe down walls and wall hangings with a clean cloth and diluted all-purpose cleaner like Pine-Sol or Spic and Span.
- Wipe down and dust the blinds and curtain rods using a microfiber cloth and your favorite multisurface cleaner. You can also use a handy blind cleaner brush!
- Dust hanging light fixtures.
- Clean the windows and window tracks.
- Wipe down the doors, trim, and baseboards.
- Sanitize door handles and light switches.
- Shampoo carpet to remove any tough stains.
- Sweep and mop the floors. I love this steam mop for any spills and hard-to-remove dirt and grime.
*Keep scrolling to download the free printable living room cleaning checklists at the end of this post!
Step 6: Finishing Touches
Congratulations! You’ve made it through the most challenging part of your living room cleaning checklist. Now for the finishing touches to mark your living room clean-over complete!
- Replace any burnt-out light bulbs.
- Spray the living room with air freshener (if that’s your thing).
- Put up cleaning supplies and vacuum.
- Throw away any trash you’ve gathered up.
- Return other items you’ve decluttered to their proper places.
Daily Living Room Cleaning Jobs
Once your living room is clean and organized, you will want to keep it that way! Here are a few cleaning jobs that you should do in your living room every day to avoid the overwhelm caused by messes and clutter:
- Reset the sofa – return throw pillows to their original spots and fold up blankets.
- Take 5-10 minutes a few times a day to pick up clutter, toys, random sippy cups, and any garbage.
- Return any remotes to their rightful places.
- Sweep the floors. Spot clean any messes with a Swiffer or other quick-clean mop if necessary.
Weekly Cleaning For the Living Room
These weekly living room cleaning jobs can make deep cleaning your living room much easier. When you take the time to complete these jobs each week, you’re guaranteed not to get as overwhelmed when things get a little messy!
- Clean under the couch, removing any toys, trash, and goldfish crackers that have made their way underneath it.
- Quickly vacuum the couch cushions and underneath them.
- Wipe down the coffee table and TV stand.
- Dust all hard surfaces.
- Mop the floor or vacuum carpet.
Speed Cleaning the Living Room
There will be a time in every mom’s life when it will be necessary to speed clean your living room. Whether your in-laws decide to arrive a day early or your spouse invites friends over and only gives you 20 minutes’ notice, it’s bound to happen.
Don’t panic! Here’s how to speed clean your living room in 20 minutes or less:
- Have a caddy or basket with essential cleaning supplies ready. Include the following general cleaning items: sponge, microfiber cloth, all-purpose cleaner, and paper towels.
- Grab an empty laundry basket and quickly gather toys, shoes, and other clutter that doesn’t belong. Then, put the basket aside to deal with later.
- Quickly reset your couch by picking up and folding blankets, fluffing pillows and couch cushions, and spot cleaning any soiled areas.
- Vacuum carpet or rugs and sweep hard floors.
- Spot clean any visible messes on the floor.
- Run a dust rag over hard surfaces.
- Spot clean any smudges and grime on glass surfaces.
Just remember – you’re not aiming for perfection when speed cleaning your living room! Instead, focus on the essentials and leave the rest for your regular cleaning routine.
More Printable Cleaning Checklists to Help with the Mess
If you LOVED these printable cleaning checklists and templates, then be sure to check out some of these other posts. I’ve got TONS of super cute cleaning lists that you can print out to help with keeping your home tidy:
Create a Weekly Cleaning Schedule You Can Stick To – Printable Checklist! – Use this printable weekly cleaning schedule template to create a personalized cleaning schedule to fit your needs! You can type directly into the sheet, then print it off to hang on the fridge!
Bathroom Cleaning Checklists – For Daily, Weekly, and Deep Cleaning! – Just like this living room cleaning checklist, but designed for one of the messiest rooms in the house – the bathroom! Print this free printable cleaning checklist to create your own cleaning binder with coordinating checklists!
Free Printable Living Room Cleaning Checklists
Want to snag my free printable living room deep cleaning checklist? Just click the link below to download the free printable living room cleaning checklists! Then, you can print them at home to hang on your fridge, or laminate the checklists to use with a dry erase marker over and over again!
Click HERE to Download the Free Living Room Cleaning Checklists for Daily, Weekly, and Deep Cleaning
Do you have some go-to living room cleaning tips? Does a checklist help you stay on track? How often do you deep clean your living room? Leave me a comment down below!
Comments & Reviews
getting the file from the link here is way too complicated. is there any way you can put them on your printable page? it’s much easier from there. I would like to have the living room detailed list
Hi Sara! Thanks so much for the feedback! I can work on putting the downloads on the printable page, but it will take me a while because I have literally hundreds of free printables. In the meantime, I will email you the Living Room Cleaning Checklist directly. Thanks! 🙂