Keeping a clean RV when you full-time takes dedication & planning. Find out how I utilize a simple cleaning schedule to keep our RV nearly spotless — while stationary or traveling!

Full-Time RV Life

Our family has officially been full-time RV living for almost 2 years now!

RV life was such an unexpected twist for us and I can’t even believe we are already nearly 2 years in.

While RV life has been a surprise blessing for our family in so many ways, it has also brought some challenges.

One of those challenges? Figuring out how to keep things clean in such a small space.

Keeping a Clean RV

While I tend to view myself as a master of organization and keeping a clean house, there was just something about moving into a tiny home on wheels that threw everything off.

With that said, over time I have officially (somewhat) mastered what it takes to keep our RV clean and tidy.

Keeping the kiddos on board with my master plan is a totally different scenario.

Full-Time RV Cleaning Schedule

While daily maintenance and cleaning up as needed are important skills to have, utilizing a set cleaning schedule can be extremely helpful when it comes to keeping your RV clean long-term.

With that said, if following a set schedule simply isn’t your jam, consider setting reachable daily goals instead.

Scheduling and planning actually are my jam and I totally live by schedules, plans, and daily to-do lists, you guys!

Stationary Cleaning Schedule

Once we got settled into RV life and had our first official long-term stay in Montana over the winter things got messy, fast.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed a new system for keeping up with both my daily chores & deep cleaning.

After some much-needed brainstorming, I came up with an RV cleaning schedule perfect for stationary living.

Stationary Cleaning Schedule Breakdown

While we have spent a good amount of time on the road over the past 2 years, we have had some pretty decent stationary stays as well.

Including the past two summers where we have been stationary all summer long.

With that said, being stationary in an RV is a mixture of amazing and not-so-amazing.

Longer-term stays are great because we have the chance to really settle in, starting with a good purge and deep clean.

However, if we stay stationary too long, we (I mostly mean the kids) tend to get a bit lazy allowing chores to pile up.

I totally have a love-hate relationship with our long-term stays.

With that said, when I set simple daily goals and follow my cleaning schedule long-term stays can definitely rock.

Check out my daily cleaning schedule breakdown for while we are stationary.

AM: Make beds, pick up dirty clothes, feed pets, scoop the litter box, sweep & vacuum floors, put away dishes from the night before, and clear surfaces.

PM: Do dishes, tidy the living area, do laundry, clear surfaces, and wipe down surfaces.

While this may sound pretty straightforward, I tend to spread out my daily chores, cleaning in bursts throughout the day to cut down on overwhelm, allowing me the chance to get other important things on my plate completed.

Then, I follow up by utilizing a pretty rigid list of weekly, bi-weekly, and monthly chores to fit in the extras!

Travel Cleaning Schedule

Keeping my RV clean by utilizing a simple cleaning schedule while we are stationary is pretty easy.

Keeping the RV clean while traveling, however, is a whole different story.

Our family recently got back from a 6-month trip where we spent most of that time traveling every 1-2 weeks.

It was obvious early into our trip that I needed a different cleaning solution for travel — our stationary cleaning schedule simply wasn’t going to cut it.

Travel Cleaning Schedule Breakdown

While stationary life is great in spurts, our family definitely gets the itch to travel after being in the same spot for 6+ weeks.

I’m not sure I will ever be able to live in a house with a foundation again, you guys!

With that said, we did quite a bit of traveling this past year and it didn’t take me long to throw together a doable cleaning schedule for short-term stays.

Our family spent most of our travel time this year State Park hopping in Texas and those stays are maxed out at 14 days.

While we did spend some of that time moving more frequently or less often than that 2-week mark, I definitely discovered that 14 days is my personal sweet spot.

Traveling every 2-3 weeks gives me the chance to deep clean our entire house & motivates me to stick to my travel cleaning schedule!

Check out my travel cleaning schedule breakdown (which is based on a 14-day stay).

• Day 1: Set up, deep clean, & wash trip laundry

Deep cleaning after a trip includes the following: sweeping, mopping, vacuuming, wiping down surfaces, rearranging/organizing, and re-decorating.

Since I keep up with my cleaning throughout our stay, this actually doesn’t end up being as overwhelming as it sounds!

I also make sure I’m cleaning up till (and on) moving day.

• Day 2: Wash all bedding & linens
• Day 3 – 12: Normal stationary cleaning schedule
• Day 13: Daily chores & preparing for travel cleaning.

Preparing for travel cleaning includes the following: making sure all laundry is washed and put away, putting away all outdoor items such as chairs and bikes, and cleaning out the cars.

• Day 14: Morning chores, double-check surfaces, minor packing, put bars in fridge & cabinets, and clear slides.

Double-checking surfaces & minor packing includes the following: We utilize museum putty for most surface items while traveling which is a super convenient way to stay set up even on travel days.

We basically only need to pack away these few simple items — which takes practically no time at all!

• Coffee mugs from the coffee bar
• Baskets from the laundry shelf
• Other misc loose items

Everything else is puttied or strapped down!

Day 15: Travel day, typically no cleaning.

*NOTE: Sometimes the tasks on days 13-15 can vary depending on what time of day we leave, how long we are traveling for, and how long we will be staying at our next location.

For example, if we are leaving first thing in the morning we would do it exactly like you see above!

However, if we are leaving mid-day or later in the evening we would move day 13 tasks to day 14 and day 14 to 15.

This cleaning schedule is simply a guideline that I utilize to keep me on track while traveling often.

While I love utilizing this routine, the true key to keeping a clean RV while traveling is flexibility.

Creating Your Cleaning Schedule

I wish I could tell you that following my cleaning routine will be the fix you need.

Unfortunately, though, that simply isn’t the case.

We all live in different scenarios and have different needs.

For example, I live with 4 other humans and 3 pets! Vacuuming, sweeping, and laundry are a must every single day.

With that said, you can check out my in-depth RV cleaning routine (based on a 30-day period) to get the wheels turning before creating your very own cleaning schedule!

Check out my personal cleaning schedule below!

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