TOMM Cleaning Routine – The Basics

I’ve been using this cleaning routine since March 2020, and it really is a game changer.

For those who are unfamiliar with the acronym, TOMM is a cleaning method, and it stands for: The Organised Mum Method.

Gemma Bray, the author of the method, has a blog, loads of videos on YouTube and a book where she explains the method.

So how does it work?

TOMM comprises three levels of cleaning jobs.

First Level – Daily Jobs

• making the beds
• a spot clean of a part of each bathroom (for example, Monday – floors, Tuesday – surfaces, Wednesday – mirrors, etc)
• a quick hoover or sweep of the major traffic areas (usually kitchen, entrance and living-room)
• a load of laundry.

These jobs need to be done from Monday to Friday and they should only take 15 minutes to complete.

Second level – Weekly Jobs

From Monday to Thursday you have a room, or a group of rooms to focus on, and you time yourself for 30 minutes.

The blog provides you with a checklist to help guide you, and you can pick and choose jobs.

The blog suggests the following schedule:

Monday: Living Room

Tuesday: Bedrooms

Wednesday: Hall & Stairs

Thursday: Kitchen

Friday: Focus day – see next level

Third Level – 8 Week Cycle

These are deep cleaning jobs and again you set your timer for 30 minutes.

In Gemma’s weekly schedule suggestion, she puts Fridays as Focus Cleaning Days.

The rooms Gemma suggests for Friday focus are:

Week 1: Kids’ Bedrooms

Week 2: Living Room

Week 3: Kitchen

Week 4: Bathrooms

Week 5: Master Bedroom

Week 6: Hall & Stairs

Week 7: Room of Your Choice

Week 8: Garden/Outside Space 

Now in her videos, Gemma says that the method is customizable and adaptable to your house, but you should get all three levels done every week.

I tried TOMM back in March 2020, and I have never looked back. I have, however, adapted it to my own house, which you can read about in TOMM – a review.

If you’d like to read about my journey with cleaning then check out how I adopted the TOMM cleaning routine.

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