Overwhelmed by cleaning? Our speed cleaning routine and checklist will show you how you can have a clean house in just minutes a day!
There are lots of reasons a clean house is important to me, but the biggest is probably simply that my brain works better when my house is clean. Over the years I’ve had lots of people ask how I keep things tidy most of the time. So–at the risk of having you all think I am completely crazy–I thought today I’d share my little “speed cleaning” routine. I probably spend, on average, about 45 minutes to an hour each morning making my house sparkle. This means I spend about 5-7 hours a week cleaning. That is still a significant amount of time!
However, to me it is well worth spending 5-7 hours a week cleaning in order to have a house that is pretty darn neat & tidy most of the time. The trick is staying on top of it.
I am a list kind-of girl, so I actually have a daily checklist that I use each day. It is located on my “control center” wall where I have a dry-erase monthly calendar and where there is also a spot for a weekly meal plan and important phone numbers. Since it is all in one place, I can easily check the calendar for any pressing activities or appointments. This helps me prioritize my cleaning activities and to cut things out or add things as necessary.
My “Control Center:”
I don’t use a wide variety of cleaning supplies, and I have never been that picky about brands. I used to use a lot of commercial products, including the disposable wipes, but I have slowly transitioned to using mainly homemade green cleaning products. They are cheaper, they smell better, and require me to keep far fewer bottles of stuff lying around! The two commercial items I do use frequently are my Swiffer Wet Jet and my Swiffer dusters. What a great invention! It makes mopping so much faster & easier.
Here is my speed cleaning system:
General Guidelines:
- Start at one end of the house. (I start in our Master Bedroom and work my way through the living room and kitchen to the girls’ room and bathroom.)
- Cleaning is much easier when everything has a home. Work on creating organized storage for all of the things that end up being scattered around the house, like papers, mail, shoes, & toys.
- Use a large laundry basket to collect items such as toys or clothing that need to be returned to a different room. If you have multiple offenders, use multiple baskets. After you have finished tidying every room, take 5 minutes to put away the collected items.
- Save sweeping/mopping and vacuuming until the end, then do it all at once. We have mostly hard surface floors, so I use an industrial dry mop to wipe the floors each day. It takes only a couple minutes to run it over all the floors and then shake it off outside. About once a week, I do a really thorough sweep and then use a Swiffer WetJet to mop. I vacuum the rugs about 3 times a week.
- Likewise, save the glass cleaning for the end as well. Once the house is completely clean, I will grab my windex and rag and run around doing spot checks on the glass doors and windows. I wipe the bathroom mirrors as well as the fixtures and sink.
- Keep daily shower cleaner in the bath/shower and spray down after each use.
- Store your toilet brush in a container of bleach; replace the bleach once a week.
Bedroom(s) (5-10 minutes each, depending on how much to pick up):
- Always make the bed. Even if there are other things laying around, the room will look much, much cleaner.
- Quickly pick up any clothes, toys, or dishes that are lying around.
- Use a duster or dry rag to quickly dust all surfaces, including the headboard and footboard.
Bathroom(s) (5 minutes each):
- Squirt toilet bowl cleaner around the rim; let sit.
- Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to quickly wipe down the sinks, tub, and shower.
- Use toilet brush to quickly scrub toilet, rim, and seat.
- Use disinfectant wipes or a wet rag and disinfectant spray to wipe down toilet seat & surrounding floor.
Living Room/Dining/Home Office Areas (10-15 minutes):
- Quickly pick up any shoes, dishes, toys, or other items laying around. (Put them in basket to put away later.)
- Use duster to quickly dust all surfaces.
- Use damp cloth to wipe down furniture (if leather), table(s), and dining chairs.
- Tidy desk area and make sure all paperwork & mail is filed & sorted in its proper spots.
Kitchen (10-15 minutes, depending on how many dishes):
- Quickly pick up any items that don’t belong in kitchen and place them in basket(s). Gather any dirty dishes and put them next to sink.
- Quickly unload (if necessary) then load diswasher.
- Hand wash dishes/pots/pans as needed
- Spray all counters with disinfectant spray, then use soapy water and wet sponge to wipe them all down.
- Wipe down stovetop.
- Dry and put away any hand-washed dishes, then drain and rinse sink–the secret to a truly clean-looking kitchen is clutter-free counters and a nice clean sink.
Finishing Up:
- Use a dry mop to clean hard floors. Spot clean with a sponge if necessary.
- Vacuum rugs/carpet.
- Clean glass surfaces & mirrors as needed with glass cleaner and a lint-free rag. Don’t forget to spray & wipe the bathroom fixtures for extra shine!
- Put away items collected in baskets while cleaning.
It may take a little getting used to, but once you are in the habit of speed cleaning each morning, you will be done in no time and free to enjoy a clean house for the rest of the day!
Happy cleaning!
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Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself?
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it's rare to see a nice blog like this one today.
Looking at the kitchen 10 to 15 mins....I just can't see how you can even get two of those things done in that little time, unload/load the DW and handwash dishes. Seriously, it takes me 10-12 mins to unload and reload alone IF I'm not interrupted by the others in the household! Don't know how or when I'd get to do the rest of the list for the kitchen during this speed clean session. BUT, I'd like to try!
Cleaning an entire house in less than an hour is possible when you read this blog. I normally list down the areas that needs a touch up and group it into 2 and clean it every other day but if I have more time I do everything.
5-7 hours a week seems like an inordinate amount of time to spend cleaning! Admittedly it's only hubby and I in the house, but I would never need to spend that much time cleaning. Of course, my idea of clean and yours may be different :) If things are tidy, dishes are done each night, items are in their place, nothing's crawling around or growing mould, I'm happy. My daily to-dos are: if you're finished with it, put it away; make the bed each morning; give one section of the shower a scrub with the in-shower cleaner while I clean myself :) ; clear and wipe down the table after dinner; wash the dishes and sweep the kitchen floor before bed; put rubbish and recycling out as soon as the bin is full; dirty clothes into the washer or hamper as they come off (colours straight into the washer; whites get separated for later); run the washer when full (overnight using a timer to save time and money); put away dry dishes and hang out clean washing before work; bring in clean washing after work (I fold straight from the line to save time) and put away (no one gets a pile to deal with later). Once a week - or less often if it's not needed or I'm busy - dust and vacuum each room, clean the toilet and bathroom, and wash hard floors. Windows and exteriors get done a couple of times a year. This keeps everything running smoothly and I don't spend half my life doing housework.
I totally agree with you. I have NO desire to spend this much time cleaning and that's ok for me and my family. To each their own, I just wish there was a bit more understanding that for some people, 5-7 hours in just cleaning is not realistic for many reasons.
Hi Ruth! I love this and am going to start this plan on Monday. Do you have a printable for this? Thanks. Love it!
Hi Beth,
I do have a Top to Bottom Cleaning Checklist: https://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2013/03/20/cleaning-from-top-to-bottom/
Hope this helps!
I love the thought of speed cleaning. I have 4 bedrooms and 3 1/2 baths so it will take me more than an hour. I also speed clean but just a little different. I clean certain bathrooms on certain days and the same with dusting bedrooms. I like how you begin with the master bedroom which is the most important room of the home.
So you shouldve seen me yesterday making my own control center excited and proud...not an hour goes by before my 3 year old and 18 month old push a kitchen chair to the wall its on and see they have ripped all my papers down and have colored all over my wall. This of course was happening while explaining to my 5 and 6 year old what it was and why i made it.
I would have to get up 2 hours before I get ready to get
ready for work. Which means 3 hours early.
That's too much!! Good ideas though.
Wow, that's what I was looking for, what a stuff! existing
here at this blog, thanks admin of this website.
Thanks for the tips. Keeping my house clean is a constant struggle because I get so overwhelmed. I never thought to carry a basket and fill it with items that belong in other rooms. Love it!
I clean a room at a time, a lot like you see maids to at hotels. A basket to catch toys, laundry, dishes or other items that do not belong in the room...I sit it in the doorway. A plastic bag hangs on the doorknob to catch trash. A utility basket to hold my cleaning supplies, cuts down on running back and forth. And an apron with three pockets...one for loose change (it does pay to clean, lol), second for papers that are not trash, and third pocket for small items that would fall out of your catchall basket.
If I cannot clean a room in 5 or 15 minutes, it means I have a lot of items and need to prioritize my time or reduce clutter. With a collection of over 300 bunnies, they do NOT get dusted every day. I do however, dust one fourth of the room every day, and just keep rotating. You can tackle daily chores and make one day a dusting day if that is your choice. Think about it, make a plan and try it. See what works for you!!!