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 there a cost to subscribe to your "advice" column?
Does it cost anything to follow you and your advice?
This may actually help me. I am now a stay at home mom of a 3 year old and 6 month old and am having a hard time keeping up on the cleaning. I feel like I am always feeding someone, cooking or picking up after 4 people constantly and then there is no time left for the real cleaning.
Great tips!! I do something similar that helps me keep up on the "deep cleaning" projects at home without spending hours and hours on the weekends or at night. We have a big older home, wood floors in every room and vintage tile that needs more attention than a quick swifter can do. I have daily cleaning tasks that differ each day of the week ((ex. Mon - sweep/mop all floors, shake/vacuum rugs, start laundry. Tues - Deep clean bathrooms/finish laundry. Wed - fold/put away laundry. Thurs - Dust/clean windows. Friday - Deep clean bathrooms again and laundry if any)) I do these chores along with daily straightening/organizing throughout the day when I can and cleaning the kitchen after each meal, etc. I came up with this after becoming a new mommy this year and it has saved me! I was so overwhelmed trying to juggle everything and anytime I would sit down to relax, I felt guilty thinking of everything I had to do or "could be" cleaning! Now I only have to think about what I have to do each day and stay on top of it. When the cleaning task is done for the day, I don't feel guilty about relaxing for a few minutes!!
We all need to give ourselves a break sometimes too! I've learned that the house will never be perfectly cleaned all the time, dinner won't always be perfect, laundry will never be completely caught up, its a never ending cycle and we are all in it together! :)
Emily, I like your approach... I read this article and thought the tips were great but "life" happens and cleaning is NOT a priority even if I would like it to be. I think we all need to approach caring of our homes as an ever evolving process and as our kids grow so should they start taking on jobs appropriate for their age to learn that all those under one roof have a part to play in the general upkeep of their home. We will never have a Better Homes and Gardens home IF you really are living and enjoying family under that roof. Your kids won't remember that their rooms were always tidy or the living room was spectacular BUT they will always remember the times you finger painted with them or read them a story or took the time at night to tuck them into bed and listen to their rendition of their day. Thank you Emily for putting some real life perspective on this. You are amazing!!!!
This really grossed me out in the Bathroom section: "Use toilet brush to quickly scrub toilet, rim, and seat." As a professional house cleaner I can only say you are introducing your family to some really gross germs if you use the same brush, cloth or whatever on the seat as you use inside your toilet. I use toilet paper sprayed with a disinfectant like Lysol or even pure rubbing alcohol in a spray bottle and do the final wipe down with that and flush it down the toilet. No messy rags and it leaves it much cleaner. Otherwise I enjoyed your routine and I always say the same as you "stay on top of it" it's amazing how easier it is. Thanks for sharing.
In the next step she said again to wipe the toilet sink with the rag or wipe. I thought the using the brush on the seat was a mistake because if I did it would spray all over.
I always keep my brush in a solution of bleach that I change out regularly, then I wipe down the toilet afterwards with a separate rag. It keeps the germs away and my bathroom clean!
This scares me-- I thought you can't mix bleach and toilet bowl cleaner!!
You can mix bleach with toilet bowl cleaner IF cleaner contains bleach slready, is free of ammonia and/or is an a natural cleaner (check green cleaner ingredients). Bleach +ammoni = mustard gas.
Have you told us more about your control center? If not, I'd be interested in hearing about your set-up and how it works for you!
This is a topic that is close to my heart... Best wishes!
Exactly whjere are your contact details though?
I clean mirrors, windows, toilet seat with rubbing alcohol. Got this tip from a friend who worked I'm a medical office. Leaves glass and mirrors streak free.
Brill advice
Thanks for finally writing about >Speed Cleaning |
How To Keep Your House Clean in 45 Minutes a Day <Liked it!