Who wants to spend all day on Saturday cleaning the house? No one I can think of would want to do that. We are always looking for ways to trim cleaning time down as much as possible. The following are some tips that will help you quickly get through your cleaning routine.
Do One Thing at the Time Rather Than One Room
Instead of thoroughly cleaning each room before moving on, do one task at a time and have your cleaning equipment ready. When you get ready to do the dishes, move from room to room, collecting any dishes that may have been left behind.
One tip for minimizing this issue, though, is not to allow food outside of the kitchen and maybe allow drinks in the living room, but bedrooms are off-limits. We allow water in the children’s bedrooms, but they are responsible for ensuring the water bottle gets washed. This keeps you from washing dishes 5 times.
Likewise, do all dusting or sweeping at one time. You can also have children clean their own rooms, and they can sweep, dust, and vacuum their areas.
Prioritize
Decide what you want out of house cleaning. If you are expecting guests and you just want to tidy up, that will take less time than if you need to deep clean. When you need to tidy up, decide what rooms are most important and which areas may get left for another time. If your guest will not be entering your bedroom, you might be able to leave that for another day or time.
On the other hand, if you are trying to do a day of cleaning, you should prioritize the “major” and “minor” things. What is most vital for you to finish in your time constraints? Plan the things that are most important for this week and do the rest another day. Planning a schedule of cleaning is helpful as well. Do you plan to change the sheets weekly or monthly? Whichever you do, you can decide how and when to do that ahead of time. Plan what needs to be done each week.
Tidy Up Daily
Don’t wait for Saturday cleaning to put things away. Have children put away toys each day. Tidy up mail, magazines, couch pillows, and blankets, and put away shoes before bed each day. You don’t have to deep clean daily but wipe up toothpaste and rinse the sink afterwards.
Use Robots
No, we aren’t suggesting that you invest in Rosie the Robot from The Jetsons. However, robot vacuums can allow you to get other things done while it vacuums. You can even go to bed and let it do its job. Likewise, you can use dishwashers rather than hand-washing dishes. It always shocks me how many people have a dishwasher, yet they want to hand-wash everything. Sure, some dishes must be hand-washed, but you can certainly use things like dishwashers to get through your day.
Routines
Like many life-hacks, routines are crucial to getting things done efficiently. Cleaning is no exception. Develop a routine for cleaning the house. Gather sheets, blankets, and clothing and begin the washing cycle before doing other cleaning. The washer can run while you do other tasks. Then, when you take a break between tasks later, you can move them to the dryer and continue cleaning. This rotation can essentially continue all day.
You can do this with the dishes and dishwasher as well. Then choose what order you want to do things. Routines aren’t the same as prioritizing from above.
Even if you are going to deep-clean and spend more time cleaning, you need to have a routine, or you will spend more time cleaning than necessary.
Minimize Supplies
You do not need to tote 11 bottles of cleaner from room to room. Get a caddy and carry only what you need. Likewise, don’t buy several different cleaners when a multitasking cleaner will do.
Tile floors in bathrooms can be cleaned with tub and tile cleaner. Grout is grout. Some surfaces may need speciality cleaners, but you do not need to have speciality cleaners for every surface in your home.
Declutter Your Home
This task may take quite a while in the beginning, but it will improve future cleaning time. Don’t keep things you don’t need. Get rid of junk mail, toss broken items, and donate unused household items. Unless there is an apparent reason to keep something, get rid of it. The less you need to clean, the less time it will take.
Room Baskets
Have a bin or basket for each room in your home. When you are in a room, collect items that go to other rooms. Separate those items into the buckets. You can even move room to room and do this all at once. Once each room has been decluttered of items from other rooms, place the baskets in their respective rooms. You can then put things away.
Musical Cleaning
Music or listening to a book can help you get more done. Upbeat music is one of the best ways to speed you up. Books can slow you down if you get too enthralled, but they can also help you pass the time. Having fun can make you move faster, so you clean more quickly.
Final Thoughts
There are many small ways to clean more quickly and efficiently. Don’t try to incorporate every suggestion into your routine in one day. You will feel overwhelmed. However, start taking steps each day to make your weekend cleaning routine more efficient. Begin tidying up each day and making a list of what you want to clean each week in each room. Routines and plans are the most vital activities to incorporate into your cleaning schedule.
