I readily admit that I’m not the best housekeeper. I try, but there never seems to be enough hours in the day. And with four active kids who bring dirt and mud into the house (yes literally – Luke brought a bucket of mud and dumped it into my entryway a month ago) and a husband who is awesomely working on renovations around the house, there’s a lot of cleaning to be done and messes to be picked up on a regular basis.
I have yet to perfect a schedule where I can do everything, but I’m learning to balance it all and the last few months, I’ve found my sanity again.
Today, I’ve got some tips for cleaning your house fast because us moms are too busy to spend hours cleaning. And unless you have a maid or are June Cleaver and LOVE doing housework (definitely not me) or you’re super mom (Not.Me.), you could probably use a few ideas for maximizing cleaning efforts. Sound good?
Here are 11 Tips for Cleaning Your House. FAST.
1. Set a Time Limit for Each Room / Area.
This is my #1 tip for cleaning my house and it’s helped me so much that I’m going to share it first. If you’re like me and tend to get sidetracked easily, this is an essential tip. Me? I start cleaning my living room and put away a toy in the family room, only to start organizing the toys, and then cleaning, and printing out new labels and all of a sudden, there’s even more mess than before and I have nothing to show for all my hard work. Ever done that?
Set a time limit for each room / area and stick to it. I’m telling you, you will suddenly become so much more efficient, you’ll wonder how you morphed into super woman. Well maybe not that great because super woman would do everything in the time limit, but still. You’ll be much improved.
Knowing the clock is ticking will keep you moving and it also helps to know there’s an end in sight. Even if you don’t finish completely, you’ve still made great progress. And that’s always a good feeling. Because it’s awful working hard only to have nothing to show for it!
2. Keep Your Cleaning Supplies in a Convenient Location
If you have to go all the way downstairs every time you need to clean the upstairs bathroom, you won’t clean it nearly as often than if you store cleaner under the sink (or if you have small children, up high in a nearby cupboard or closet.) Convenience is huge. Even if it’s as simple as keeping cleaner in the kitchen instead of running to your laundry room every time, you’ll clean far more often.
3. Clean Up Messes as Soon as They Happen
It’s much easier to clean things when they haven’t set in or turned into grime – it’s quicker and easier when it comes to cleaning your house later. Did the kids leave muddy prints on the bathroom counter? Clean it right away. Better yet, have the kids do it! It’s good for them to clean up after themselves.
Wipe down your shower after you use it. Again much easier than scrubbing grime weeks later. {As I currently have scrubbing my shower on my to do list.}
If you do have a good bit of grime on an area like your stovetop, my secret tool for a squeaky clean stovetop will help!
4. Clean High Traffic Rooms First
Don’t bother picking up and cleaning the kids’ bedrooms when the living room is more visible. Prioritize. And remember Tip #1 about setting a time limit!
5. Declutter First.
Grab a trashbag and throw stuff away. If it’s a child’s toy you’ve seen lying on the floor 10 times in a row, trash it! (I’m so mean about this! But really, 99% of the time they never notice!)
Use an empty laundry basket or box to throw stuff in that belongs in a different room. It’s much quicker this way than walking everything around the house! The only catch is you need to actually empty this basket when you’re done cleaning or else you’ve just transferred clutter from one area to another. Still, if you’re suddenly expecting company and in a pinch, it’s better to have all the clutter in one laundry basket you can shove in the closet than all around your house!
6. Top to Bottom
Start from the top and work your way down. If you vacuum the floor then dust the tv, you’ll end up with dirt where you just cleaned. Who has time for that?
7. Sweep & Vacuum
It’s amazing what a quick sweep or vacuum can do to a room. It immediately makes things look so much nicer and cleaner, even more so than any amount of scrubbing of walls or sinks or counters can do.
Dirty floors are one of my personal pet peeves. If my house is bugging me, it’s always the floors first and foremost.
(Friends, don’t worry, I never pay attention to other people’s homes. I seriously don’t. There have been times when (before I’m there), I try to remember and see if there’s grime around their trash just like there is at my house, but I never remember. NEVER.
Seriously a quick sweep or vacuum can transform a room. Do it.
8. Clean the Trashcan
Unless you have a tiny trash can that can hide under your kitchen sink or a fancy touchless stainless steel trashcan (I guarantee you my kids would make even those filthy!), kitchen trash cans get covered in food and grime very quickly. And it’s easy to forget because it’s well…trash.
Scrub it down. It will help your whole kitchen look better.
9. Make the Bed.
I used to never make my bed (probably a little rebellion to my mom always requiring us kids to make our beds) but more recently, I started doing it (almost) every morning. My bedroom looks 100% nicer when my bed is made, even if the rest of the room isn’t cleaned or decluttered. It helps set the stage for the rest of the room and even the whole house.
10. Get Your Family Involved.
So this tip may not actually be simple or easy, but it’s 110% worth it when you do get everyone on board. No one likes cleaning (if you are one of the rare non-humans who do, I may not be able to be friends with you. Kidding. You can come clean my house!) but everyone needs to do it. And Mom should never be the only one cleaning your house. If you are doing everything, you need to change this. Read this post on how to get your kids to keep their toys organized.
11. Use Smart Cleaning Tools
Finally, use smart convenient cleaning tools, like the awesome O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System for cleaning your house.
I’ve always hated mopping – it’s wet and often ineffective (I often still have to get on my hands and knees and scrub) and dirty – but that’s changed since I got my new cleaning toy. (Yes, I said toy. This one is actually fun!)
The O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System is QUICK and EASY to use. Did you hear that? I need to say it again. QUICK AND EASY mopping!
Friends, I’m in love.
Update 2020: 5 years later, yes FIVE, this is still my favorite mop and my kids can use it easily too.
Here’s how it works:
I do not assemble things EVER, (Nate does that in our family) but I popped the O-Cedar Mop System together in a flash. The telescoping handle simply extends out and can collapse for easy storage. Score one right there.
You fill up the bucket with water and whatever cleaner you choose.
I use warm water and a squirt of this essential oil concentrated cleaner. It’s cheap, all-natural and WORKS.
Notice the simple “max fill” line.
Dip the O-Cedar mop in the water…
…then lift and put into the “wringer.”
This is where the fun really begins.
See the pedal? Step on that a few times and the wringer will spin, effectively spinning the excess water from the mop. The built-in splash guard prevents water from spraying out. Spin more if you want less water, spin less if you want more water on your mop head.
Then mop.
The sturdy microfiber mop strands are very effective at cleaning quickly and easily.
Unlike conventional mops, the O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop is shaped like a triangle making it easy to reach into corners.
You can also reach under furniture thanks to the handy design. I discovered another advantage to this mop – I used it for cleaning a couple dirty baseboards too. Our trashcan used to sit here (before our recent kitchen remodel) and it was pretty gross.
I didn’t have to get down and scrub by hand once!
Look at that dirty water!
Check out the before/after, thanks to my O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System!
The best part of this mop system? It’s so effective and easy to use that I was able to mop my kitchen floor and entryway in less than 15 minutes total.
You can find the O-Cedar EasyWring Spin Mop & Bucket System at stores everywhere, including Target and Amazon.
More Cleaning Tips & Homemade Recipes:
- How to Remove Soap Scum from Your Shower/Bathtub/Glass Doors with this easy homemade cleaner
- The Secret to Cleaning Your Glass Stove Top
- Easy DIY Dusting Spray Cleaner
- Homemade Garbage Disposal Cleaner + Deodorizer
candice says
These are great tips! I love how that mop and bucket work together. I like the old fashioned way of cleaning the floors too, but don’t want it to take all day. I bet this system would cut down on my floor cleaning time quite a bit.
Shelley says
I love the start from the top and work your way down tip. It should be common sense, but I’m shocked at how most people don’t get this. My mom taught me this and I’m not teaching my kids! 🙂 Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
diane hoffmaster says
Mopping is definitely not my favorite chore! In fact, it really needs to be done before my company gets here next week! Thanks for sharing these tips!
Amber Edwards says
Those are great cleaning tips! Seriously I love the idea of using a laundry basket to gather stuff up in one room, and then putting the stuff away from the basket after the room is clean. It would really save time and keep my kids on task instead of going to put something away, get distracted and forget to come back and finish picking up the room.
Melissa Pezza says
That looks like a great mop! I love that triangular design. It’s such a pain to try to clean in corner with a regular mop.
Barbara Meineke says
Erika, Do you use a squeegee in your shower? Really easy to dry it quickly.
Erika says
No, but I should try it. Thanks, Barbara! 🙂
Sara Killinger says
I like your tip on cleaning high traffic rooms first. I’ve noticed whenever I have guests over, I tend to speed clean my entire house. If I instead skip my bedroom and other areas that won’t be frequented by guests, I’ll be able to focus on the areas of the house that actually matter. Which areas of the house are the most important to clean first?
Hannah Ellis says
These are some wonderful tips! I am very happy to find your post. As a mom I don’t have so much time to spend on cleaning that is why I count on doing little bit of cleaning every day so I have less house work for the weekends! These are amazing and very helpful tips that. Thank you for sharing them! The O-Cedar mop looks fabulous! Greetings!
Colleen Aguilar says
This mop certainly makes me feel like I am in the stone-age with my cleaning tools at home. I love the convenient shape and design, Quick and easy indeed.
Violet Keller says
My sister uses O-Cedar Mop at her home. Her home is always soooo clean. I didn`t realize what was her mop until I read your article. Now I am going to purchase the same. Thank you for sharing it! Best regards!
Treesa joy says
Thanks for these wonderful post
James Bergman says
I used to have a summer job cleaning houses. I think the biggest lesson I learned that it is always best to declutter before doing any cleaning. If you are dusting a shelf, I know you want to leave everything on it and dust around it, but you will just end up knocking things over and going slower. The first thing you do when cleaning your house is pick everything up and move things. If you do this first then cleaning is much faster. Lets be honest, who doesn’t want to have the cleaning in their home go faster?
Patricia Russell says
Thanks a lot ERIKA for sharing these best cleaning tips.
Patricia Russell says
I would like to have “O-ceder”, but how I can collect this?
John Ferrell says
I like that you said that nobody likes cleaning but everyone needs to do it. When my wife is cleaning I like to try to help out as much as I can so that it is easier for her. If you help someone it might help you to feel better about yourself and help them to be happier.
Kathy Burgess says
Nice!
vệ sinh nhà says
Thank you livingwellmom for sharing.
It looks great. I will do the way you share …
Sharon Elleen says
Nice to read. So useful and informative tips. Many thanks for sharing them all.
John Billows says
These are all great tips for a busy mother to help get her house clean and quickly as well. My wife is always asking me to clean the house while she watches the kids, so these are going to be a big help to me as well. Just as you point out in tip number three when a mess is made it is best to clean it up right then or even have to kids clean it up. I’ll have to try that and see if I can keep our home a little bit cleaner.
Heather says
Great tips! I’ve never thought to set a time limit for each room. I usually end up doing more work in one room and rushing through the rest because by the time I’m done, I’m too tired to bother. This is a much better idea. Thanks for sharing!
Michael Robinson says
Growing up, my mother always kept the home spotless and I have learned from her cleanliness. I absolutely love your advice to always clean up the rooms that people are usually in first like the kitchen and the living room. In my opinion, having the kids clean up is the best way to do it. Thanks again!
Alomaids says
Great tips.
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Richard Learner says
Thank you for providing these great tips. Yes you are right moms are too busy to spend hours cleaning the house and stuff. These tips are great help to save time and do proper cleaning. Very nice blog.
Susanne Knight says
I love your tips! They help me keep a cleaner house and I share this post with people all the time! Thank you thank you!!
Sienna Smith says
I could absolutely use a routine like this. Usually, by the Weeknd, our house is a disaster because no one has done any cleaning whatsoever. I think I might create a list like this so that I keep up with it.
I completely clean like this all the time.
Awesome advice! I always want more housecleaning tips. We have guests coming over next week. This breaks it down for a person like me who hate cleaning! Thanks so much!
Bessie Wick says
I’ve never imagined house cleaning will a lot easier by following the tips and tricks mentioned in this post. Whenever I go for a house cleaning it takes a long time to finish. So, feeling good to find some tips that save time while house cleaning.
Lina William says
Woohoo! I’m such a nerd for cleaning tips. I’m feeling so inspired to run around cleaning my house right now!
Airbnb Cleaning says
Some brilliant tips here! Thanks so much for an informative blog.
Thumbtack says
I love your posts! Thanks for contributing the best tips in an approachable, down to earth way. You’re talent is huge, and your practicality is quite grounding in this digital world. Thank you!
Office Cleaner says
Thanks for the great post on cleaning your house fast! I especially appreciate tip number 2 – keeping your cleaning supplies in a convenient location.
Mike Sikorski says
Never underestimate the power of smart cleaning tools, it speed up the mess and whole process of getting things done! Thanks for these wonderful tips! Will definitely use this.