Most mamas like to think we do a decent job keeping our family’s home clean and safe. But let’s face it: deep down inside, we know our homes could always be cleaner. The good news is, you don’t necessarily need to work harder than you already do. A few simple hacks to help you work SMARTER are the shortcut to a clean house in less time.
How to Clean House in Less Time
Start right
Laying the right groundwork will make it tons easer to clean house with less time and effort, and maintain that “clean” state. If you have any of these issues to deal with, start there. Not only will these swaps make your house easier to get (and keep!) clean, but the fact that your house looks nicer means you will WANT to keep it cleaner!
Here are some examples of things you can do to get a head start on “clean”:
- Start by fixing any leaks, whether in faucets or windows or toilets. This will cut your water and electricity bills, freeing up money for other repairs.
- Get a bulk pack of melamine sponges and scrub down walls, counters, and cabinets. If your counters are beyond help, consider refinishing them or swapping them out for new ones.
- Add a fresh coat of paint. DIYing is easier than you’d think, and will save you a bundle over hiring a pro. And the right paint sheen can make surfaces easier to keep clean.
- After flooding destroyed our hardwood kitchen floor last spring, we replaced it with luxury vinyl tile, which is so much easier to clean! If new floors aren’t in your budget, at least make sure you have several good doormats at each entrance to your home – one outside to catch the bigger dirt, and another just inside the door to catch smaller particles.
- A shoe rack, shoe tray, and/or basket of assorted slippers just inside the door will encourage everyone to remove their shoes, thereby keeping down the amount of dirt tracked in.
Get organized
Next, if you want your home to stay cleaner with less effort, organization is key. Yes, being “clean” and being “organized” are different things, but they are closely connected.
In fact, if you don’t have a home where everything is neatly put away, it can be difficult to even reach the surfaces or corners that need cleaning the most. This is why you need an effective organization system.
One of the tricks of this process is to make sure that everything HAS an appropriate home in the first place. I wrote about the importance of this recently in my post on having an organized kitchen, and I’ve written elsewhere about having an organized home with kids more generally. You don’t necessarily need to buy a ton of new baskets or boxes or shelving units to accomplish this task, but you DO need to find systems that will work for all family members, so that everyone can help to maintain them.
Once you’ve got your organizational plan in place, do a quick tidy before you begin the deeper cleaning. Your cleaning will be much more effective as s result, and you won’t have to keep moving things around as you go.
Make a schedule
Another fundamental aspect of cleaning better without having to put in more effort is the use of a schedule. Our inner neat-freak may want to do a deep clean weekly, but this is not realistic. Fortunately, if you do things right, you won’t need to.
Start by picking out essential tasks that need to be done daily. These could include loading and unloading the dishwasher, wiping down the counters, making the beds, and starting some laundry. As much as possible, delegate this work to other family members so it’s not all on you:
- When my husband and I got married, I insisted that he get in the habit of making the bed if he got up after me. Now that the girls are old enough, I also insist that they make their own beds.
- Likewise, everyone is responsible for clearing their own dirty dishes after meals and putting them right into the dishwasher.
- And every day, each of us is responsible for hanging up wet towels, getting dirty clothes off the floor and into a hamper, tidying their space at the table as needed after meals, and (for the girls) picking up their toys, homework table, and bedroom floor before bed.
Once you’ve got a system for the daily chores done, make a plan to tackle the larger weekly cleaning tasks, then the monthly and twice-yearly ones. For example, ever since I got the girls on board with a cleaning power hour every Sunday afternoon, our home has been SO much cleaner. I love that I’m NOT spending the whole afternoon cleaning. They love that I’m happier and have more time to play board games with them. And we all love the motivation to get the jobs done quickly so we can move on with our day.
Learn some hacks
Finally, to clean house in less time and with less effort, you need a few savvy hacks up your sleeve. For example, using a long-handled broom or duster to remove cobwebs from windows before you wash them, or using lemon juice and cream of tartar to remove rust and tarnish from cutlery. I’ve written elsewhere about all the ways white vinegar can help keep your home clean without harsh chemicals – it’s inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and easy to buy in bulk and keep on hand!
Your turn:
What are your favorite hacks to get a clean house in less time, with less effort? Let us know in the comments!
If you enjoyed this post on how to clean house in less time, why not share it with others by pinning this image?
NOTE: This site contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission from any purchases made through affiliate links, at no additional cost to you. For more information, please read the full disclosure/privacy policy.
Great tips!! After 15 years of living together we’ve sorted out our cleaning and we only clean once per week during 2-3 hours. Nodoby wears shoes inside! If the Holy Pope would come I’d make him leave his shoes outside 😉
What is clean when you came, must stay clean when you leave (rule valid especially for bathrooms and kitchen). Everybody lives here, so everybody cleans. I don’t make beds. I clean restroom, bathroom and kitchen, everybody else cleans everything else! That works for us for the moment 😉
I LOVE your “what is clean when you came, must stay clean when you leave” rule – works not just for bathrooms and kitchens, but also for when you have a bunch of kids over to play! Some of our kids’ friends are better about this than others, and I’ve found I have to stay on top of those other kids to make sure they don’t create a huge mess and then go home, because I know my kids will balk at cleaning it up, and that’s where things get really tricky…
Organization is key when it comes to cleaning. And it means always putting things back in the right place right away. When you wait til later, it never really happens. It’s a habit but it’s a good life habit to get used to.
YES YES YES!!!
I love all of these supermom hacks! These tips are super helpful, with little time on my hands taking care of the kids, I needed faster ways to get the job done. Thank you 🙂
You’re so welcome!
These tips and tricks are really helpful! Since I started a second job I have less time to clean but I need my home as clean as possible.
Oh, I know what you mean – glad you find them helpful!
I hate cleaning, so i am always looking for ways to do it faster! These are all such great tips!!
So glad you liked them!
We’ve hired a cleaning crew to help that’s how behind I’ve been! But these are great tips I can definitely utilize!
So glad you enjoyed the post!
These are all such great ideas! Some so simple that I never would have thought of too, like the shoe rack for example 🙂 Great post!
We would be lost without that shoe rack!
Great tips! I’m a no-shoes-in-the-house gal. It really helps keep the floors clean. Keeping up with daily chores certainly cuts out a lot of time when I do big cleans on the weekends.
Yesssss! (Now if only you could convince my hubby about the no-shoes thing! – I haven’t had luck with this…)
Thats true, we think its the best but it always could be better. Awesome hacks and thats right, smarter not harder 🙂
Haha so true! 🙂
So many great ideas! We really need to add some fresh paint to a few spots
It makes SUCH a difference! 🙂
What awesome tips!! I love this list.
Aww, thanks, Tiffani! 🙂
I definitely agree that having the house neat and organized makes a big difference. My boys are still young (3 and 5) but we just started chore charts with them to help delegate some of the chores around the house. Some things they have to do (make their beds, personal hygiene, clear their dishes) and others are optional but they get paid for them (feeding the cat, doing laundry, etc.). It’s helped them learn that hard work earns them money, and it’s a few less things my husband and I have to take care of.
Great tips to maintain a clean home in less time. I like that you make your family members contribute so thats its not all your responsibility.
Thanks for the tips – I so need them! I absolutely hate cleaning the house… I usually put it off for as long as I can get away with LOL!
These are great tips! I HATE cleaning especially since it seems like every time I get one part done, the kids destroy it. Haha!
Oh I totally know what you mean!!!
I was going to say…. Is the hack: HIRING A MAID when your husband is going to be gone from the house all day – so when he does come home, you can take the credit for cleaning?!?!?! 😉 HAHAHAHAH! Cause I won’t deny my doing that before – LOL!
Oh, GiGi, you are too funny! Does having my mama come visit and do a deep-clean count? (Only my hubby can tell when she does that, and it freaks him out!)
Such a great idea, we have shoe rack outside our door, basically in our porch since it’s close, a coat hanger and chairs where we can sit down and take off our shoes. We clean our house each Sunday, between working a lot and cleaning it’s a lot of work but it’s our routine that we do each weekend.
That’s what we do, as well! Saturday is our “family Sabbath” day, so Sunday morning we go to church, then come right home and clean for an hour. And right next to the shoe rack in the kitchen, we have a bench where we can sit to put our shoes on/off! 🙂
I always enjoy watching or reading about cleaning hacks because they’re satisfying. But incorporating them in my house is a different story. LOL
One small step at a time! 🙂
I think I will be looking into purchasing a shoe rack to encourage us to take off our shoes to walk into the house!
If only I could get my hubby to do this! – but the shoe rack right inside our kitchen door at least gets the girls and I to take off our shoes and put them away!