Are you looking for some simple cleaning tips that will keep your home looking neat and tidy almost all of the time?   Here are the tested and approved habits, tips, tricks and products that will take the stress out of cleaning your home.

Cleaning Tips

If you’re like me, having a clean home makes you feel more relaxed, more productive and just happier.  If you are frustrated with the time it takes, I am giving you my best cleaning tips to help make the whole process simpler.

You are going to learn my favorite cleaning tips that include products, habits, time blocking and a schedule that just might work for you.

After learning what works for me in my home, you will have some new ideas to try out in your own home.

This post is all about the 7 simple cleaning tips that will keep your home in tip top shape.

Best Cleaning Tips:

  1. Make A Weekly Schedule That Works For You

If you are anything like me, you have had to tweak your cleaning schedule more than a few times to make it work.  I have tried dedicating a day on the weekend to clean the entire house- which made me absolutely miserable.   And, I  have tried to clean after I put my kids to bed -which didn’t last long at all because I was so tired myself by then that I couldn’t get it done.  Finally, I decided to clean early in the morning which is working best for me.

Try breaking your house down into zones and cleaning a zone each day.  My cleaning zones look like this:

Monday– Dust the main level of the house (more on how I do that later in the post)

Tuesday– Clean the main level floors.

Wednesday– Clean half of the lower level of the house.

Thursday– Clean the other half of the lower level.

Friday– Clean the kitchen. (my easiest day)

Saturday– Clean the bedrooms (master and guest room) and also the stairs and the hallway.

Sunday– The dreaded bathrooms and this is also the day the kids have to clean their rooms.

Pick a time to clean and try to stay consistent.  This is where I might sound a little crazy because I clean in the very early morning.  I’m talking the 5 am hour!  I pick a podcast and I get to work for about 30 minutes.

cleaning schedule

If you are looking for a way to write out your schedule to make yourself stick to it more, try this rip off weekly planner.  Find it HERE on Amazon.

 

2.  Start A Night Time Tidy Routine

This is a game changer!  If you take 10-20 minutes at the end of each day and do a quick clean up, your mornings will be much easier.  If you’re wondering how much you can do in less than 30 minutes, I will help you out.  You can take out all of the trash and recycling, wipe your counters, vacuum high traffic spots, put items back where they belong, start your dishwasher and set out anything that you might need for the morning.  If you get your family involved, imagine how much more you can get done!  Race the clock and stop when the timer goes off.

3.  Bathroom Tips

I confess… I actually hate to clean bathrooms.  Seriously, I do.  We are lucky enough to have more than one bathroom which means I have to clean more than one… And, long ago I learned that it’s best to clean them all on the same day.  Here are a few things I do to make them less painful to clean:

  • Keep cleaners in the bathroom so you can easily do midweek wipe downs.
  • Try Rainex on glass shower doors.
  • Let your cleaners sit on the surface for as long as you can.

Products I Use For Bathroom

(I peel the labels off the toilet cleaner so they look nice and move cleaners to neutral bottles.)

(Related Post: 3 No Stress Ways To Declutter Bathroom Products With Your Family)

Click to buy my favorite cleaners:

4.  Create Long And Short Routines For The Same Areas

What does that mean?  Ok… when I clean my zones that typically means I am using a bucket with soap and water and I’m wiping down all of the surfaces in my home.  Yes, I clean my floors by hand each week.  Yes, I wipe down my doors, crown molding and doors with soap and water every single week.  I know this sounds like a ton of work, but it’s my habit now and I’m pretty fast and efficient at this point.  But, life doesn’t always allow for that kind of cleaning.  Time gets tight and instead of skipping my cleaning routines, I switch to my short routine instead.  So, instead of a bucket of water for wiping surfaces I switch to a rag and some swiffer duster.  Instead of wiping my floors, I switch to a quick vacuum and a pass with a stiffer wet mop.

Products I Use Daily To Clean

Click To Buy My Favorite Cleaners:

5.  Time Yourself

Cleaning can feel like a never ending job.  If you don’t make parts of it feel fun, it will just be something you dread everyday.  Music and podcasts help with the mood, but can at times cause you to loose track of time.  We don’t need to spend too much time, we need to get it done and move on.  Timers can help you in so many ways when you are creating a cleaning routine.  So, time yourself when you clean a bathroom and see how long it takes.  The next time you do it, try to beat your time. Or, race against a timer for your night time tidy.  Racing makes it feel like a game and less like a chore.  You will want to get as much done as possible!  Cleaning in the morning before the kids wake up means I have to race against the clock.  Push yourself to get faster and you won’t feel like you spent your whole day cleaning.

6.  Don’t Forget To Clean These Areas

There are so many areas in a house to keep track of and many of them just slide off the radar.  Here is a list of things that might be neglected in your home and need weekly attention:

  • Don’t forget to clean your washing machine!  I often just use vinegar and baking soda and set the washer on the “clean” cycle.  But, trust me you need to take care of your washer.  It works hard for you all week.  If you have a front loader, be sure to wipe out the gunk that gets trapped in the door seal.  It’s nasty!
  • Clean your coffee maker!  People… take care of what takes care of you.  My machine has a cleaning tablet and a setting that will make it do a self clean.  Read up on your coffee maker and give it some love.
  • Wash your sheets!  Seriously… if you don’t wash your sheets weekly, you need to try it. I can change my sheets and rebuild my bed in 7 minutes.  It’s 7 minutes well spent.
  • Wipe out your fridge!  You don’t have to do a deep clean every week, but give it a clean out and a wipe.  You can do it while you have some food cooking on the stove.  Just take a few minutes and make it happen.
  • Wash your bathmat!  It’s been lying on the floor all week and it’s been wet and dry over and over again.  Make it part of your routine to give it a wash.

Is Your Bath Mat Clean

7.  Take Care Of Your Plants As Part Of Your Cleaning Routine

Ok people… I can’t lie… I currently have dead plants in my house.  But, what I have realized is that the plants in my kitchen are thriving.  Why?  Well it’s because I started watering them the same day I clean that space.  They get love and attention every single week.  For some reason, I haven’t linked plant care with cleaning in any other room and those plants are definitely suffering.  It’s one of the areas I need to work on.  I feel so terrible when I have to toss out a dead plant!

Kitchen Plants...

(Related Post:  3 Ways To Not Kill Your Indoor Plants)

This post was all about simple cleaning tips that will keep your home looking neat and tidy.

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Cleaning and organizing is a practice, not a project.” ~ Meagan Francis

 

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