I love spending hours cleaning my house. Said nobody, EVER.
Taking care of a home when you have ADHD, children, pets, and a husband is no easy feat.
3 p.m. Friday Afternoon
The Hubs: “Ugh, how did you get it so far up in there?”
Me: “I don’t know, it happened so fast…I just wanted to get it done.”
No, this was not a conversation about something personal.
This was a conversation about a sock that I sucked up into the vacuum five minutes earlier.
I had been speed cleaning my living room, which included reaching the long attachment under the sectional sofa without looking under said sofa.
When I get to vacuuming my living area I am on a mission.
Checking under each piece of furniture for random pieces of clothing and toys does not happen.
I told my son that morning, “You better check under the couch for your stuff because if I suck it up it goes in the trash.”
You see, I recently discovered that you can clean your home in specific zones.
Friday is my vacuuming day.
But wait, it gets better.
You can clean your house faster than you ever thought possible.
The Surprising cleaning hacks you need to know
Don’t spend hours on one room
Just don’t. I used to spend an hour just vacuuming my living room, checking under the furniture for Legos and lost socks.
Getting in all the nooks and crannies took me close to an hour. And that was before I did the area rug my dog lays on every day.
These days I give fair warning on Friday morning.
“Today is my day to vacuum in here, so you better make sure there is nothing on the floor or under the furniture that will get sucked up.”
Now I spend approximately 10 minutes vacuuming animal hair and dust.
With the time I save, I can run a Swiffer or mop over my wood floors.
Scrub the shower naked
This might sound strange, but I have started to scrub my shower while I am in it.
Why not save time when doing something that I despise?
At the end of my shower, while the shower and tub are still wet I spray my cleaner on the walls.
While the cleaner sits on the tile I dry off.
If necessary I use a scrub brush to get the harder spots. (We have hard water here.)
Finish by hosing or otherwise rinsing down the walls. You might be surprised how effective some of the shower cleaners are just sitting on the surface.
Kitchen cleaning success
Cleaning the kitchen is a huge job.
Dirt builds up on countertops, the stovetop, and even on the fridge doors.
After prepping food, try to clean up while the food cooks.
I often wipe down the counter tops and table and as part of my evening routine.
If you do this daily, then you won’t have to spend several hours deep cleaning your kitchen at one time.
Hand wash anything that needs it after dinner so dishes do not sit in the sink.
Wipe off the stove top before you go to bed.
Cleaning your kitchen can be very easy if you do one thing at a time.
Lose the guilt about using disinfecting wipes and spray cleaners. Do what you need to do to save yourself time and energy.
Sweet Dreams
Your bedroom is a sacred place. You need to relax and recuperate in your bedroom.
Dust and smelly sheets do not equal a good night’s sleep.
So once per week I pull out my trusty vacuum and clean the floors. If I am really motivated I even vacuum the mattress.
I spend about 5 minutes vacuuming.
Before climbing into bed, I pick up random garbage, clothing tags, and any other stuff lying around.
Once a week I like to take my Swiffer duster and go over the surfaces and lampshades to pick up the dust. It takes a minute, but it makes all the difference for our allergies.
Have each member of the family gather their own laundry.
See my laundry post for more on how I handle laundry.
Change the sheets once per week. Trust me on this one, you will sleep better.
Finally, stop looking at house cleaning as an onerous, all-day chore.
Choose one day of the week for each zone of your house, and then break up the time you spend cleaning into small, manageable tasks.
Do this, and you can clean your house faster than you ever thought possible.
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