The Best Time Saving Cleaning Tip You Need To Do NOW!

I don’t know about you, but cleaning can easily take over my life. I like a clean home. The definition of “clean” varies from person to person, but for me a clean home has limited clutter, some dust but not too much, and some dog hair but not enough that warrants a vacuum. To achieve this level of clean, I feel like I am constantly picking up things. All day! With two little kids, a husband, and a dog, it can easily become a tornado of crap. I easily get wrapped up in cleaning for hours, in fact I shockingly find it therapeutic. However, spending hours on cleaning is not the best use of my time, especially since I know I can get the essentials completed in a fraction of the time if I focus. So how does a busy mom of two keep and maintain a cleaning schedule that doesn’t take over her day? Keep reading below for my time saving cleaning tip you need to do NOW!

Think About It!

How many times have you started cleaning/organizing one task, only to move on to something else completely unrelated, stop that half way, start another, etc…? An hour will go by with three messy areas that have probably been made messier because nothing was ever completed. Below is my #1 time saving cleaning tip (and a few other tips) that will help you focus and get stuff done!

Set a timer.

Sounds easy right? Even a little silly? A timer can make a world of difference when it comes to cleaning. It is amazing how quickly you can clean something with you are racing against time. For example; I will have a kitchen full of dishes, food, trash, toys, etc… looking at it, I dread the cleanup. I think to myself; ugh this is going to take forever. But in reality, I am able the get an extremely messy kitchen close to spotless in 10-15min. All I do, pour myself a glass of wine, put something on to watch or listen to, and set our microwave timer for 10-15mind depending on how bad the job is, and get to work! I kid you not, I always get it done in the allotted amount of time.

You can look at a messy room in two ways; 1. OMG this is a mess, why is it so messy? Why isn’t my husband cleaning this up. I hate cleaning. I am overwhelmed, etc… or 2. Ugh this is messy. I will give it 10 minutes and clean whatever I can and the rest can wait until later. Chances are; you will be able to clean the entire room in the allotted amount of time. If you know something is only going to take you 10 minutes, it’s a much less daunting task.

How long will the task take?

This may be some trial and error. There are times when 10 minutes isn’t long enough to clean my kitchen. In this case, if the time goes off and I still have more to  you focused and use your time efficiently. You can set a stopwatch, complete a task, and then have a baseline for how long to allow for future tasks.

Other time saving cleaning tips:

• Use this time to catch up on your favorite shows. I actually enjoy folding laundry-weird right? I always watch my favorite shows (A Million Little Things, Real Housewives, The Office, etc…) during this time.
• Listen to Podcasts. A perfect time for personal development!
• Rewards yourself when your done. Drink some wine while cleaning up after dinner, relax on the couch for a few minutes after folding laundry.

What is your favorite and least favorite cleaning chore?