If you’re searching for more time, less stress, or just better cleaning habits, you’ve arrived at the right place. Keep reading to discover actionable tips for how to clean your house and actually keep it clean.
In the long run, the current level of messiness doesn’t matter. With a little consistency and effort, you’ll learn how to clean up a messy house and how to keep it that way.
These tips will help you clean your house in less time so you can get back to enjoying life. Below, you’ll also find a weekly cleaning schedule template, the same one I use to keep up with my own home. Let’s dive in!
An Unforgettable Thanksgiving Starts with premium turkey and ham, sides and desserts from Perdue Farms!How To Clean Your House by Lowering Your Expectations
Just as you get something cleaned up, someone will come along and make it dirty again. There really is no way to keep your home clean 100 percent of the time if you’re going to continue living in it. So lower those expectations and show yourself some grace.
This will look different for everyone. Start by focusing on the tasks that really drive you crazy if they don’t get completed and try to worry less about the other tasks.
Delegate Tasks
Speaking of tasks, pass those off to someone else. As I always tell my kids, team work really does make the dream work. If you share your home with others, they can help keep it clean, too. Get your family involved in the cleaning routine.
Make sure everyone has a task that’s age appropriate. Think of things they can do independently. Even children as young as toddlers can help out with a little creativity. Accept their help while they still want to help, mama!
It’s never too early to start encouraging children to help out and pick up after themselves. Bonus, when they’re little and mom is still super cool, they actually enjoy helping! Delegating tasks to others in your household will help you clean your house fast every time!
How Do You Declutter A Really Messy House?
Declutter often. It will be much easier to keep up with your home when you have less stuff in it. This is a given, I’m sure you’ve heard it before. It’s worth it to learn how to clean your house by learning how to get rid of stuff.
Related Post: How To Declutter Quickly – 4 Decluttering Tips To Help Conquer The Overwhelm
I’m not saying you have to spend a bunch of time on this, but adding it into your daily or weekly tasks will help tremendously! Try to focus on eliminating clutter a little bit at a time so it doesn’t feel so overwhelming.
Divide Your Home Into Zones
There are many different methods that all answer the questions about how to clean your house. However, think of what takes you the longest when cleaning. Is it picking things up and putting them away? Zone cleaning is definitely for you!
Now, think of the different parts of your home and break them up. Living room or family room, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, whatever the different sections may be, divide your home up.
Section your home however it works for you. Be sure to recognize the areas where you spend the most time as those zones will likely need the most cleaning.
Think about utilizing the zone method when delegating tasks. Designate a zone to each child or family member. That zone is their responsibility for a given time. Then rotate zones amongst the children or family members.
Make the zones and tasks work for you. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Something as simple as one child picking up the living room and one picking up the kitchen will help tremendously.
Related: 10 Cheap and Easy Ways To Stretch a Meal
How Can I Keep My House Clean in 20 Minutes a Day?
Use a cleaning schedule. As I mentioned earlier, my home is broken up into zones. My oldest two children, ages 10 and 9, are each responsible for a zone. My third child, age five, is responsible for picking up after herself throughout the day and helping out in zones as needed.
The two zones the kids focus on are kitchen/hallway and living room. Each child gets a zone and we rotate every day. They are mostly responsible for tidying the floors and making sure things have been straightened up. Living room zone is in charge of cleaning the table. Kitchen zone is in charge of dishes.
They can complete their zone tasks without any help from mom or dad. This routine is easy for them to stick to and it keeps cleaning simple. How to clean your house and keep it that way? Make a schedule that works for you.
We’re all busy right? I created a weekly house cleaning schedule as a way to keep up with my house while being a busy working mama. It’s nothing fancy, but it keeps me on task each week, you can see an example of that schedule below.
Get your own copy of our Weekly Cleaning Schedule with your purchase of our Mama’s Burnout Rescue Toolkit!
But how often should you clean your house? For myself, I assign a different zone to each day. I spend 15-20 minutes a day in those zones. My zone cleaning is in addition to making sure our preferred areas, kitchen and living room, are picked up and mostly clean. See how beneficial it is to have my big kids helping out?
When planning your own cleaning schedule, think about tasks that can be done quickly. Ultimately, the goal is to keep the time short enough you can still finish on busy days; however, make it long enough that it feels like you’ve accomplished something when time is up.
Personally, I don’t need to know how to clean my house in two hours, because I’d rather clean in smaller increments every day. Implement a weekly house cleaning schedule that works best for you and your lifestyle.
Related: 3 Tips for How To Stick To a Grocery Budget
Where Do I Start When Cleaning My House?
Little by little. Start small. Get done what you can, delegate what you can’t, and let go of the rest. Begin with short increments of time, like 15-20 minutes. Set a timer and get busy.
Be mindful of your preferred area or areas. Focus on those daily for 15-20 minutes in addition to your daily zone tasks. You’ll be amazed how much you can get done in a short amount of time!
One of the biggest tips for cleaning your house is to stay consistent. Dedicate just a short amount of time to cleaning every day, and soon enough you will master how to clean your house and keep it that way.
