According to a study by the online marketplace TaskRabbit, the average American spends approximately 14 hours a week on household chores and only four hours relaxing at home. In addition, many of us spend twice as long on chores like dusting as we do with our family and friends. So, it’s time to look at how we can organize house cleaning to make it more efficient and take less time.
Skip to section
7 Quick Tips To Organize Your Way To Less House Cleaning
- Cut down
- Share the work
- Don’t waste time
- Two-minute rule
- Clockwise order
- Recognize limits
- Know boundaries
1. Get Rid of What You Don’t Need
We heard it from Marie Kondo; only keep those items that bring you joy. By getting rid of excess items, you will have fewer things for dusting and laundering and less things to work around. Without so many things, you can also organize house cleaning in less time.
Here are some things that you can quickly get rid of:
- Old shoes
- Clothing you haven’t worn in a year
- Old toys
- Expired makeup
- Old spices – most ground spices should be replaced after a year
- Cookbooks you’ll never use
- Take-out condiments
- Old chargers and cables
- Old craft supplies
2. Everyone Does Their Part to Get the House Organized
If you live with others, organize house cleaning so everyone is doing something. For example, assign someone to do the dusting, someone to take out the trash, and so on. With the ability to organize house cleaning, you can ensure that everything is covered and done regularly.
3. No Time is Wasted time
If you keep a container of all-purpose wipes in your bathroom, you can take a moment to clean your mirror and sink when you brush your teeth. Keep a container in your kitchen, and you can wipe down your kitchen counter while you use the microwave or toaster oven. Thinking ahead to organize house cleaning items will make it much easier to keep your house tidy and clean. What a way to speed clean!
If you want to avoid harsh chemicals and make your own DIY All-Purpose Cleaning Wipes, these can be used on counters, sinks, floors, appliances, and more! Additionally, they are frugal because you can use washcloths or fabric rags instead of paper towels, which is kinder to the environment!
Homemade All-Purpose Cleaning Wipes
Supplies:
- ¼ cup white vinegar
- ¼ cup water
- 5 drops peppermint essential oil
- 5 drops of lavender essential oil
- Flannel fabric
- Scissors
- Large glass jar or canister
Directions:
- Cut flannel into rectangles – approximately 6” x 9”
- Stir vinegar, water, and essential oils together in jar or canister
- Add cloth rags, pressing them down and adding more until all liquid has been absorbed
- Stir the rags and flip the bottom ones to the top so that they are all equally saturated
To use:
- Grab one of the ready-to-go all-purpose cleaning wipes from the jar and wipe down the surface to be cleaned.
- When finished, throw the rag into the wash. You do not need to put it into the dryer; place the wet rag back into the canister to be used again.
Pro Tip: Alternate the essential oil types for different scents!
4. Activate the 2-Minute Rule for House Cleaning
The “Two-Minute Rule” is simple. If something will take you less than two minutes, do it immediately. Did you throw your mail on the end table? Go through it and handle it. Dishes in the sink? Either wash them or put them in the dishwasher. Throw that load of laundry in. Stuck on hold? Use the time to finish dusting the room you are in. As you do this more and more, you’ll see what a difference this has on how you organize house cleaning!
The second part of the “Two-Minute Rule” is to use two minutes to start any good habit you want. For example, is dusting your most hated item when organizing your house tasks? Promise yourself just two minutes to get started on it, and you will quickly find it finished!
5. Move Through the Rooms Clockwise when Cleaning
When you organize house pick-up, look to make it as efficient as possible. Utilize a laundry basket, and place paper towels, an all-purpose cleaner, and a small garbage bag in it. Move in a clockwise direction through the room, dusting and wiping down the surfaces as you go.
Use the laundry basket to collect any items in the room that don’t belong there. Then, as you move on to subsequent rooms, you can deposit the items in their correct places. Working through each room in this fashion will ensure you don’t miss anything or clean something that has already been done.
6. Time to Call The Professionals
Have you tried getting that stain out of the carpet eight times, and it just isn’t budging? Do you and your significant other spend as much time arguing over whose turn it is to clean the bathrooms as you do dusting? It may be time to call a home cleaning service and let the professionals take over. Take a look at your life and do a cost-benefit analysis, and you may discover that it is well worth the cost to organize house cleaning professionals to come in.
7. Be Real About Your Work/Life Balance
If you feel like all you do is work and chores like dusting, it’s time to take a critical look at your life. If, after you review and organize house items and still find you are spending more time dusting than you would like, you may need to recalibrate your expectations. You can only complete so many tasks in a day, so choose wisely and then be realistic about what can be achieved.
No matter how you organize house cleaning, your dusting must be conquered. Pure House Cleaning serves communities in and around Seattle, Bellevue, and Kirkland and would love to help keep your home looking and feeling its best with a home cleaning service that fits your schedule and budget. Visit our website to learn about our cleaning process, prices for cleaning in Seattle, what deep cleaning is, and more!