One way to cut down on the workload of cleaning is to invest in products that do the work for you! This means doing your research and finding which cleaning products are the best of the best for the tough stains and stuck on grime that gets all over everything.
There are many sprays, powders, and liquids that were created to help make cleaning easier, so use those! These will help make cleaning the bathtub, scrubbing dishes, and getting stains out of the carpet way easier because you don’t have to use so much elbow grease!
Another way to make cleaning a breeze is to have all of your cleaning supplies in one space and ready to go. It is super helpful to buy a tote that is big enough to hold all of your most-used cleaning supplies so you can carry it all around the house without having to wonder where anything is or having to go back and forth into different rooms to collect the needed supplies.This tote does not have to be anything special either. You can easily find a tote like this at the dollar store. You could even find something laying around your house that could act as a cleaning tote like an old box or bucket.
This doesn’t necessarily mean to only do one chore and then be done, although you could totally do that and stretch it out over several days to better fit your schedule. Instead, this means to do one chore throughout the whole house before moving on to the next.For example, vacuum the entire house, not only the living room, but the living room, hallway, bedrooms, and any other rooms before you move on to the next chore like washing the sinks. Then, once you’re done vacuuming and it’s time to move on to the sinks, clean all of the sinks in the house before moving on to the next chore. This will help it go faster because you are not constantly switching gears to do different tasks.
This one may be up for debate, but here at Alot Living, we believe that it is important to dust and then vacuum, not the other way around. Some may claim that vacuuming stirs up dust making the dusting beforehand useless, but once you start dusting, especially if you are dusting high up places, lots of dust particles will fall to the ground ruining all the hard vacuuming you just completed.So, as a rule of thumb, always dust off the surfaces in your home (including the cobwebs in the corners by the ceiling) and then vacuum to make your life easier and cleaning go faster. This way you won’t have to backtrack to pick up all the dust that you sent flying into the air.
Have you heard of this one? Using a squeegee, yes the thing you would normally use to clean windows, is a great way to keep your shower clean over time. Just use it after each shower to help prevent mildew buildup.When you are conditioning your hair or you have a few seconds just after showering, wipe down the walls of the shower and the tub with the squeegee. It only takes a few seconds and helps you to not spend so long cleaning it every few weeks!
The fastest way to get dishes done is to do them in this order: glasses, flatware, plates, and then pots and pans. It goes even faster if you have a dishwasher, but this is still the best order to add them into the dishwasher as well!This is fastest because glasses and flatware usually don’t have that much grime on them, so they are easy to get out of the way fast. Bonus points if you have a helper drying the dishes and putting them away as you go! The other items in the lineup tend to have more food stuck on them and require more time and effort. If you spray them down or put a little soap in them before you start on the glasses, you won’t have to scrub as hard to clean them!
If you have never heard of a microwave cover before, this is about to change your cleaning game! A microwave cover is a glass or plastic dome that you can set over your plates or bowls in the microwave to prevent food from splattering all over the microwave.Gone are the days of paper towels getting stuck to your food in the microwave and not even preventing splattering or just throwing the food in the microwave and hoping nothing bad happens. This way, you don’t have to clean the microwave as often, just another small dish that is usually dishwasher safe as well!
One way to keep those dreaded giant cleaning days away is to simply clean as you go about your day. If you are sitting at the table, clear the clutter when you get up. If you are cooking in the kitchen, wipe the counters after you are done using them. Finding small patches in your day to clean just one thing will add up throughout the day and week making your house cleaner longer in a more sustainable way. This eliminates the need for you to clean everything at once, once a week.
The best way to take control of clutter is to make sure that everything has a place and everything is in its place. When things don’t have a place, they end up accumulating in high-traffic areas in your home, making it look less clean.While it may take a lot of energy and time upfront to organize your house and make sure everything has a place, it will make cleaning your house later on faster and smoother and take less effort.
Baking soda is a miracle tool when it comes to cleaning your house. There are so many uses for it, and it’s very effective in just about every use! If you want to learn more about different uses, check out our article on 30 Everyday Household Uses for Baking Soda.
From cleaning the oven or microwave to getting stains out of the carpet and getting rid of gunk, baking soda can basically do it all, and it’s completely non-toxic too. If it’s safe enough to add to your baked goods, it’s safe enough to clean your house.
A great way to make sure your cleaning goes quickly is to not worry about every little detail. Save that worry for your designated deep cleaning days. As for all of the other cleaning days, just worry about the main things.
Vacuum, dust, mop, wipe off surfaces, but don’t worry about cleaning off every little object on the shelf, reorganizing your whole closet, or cleaning out the fridge. Just do the main things, make it quick, and worry about the details later!
Do you get tied up or tethered to the outlet while vacuuming? Chances are that it’s adding a lot of time to your cleaning and making it harder to get done. What’s the solution? A cordless vacuum!While there are super fancy cordless vacuums, there are more inexpensive varieties as well that you can invest in. This will save you lots of time and the hassle of having to constantly search for the best outlet that will give you more space while tethered to the cord.
While you don’t have to sweat the small stuff on a normal basis, it is still good to have a deep clean every once in a while. Schedule this deep clean once every month or once every other month. If you have been cleaning as you go or doing once-overs every so often, this shouldn’t be as bad as just saving everything until the last minute.It will help the opposite way too, so that if you are deep cleaning every other month, it will make your once-overs and cleaning as you go easier as well leading to a cleaner house that stays clean longer.
One way to keep your sheets cleaner for longer is to switch to showering at night. We know that many people are morning shower people, but if you hate washing your sheets, showering at night could help you to not have to wash them as often.Showering right before bed allows all of the dirt and oil that would have normally been on your body at bedtime to get washed off before you get all cozy. This will keep your sheets nicer for longer.
Along with organizing your house to take control of clutter is downsizing the amount of clutter in your house by getting rid of the items that you don’t really use, need, or want anymore. Have a donation box constantly at the ready to stop clutter in its tracks.Organizing can only do so much for clutter, and if you have a lot of items you don’t use anymore, chances are you’re most likely wasting your time by organizing before you donate. So be sure to donate those items before your big organization day to save time and effort!
If you don’t have the time to dedicate an entire day to cleaning the house, just go in batches! If you only have time to vacuum the whole house, but not dusting or cleaning the sinks, just do what you can in batches!While it might be best for your allergies to do dusting and vacuuming on the same day, you can still only do those two things one day, and then when you have time again, go for mopping the floors. Just do what you can in batches to make your cleaning life easier!
If you can’t seem to find the time, you might benefit from scheduling the time. Scheduling the time to clean is the same as making the time to clean. It’s a necessary thing to do, so make sure you are emphasizing its importance in your schedule.And as we have said before, it doesn’t have to be a big event that lasts hours and touches every spot in your house. If you can only fit one, five minute slot a day to cleaning whatever needs to be cleaned, great! Your home will be cleaner for it.
If you live with other people in your home that are able to help out, have them lend a helping hand! If you live alone, ask a good friend to come over and help (if they do, they are a really good friend).This can make the time spent cleaning go down in leaps and bounds. A job that would take one person two hours could take two people only one hour! Ask your people to help you out, and maybe throw in a little bribe like a free dessert to make them more likely to help out.
A very important step in keeping a clean and tidy home is cleaning the cleaners. This means that you should regularly clean your sponges, brooms, and vacuum so that you are not making more of a mess while trying to clean the mess.You will only have to do this about once a month, and it will make your life a whole lot easier when you don’t have to keep trying to get all of that hair out of the broom that just won’t go away or take longer to wash dishes because you haven’t replaced the sponge in a while.
Make wiping off and decluttering the surfaces in your home part of your daily routine to make cleaning days a breeze. This not only prevents clutter from accumulating on the surfaces, but it also prevents spills and other messes from hardening and becoming really difficult to remove.Have you ever tried to clean a dried apple juice spill off of a counter? Yeah, it’s not fun. Make sure that no surprise spills outstay their welcome by making sure everything is in its place and wiped down before you go to bed.
This may not work as well in a complete time crunch, but to make sure your floors are cleaned more efficiently, it’s important to sweep, then vacuum, then mop. If you do this in batches through the whole house like we described earlier, this could really help make your house cleaner, faster.Sweeping helps to get any of the big things out of the way before you vacuum, and you can also get into the tighter corners easier with a broom too. Then go over the floors with a vacuum to pick up anything the broom left behind. Finally, finish by mopping your tile or hardwood to keep the floors nice, shiny, and clean.
Do you want to know the key to getting everything done faster? Don’t stop! The fewer breaks you take, the faster everything will be done. Of course if it is a giant chore and you’re exhausted, take a break, but otherwise, keep chugging away!Nothing feels more rewarding than relaxing in a fully cleaned house knowing that it’s all done and you don’t have to worry about it the rest of the day. Get that feeling earlier by cleaning until it’s done and taking as few breaks as possible. You’re more likely to get everything done this way too instead of getting sidetracked!
Speaking of not stopping for breaks, music can help you push through when you need to get things done but are having trouble getting in the zone. Pop in some earbuds or play music from a speaker and listen to an upbeat playlist or your favorite podcast.Playing music will help keep your mind off of the chores or anything else running through your mind and help you maintain your focus. Who wouldn’t love listening to their favorite songs or podcasts all day?
For those of you who are in a really tight time crunch, go with the short busts cleaning method. This means that if you find yourself waiting for something, say popcorn that takes a few minutes to pop in the microwave, use that time to clean one thing.This one thing could be cleaning off the kitchen table, vacuuming off the rug in that one high traffic area, or finally putting your dishes from breakfast in the dishwasher. This will help everything else be cleaner, faster as well because this method can be infectious.
We know that there are tons of rules about which cleaners you should use on certain surfaces for certain messes, but do you really need each specific cleaner for those very specific messes, or could you get more done with less?
Our suggestion for making your cleaning go faster is to keep it simple when it comes to the amount of cleaning products you use so you don’t have to constantly switch between different cleaners. Did you know that dish soap works great in the bathtub or the sink? You already know how baking soda has a ton of uses. You really only need a multipurpose antibacterial spray and a couple of other cleaners, and that’s it!
If things are just getting dirty way too quickly, it might be time to set up some cleanliness rules and boundaries in your house. These rules will be designed to make things stay clean longer and to have them be cleaned more often.For example, whether you live by yourself or with other people, set up the rule that you can’t get up from the table without putting your dishes in the dishwasher or sink. If you have pets, another good rule would be to not allow pets on the furniture to protect the fabric and not have to sit in as much pet hair anymore. Setting up rules allows your house to be cleaner for way longer.
If you have the money available to you, it would be a great help to yourself to save up and invest in some of the good cleaning supplies that will make your life a lot easier. Supplies such as a robot vacuum or that one really nice bathroom spray could make it a lot easier to clean your house.
We know that it can be hard to be able to afford these things, but if you really hate vacuuming and you would really like a robot vacuum, put a fund aside that you put a little cash into each week to work towards being able to buy one. It could really help get your house cleaner, faster!
Speaking of not letting your pets on furniture, if you absolutely can’t stand it, and your little furry friend must be on the couch with you, we recommend getting fabric protector spray or having a designated blanket they lay on to protect the couch fabric.This method also works if you have children, and spills or accidents, like markers scribbled on the couch, are a possibility. Having something to protect the fabric of your furniture will prevent those dreaded cleaning events from being even worse.
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: don’t wait to clean your house! If you wait too long, the mess just piles up to be even worse. Implement these little fixes that we’ve mentioned throughout, and it will be easier to get everything done instead of waiting until the last minute.Cleaning more frequently not only allows your house to be cleaner, but it also helps it stay that way and make it faster to clean since you will have a pattern down that you could probably follow in your sleep. Do yourself a favor and clean your house more often!
Finally, create a system and flow that works for you. We do not expect you to follow every single item mentioned on this list, but pick your favorites and add those to your cleaning routine to create your own system.Doing what is best for you is the ultimate hack for getting things cleaner, faster, because you are doing what is best for you, and not what is best for your neighbor, mom, or some stranger on the internet.
