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Being a first time mom with a house to clean when you have a 10- month old crawling around and grabbing everything is no easy task. So I was thrilled when my blogging buddy Lindsey offered to write a guest post on How To Keep Your Home Clean When You’re Short On Time.
Read Lindsey’s great ideas and tips here. Enjoy!
There are many reasons why I want to keep my house clean, but the main one is because I can’t function in a messy space. Nothing is more frustrating than feeling like I need to throw things in the closet when we have visitors, or when I trip over something on the floor. When my home is messy, I can’t find anything and I can’t get things done.
I used to spend entire weekends cleaning our 768 square foot apartment! The sink was always overflowing with dishes, the living room was so cluttered you couldn’t get to the patio door, the kitchen table was always covered with papers, magazines, and God knows what else. The BF and I both work full time jobs, and by the time we get home we’re so exhausted. I can barely find the energy just to make dinner.
I thought our apartment was never going to be clean, and there would always be clutter keeping us from moving around freely in our little home. Then I read an article that changed my life.
In the article, it suggested cleaning for just 20 minutes every day. I thought this was ridiculous. How could my home ever possibly be clean after spending only 20 minutes a day cleaning? So I gave it a shot. I decided to break my cleaning cycles into two or three portions depending on the day. I would clean for 5 minutes during my lunch break, 10 minutes while I’m waiting for dinner to cook, and 5 minutes before bedtime. If it was going to be a particularly busy day, I would clean for 10 minutes during my lunch break, and 10 minutes before bed or after dinner.
The weirdest part? IT WORKED! After just two days of cleaning during my lunch break, I was starting to get my apartment back. There was less clutter on the floors and the tables, and my kitchen sink was no longer a dirty dish storage bin.
There were some days where I just completely forgot, or life got in the way. Occasionally there are days when the sink is overflowing with dishes. You would think by then it would be so full that I’d have to clean it right? You see, I have become a master of stuffing dishes in that sink. We have run out of forks and had to eat with spoons because I didn’t run the dishwasher, but those days are less frequent now, I use my fifteen minutes and focus on areas such as the sink/dishwasher, my kitchen table, and the living room.
Not only did I get my space back, but my time as well! Spending 2 to 4 hours every day cleaning was exhausting and by the time I was done, I was too tired to do anything else. Nobody wants to spend that much of their day cleaning!
This system is not made for tasks such as doing laundry or other timed tasks that can’t be completed in 20 minutes. There are still times when I need to spend a weekend cleaning up my apartment, when I didn’t have time during the week. Sometimes I wreck my kitchen while making dinner, and 20 minutes wouldn’t even scratch the surface of the mess I’ve created.
You’ll be surprised what 20 minutes will do for you. This new approach to cleaning changed the way I was living, and gave me more freedom than I ever imagined possible.
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12 comments
the timing makes sense. I always tell my husband that if I have time with the 45-min before I have to take the oldest to school to make breakfast and clean up the kitchen again and move on to other things, then then few hours before work to maintain the effort. the little bit of time in between things does add up.
I like this. I’m the kind of person that would rather do 20 mins of something every day than everything at once. Less stress, more time, there’s no downside 🙂
The only problem that I will have if after 20 minutes I’ll be lazy to clean the other side of the room! He He He! Because imagine having two kids who will always try to mess up everything that you are cleaning?
This is so smart. I hate cleaning but in a multi tasking way like this it’s not bad at all. I love to multi task because you get things done more easily. It sounds reasonable. I’m gonna try this!
Try it Sabine, it will help. If you love to multi-task then it will work more efficiently for you. Let me know how it goes ok?
I was nodding when you say you can’t function in a messy space. I am generally an organized person so it’s also hard for me to do anything when my surrounding is in disarray.
The 20-minute cleaning looks promising. I might just do it.
Yes marge! Try it and tell me what you think. Maybe just for a day, or a week and see if it makes a difference to you. I would love to hear your feedback 🙂 Have a great day and weekend
Wow such an efficient and time-saving tip! It’s a good thing my mom is at home that’s why someone’s helping me in doing household chores hihi. Anyhoo, I would love to share this to my mom also so that when we’re both cleaning the house, we can have some more time to rest and focus on our daily duties as a work-from-home mommies 🙂
You are so lucky to have someone helping you. I do not want to pay a nanny as I feel I can handle it so far myself. If I had ore kids, that might be a different story. I love time-saving tips for anything I am doing, so if this is an efficient way – then by all means I will do it.:-)
I HATE CLEANING so I am doing the next best thing, avoid making a mess and clean as I go. 🙂
I like to clean as I go as well Robert, just sometimes it doesn’t work out for me because I have to drop one thing to do the next, but I agree with you, if you can do it as you go and when it is right in front of you, then go for it.
Good post! I end up cleaning everyday! X