I’m not a fan of housework in any form but I do like to live in a tidy house so over the years I’ve so many blog posts and watched so many YouTube videos with people sharing their ‘How to clean your house fast’ tips that I should be an expert.
I’ve tried cleaning schedules, daily routines, and all manner of systems but the only thing that works for me is a weekly focus on just getting the job done. After trying everything, I’ve come to the conclusion that there aren’t any real shortcuts or life hacks that are going to help me if I want a genuinely clean house and I’m not disciplined enough to do a room a day or anything like that so I’ve come up with my own cleaning routine that works for me.
And because I’m a lovely person. I’m going to share my routine with you today so you can learn how to clean your house fast too!
I usually try and do this every Sunday morning and I always get everyone involved as we all make the mess in the house so it’s only right that we all work together to tidy and clean it. That might sound a bit mean that I make the kids do this with me but it takes 35 minutes from start to finish so I don’t feel too guilty!
Before we start, I gather everything I’m going to need together:
- A bucket of warm soapy water, preferably with some essential oils added – I’ll usually change the water during the cleaning as we try to wipe as many surfaces as possible with this which not only cleans but also leaves a great smell. I don’t add much and it;s never done anything in our house any harm but be aware with some surfaces just in case essential oils can damage them.
- As many microfibre cloths as I can find – some are used for the soapy water and some we keep dry to dry surfaces or polish things.
- Something to put rubbish in as we go around the rooms (you can find a reliable rubbish removal service here)
- A basket for anything that needs to be put away in another room which we carry about and check in each room for anything that’s been put in there that needs to be put away in the room we’re in at the time.
- Something to time myself with – usually my phone but I often use the kitchen timer.
I call this my room by room clean, although I think the proper term for this kind of cleaning is zone cleaning – whatever it;s called it will definitely help you to clean your house fast which is what we all want, isn’t it? All I do is set my timer for seven minutes per room and work my way around them all starting with the living room. I don’t know why I chose seven minutes but it works out well for us although you can obviously change that depending on how many rooms you have to get through, how much tidying you need to do and most importantly, how much time you actually have.
As I always kick off my room by room clean with the living room, I move everything into there and set the timer for my 7 minutes. I’ve usually dragged everyone in to help me tidy when I do it this way seeing as they all helped make any mess so I’ll start by allocating jobs. Last time we did this I gave Master Frugal a cloth and he washed down the doors and the skirting boards, Miss Frugal had another cloth and she washed the surfaces, cleaned the windowsill and dusted the ornaments and photo frames and Mr Frugal was responsible for hoovering the ceilings for cobwebs and the carpet and rug. I put things away that were lying around, tidied the magazine rack, fluffed the cushions and straightened the throws as well as making sure everyone else was doing what they should be doing. When the timer goes off, we move on to the kitchen.
You’d think we’d all get in each other’s way wouldn’t you? We really don’t and the kids are warned that every time they complain, roll their eyes or pull a face that an extra minute per room is added on. The first time we did this we got to 12 minutes a room so they now know I’m serious and just roll their sleeves up and get on with it quite happily. 😉
We move on to the kitchen next where we split the jobs up in much the same way. I usually get Mr Frugal on the case with a cloth making sure all of the door fronts are wiped down as are the front of all appliances and just about every other surface in there. I’ll get Miss Frugal on the doors and skirting boards and Master Frugal giving the table and chairs a good wipe over and dusting the shelves and the bureau while I tidy and put things away. We don’t do the floor in the 7 minutes but when the timer goes off here, we leave Mr Frugal to sweep and mop the floor while we move on.
The reason we do this is because we have three teen rooms downstairs – the entrance hall, the hall at the bottom of the stairs and the downstairs bathroom so we set the time for 7 minutes again and take one room each. We usually finish these rooms quite quickly as it’s just a matter of tidying and wiping down but I always take the quickest room so I can jump in and help the kids (or should I say – make sure they’re doing it how I like it).
When the timer goes off, we move upstairs and the 7 minute timer starts again while the kids to their bedrooms and we do ours. I tend to find at this point that the kids try and sneak all sorts past me and have to keep a close eye on the wash basket as clean clothes will often appear in there rather than get put away! This is also the time that the rubbish bag needs emptying usually as the kids clear their rooms. 😉 Once our room is mostly done I’ll leave Mr Frugal to it and empty the basket that we’ve been carrying from room to room as most things we’ve collected will generally be things to go in the kids rooms that they’ve left lying about. We work as quick as we can to get as much as possible done in the 7 minutes but very rarely, the kids rooms are still not done after this time so they’ll have to go back and finish them off after we’ve finished the room by room.
Next is the main bathroom and our ensuite – the kids will do the main bathroom and I’ll do the ensuite while Mr Frugal hoovers upstairs and the stairs. You’d be surprised how many empty toilet rolls appear at this point!
When the timer goes off here then we’re all done – a full family house clean in 35 minutes which isn’t bad at all!
All I do after that is spray some homemade febreze round on the fabrics and use some of my homemade room spray to freshen up and the house smells gorgeous as well as looks it!
Do you do something similar to clean your house fast or do you have a different kind of cleaning routine?
PS How to clean your house FAST should not be confused for how to fake a tidy house which is coming next week….
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