Keep Your Home Clean With 4 Quick and Easy Routines

And seven great hacks to make it extra easy

Home is relaxing. Home is comfortable — at least it should be. But, I find it very hard to relax and feel comfortable when I am surrounded by mess and clutter. Studies show, that most people are the same.

But, historically, I was not a naturally clean person. I had the messiest room of my siblings growing up; when I was young, my mom once found a forgetten tin of Christmas cookies under my bed in August. Even worse, they were from two Christmases ago. Grown-up with a family and a full time job, I had to find a system that helped me keep my house clean and orderly that was quick and easy.

Routine 1: The Morning Routine — a.k.a. make the beds and pick up the bedrooms. One of the most important things I do each morning is make the beds. Aside from potentially helping you get a better nights sleep, Admiral William McRaven suggests that making your bed also helps you be more productive throughout the day. It’s a simple task that takes me one minute per bed, and it makes a dramatic difference in the room.

I run through every room and make the beds, throw all the clothes in the laundry, put books away, and put toys away. I have two kids, and three bedrooms to do. This takes me less than 7 minutes. Then, I run downstairs and quickly empty the dishwasher. (I’ve timed it — 4 minutes). I can do these things while the kids are finishing up breakfast.

Cleaning Hack— I keep a magazine holder by each kid’s bed where they store their favorite books. It keeps them handy, and is a quick place to toss them when cleaning.

Routine 2: The Evening routine — a.k.a. clean the kitchen while you make dinner. I empty the dishwasher while I cook, and I clean up as I go. Before I sit down to eat, I generally have everything back to normal. I wipe down the counters and change the trash. I can usually have dinner prepped, made, and the kitchen cleaned within 40 minutes. I also do the mail here. You can find quick and easy recipes that don’t require a ton of work, here.

Cleaning Hack — Mail clutter used to be a big problem for me. I now have a one touch mail system where everything is sorted or thrown out the first time I touch it. I keep a big box for anything that needs shredded. This gets taken to free shredding events twice a year.

I have an expandafile for mail related to cars, insurance, health, bills, etc… Finally, I immediately toss any junk mail. We still get a lot of mail for people who used to live at our house, so I had a custom stamp made that says “No Longer At This Address.” It makes it easy to quickly stamp it and throw it back in the mailbox.

Cleaning Hack — school work and artwork was another major source of clutter. I felt too guilty throwing it out. You can buy a digital picture frame and take pictures of the artwork. You then send them to the frame by emailing them, and voila! The kids hard work is displayed on the frame and is rotated automatically. (Then you can throw out the actual paper). I think of all my hacks, I am the most proud of this one.

Routine 3: The Nightly Routine — a.k.a. pick up all the clutter and vacuum. Before my kids go to bed, we put away all the toys together. Then we play the vacuum game. My four year old daughter has a toy vacuum, I have my vacuum, and the baby crawls around and chases us. We run around and giggle and chase the baby while making sure the downstairs gets vacuumed. The one rule — you can’t hit someone else with your vacuum. This generally takes 10–15 minutes.

Routine 4: The Weekend Routine. This can be done wherever you can fit it in. I gather and sort all the laundry in the house. As each load gets done, I throw the next one in. Because everything has been picked up and maintained over the week, vacuuming and dusting are a breeze. I spray everything down in the bathrooms and let it sit for 10 minutes while I clean mirrors and empty the trash. I then scrub and wipe it all down. I can do three bathrooms in about 20 minutes this way.

Cleaning Hack: Clean the shower while you shower: I keep a dish wand filled with dawn dish soap and vinegar. While I shower I quickly scrub the tub at the end. I will also run it in my kids bath after they get washed. I do this 1–2 times a week (so, not every time I shower).

Cleaning Hack — enlist your kids to help! I give both of my kids baby wipes while I’m dusting. They wipe down baseboards, toy boxes, bannisters — and they think it’s a really fun game! With baby wipes, I don’t have to worry about them damaging any surfaces and there’s no harsh chemicals. Win, win! I like to bond and play with my kids, so I try to involve them in duties where I can. My four year old loves matching socks and folding towels when I’m doing laundry.

Cleaning Hack— The clutter bin. Inevitably, clutter that belongs upstairs ends up downstairs. Sometimes the items in there are just harder to put away. It all gets tossed in the clutter bin. It is an attractive solution that I can usually leave out for a week before I have to get to it. (Ours is a large, pretty-looking basket). If company is coming over in a pinch, I can throw all the clutter in there and hide it up in the guest bedroom. I empty it during my weekend routine and you can have kids race to see who can put things away faster.

My final cleaning hack: gameify it! I have exact time frames here because that’s how I clean. I set a timer and say:how fast can I make this bed, or how fast can I empty the dishwasher? The timer helps me keep my focus and motivates me to get it done fast.

See below for a quick summary and a bonus weekend challenge! If you keep up these routines every day for a few months, it becomes a habit. A habitually clean home is a happy and healthy home.

Happy cleaning!