Pop quiz: Your favorite aunt just called and will be in town the next day. And she wants to stop in for a visit. What do you do?
- Look around at the mess and pretend like the baby is sick
- Run around throwing everything in the closet, spare room, or bathtub
- Get excited to see family, do a quick clean up, and then make that fancy new tea you got at Christmas
If you answered either of the first, then you’re in the right place. Because that was me for so many years. And if we’re being honest, it still is a problem if I’m not diligent.
Keep it simple!
Don’t worry I’m not going to hand over an impossibly long checklist and tell you to go clean everything from top to bottom.
Instead, I’m sharing my super simple hacks that keep our home presentable and comfortable. But it’s still lived in. And these days with everyone home so much more than normal, it’s really lived in. But that’s okay because that’s what our homes are for, living and spending time with family.
So, my system helps you keep things clean. But it also gives you time to enjoy your life. So, let’s jump in.
How to clean your house in 2 hours
There are several different camps when it comes to what deep cleaning means and what fast means. When I first started researching how to deep clean my home super fast I was surprised at how many different types of advice there was out there. I figured there was one magical way to clean – and obviously, I had yet to learn it!
Turns out, there isn’t one magical way, and I wasn’t the only one searching for this information online. It also turns out there are some naturally neat and clean freaks who have several articles all over the internet about how they “only” spend an hour or two every day cleaning their home. And that is the reason their homes are always clean.
Well for the rest of us who would rather get a root canal than spend an hour every single day cleaning, there is another way. I like to do a quick surface pickup each most evenings before bed. But a deep clean isn’t something I want to do daily or even weekly. Judge me all you want, but I just don’t want to.
So, every now and then when it all just becomes too much to bear, I clear a few hours for one afternoon, roll up my sleeves, put on some dance music, and do a super quick deep clean.
In my online search for how to clean my home, I came across two main ways that it seems most people like to clean.
- By zone
- By task
Personally, I have found that cleaning by task is insanely faster because you aren’t switching the tool or product that you’re using to clean. But if this isn’t “good enough” for you, then it seems that the zone cleaning is more of a deep clean.
Here is my caveat for you to think about. At the end of your life, will you really wish you had spent more time cleaning? Will you really be concerned that the area behind your couch wasn’t completely dust-free at all times? So, take some time to think about what “good enough” really means and what other things you’d rather be doing instead. My favorite cleaning guru, FlyLady, always says that something is better than nothing and that imperfectly done is still done. So, remember that next time you hear your mother’s or grandmother’s voice in your head telling you that it’s not good enough. It is good enough, momma. Get it done and move on!
5 easy steps!
So, this is my crazy simple and crazy fast method of deep cleaning my me:
- Grab all the sheets and pillowcases off the beds and throw them in the laundry.
- Grab a long-handled duster and start at the back of your home. Work from top to bottom and left to right as your work through your whole home dusting.
- Grab your favorite Norwex cloth that cleans without any chemicals and again work through your entire home wiping down surfaces. Again from the back of the house to the front, top to bottom in each room, and left to right.
- Finally, grab your vacuum and vacuum all the carpets, and/or mop.
- Switch out the bedding to the dryer and throw in all the towels in the wash.
How often should you clean your home?
I don’t know about you, but once I’m done with my two-hour marathon cleaning session, I don’t want to do it again any time soon. That’s why I like to do a quick pick-up each evening, no more than five minutes.
Each night we have a three-part routine. Keep it simple or it won’t get done. Here are the three things we do. Take the time to create a short routine that works for your family. You’ll soon see how much it affects your mornings when you do a super quick clean-up each night.
First, each of the boys is responsible for making sure any toys on the floor go back to their room.
Second, I gather any stray dishes or cups leftover from the day. This helps prevent finding random gross cups around the house.
Last, I toss any trash I find. There are many days when I will go ahead and just run the dishwasher and take out the trash even if it’s not “full.” This helps prevent build-up and feeling behind the next day. I know it can seem wasteful but when you’re a busy mom you don’t have time to wait until it’s full.
Because the moment it fills will be that crazy moment when you don’t have time. And then, either two things happen:
- you do it and get frustrated
- you let it pile up which can get pretty gross pretty quick
This super quick, 5-minute clean-up keeps me from having to do a big clean on the weekend. And that makes me happy on Saturday morning. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, Saturday mornings were all about cleaning. And my inner kid still rebels against that all these years later!
That’s why I’ve worked out a few systems that help me never have to do a big spring clean ever again. These simple tricks have helped me to spend less time cleaning and more time hanging out with the kids.
Fast cleaning hacks
Keeping things semi-clean is only half the battle. The rest of the battle always seems to be the little things that creep up. Here are my five favorite fast cleaning hacks:
- My Keurig tells me when to descale it. So I just do it when I’m told. I don’t wait for my deep clean day to do this task.
- Use the power of lemons – lemons make cleaning so much easier. Grab a lemon and slice it up. Put it in a bowl with some water and run it through the microwave for a few minutes. Seriously, just try it. You will barely have to scrub to get all those splatter marks off the microwave and it will look and smell so much better. Then throw the bowl with the lemons and water into the garbage disposal. Again, it will make the smell so much better.
- Simplify your supplies – over the years I have had several friends host Norwex parties. And when I can, I always try to make it. I just love their products and love that I don’t need to use awful chemicals anymore. So, I have a dozen or so of their cleaning cloths and just use those to clean off my counters, doorknobs, light switches, table – basically anything that always seems to need cleaning.
The bathroom is a monster
- If you have tough rings in the bathtub or it’s starting to drain slowly – use baking soda and vinegar. I love finding solutions with non-toxic items. This is one of my all-time favorites. Mix a cup of vinegar with half a cup of baking soda and pour it into your bathtub. Be careful, it will fizz but it’s safe. I like to wear gloves but you don’t have to. Close the drain of your tub and pour the mixture into the tub. Run hot water up to the line where the ring is and let it soak. Then pull the drain and give your tub a good scrub while the water is draining. This mixture does wonders on a slow-moving drain.
- The bathroom is the hardest to get deep cleaned and sometimes it gets its own afternoon cleaning session – but I live with three boys. So if you have a cleaner family than mine, you can do it with everything else. Basically, I get everything out of the bathroom – clear off the counters, the side of the tub, the back of the toilet, everything goes out. This is a great way to keep these areas from getting too cluttered up anyway. Once it’s down to just the surfaces, I started spraying it all down with my favorite antibacterial spray. First, I spray the toilet cleaner in the toilet and then spray the antibacterial all over everything else. Then I grab a cleaning cloth and start wiping it all down. I work from least gross to grossest so that I’m not moving germs around. So, I actually start with the doorknobs and light switches first, then the sink and countertops. Then the tub and finally the outside of the toilet. Last, I finish with cleaning the toilet bowl with your favorite toilet brush. I have heard of people keeping their toilet cleaner in a bleach bucket so they can swish it clean every day. But again, I live with boys and don’t trust them in the slightest, so I don’t keep anything like that around and I certainly don’t clean my toilet every day.
Done is better than perfect
So, there you have it. Here is my super simple system to clean your home crazy fast. But also giving you time to live in your home and enjoy it without worrying about a never-ending to-do list.
So, clear an afternoon and put on some upbeat music. Then get to work cleaning your home as fast as you can. Done is better than perfect. And you want to be able to enjoy your home, so don’t spend all your time cleaning. Get it done and let’s go do something fun.
