THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS. PLEASE READ MY DISCLOSURE FOR MORE INFO.
There’s no need to spend half your life scrubbing and cleaning your home. With the expert tips, tricks, hacks, and time-saving strategies in this article, you can get it all done with maximum speed and efficiency.
Most of the tasks in this article take less than 10 minutes to do (excluding soaking, standing, and drying times).
Cleaning little and often is the smartest and pain-free way to keep the dust and dirt under control.
There’s no greater time-killer than sorting before you can even reach the vacuum cleaner, so keep your home in order and you’re halfway to keeping it clean.
And you don’t need an arsenal of cleaning equipment and chemical cleaners.
Your pantry contains items that clean perfectly fine as branded products and they offer an appealingly green alternative.
If you’re juggling a full, busy life with running a home, this article will be a life-saver.
You’ll get the house shiny super fast, so you can get on with the rest of your life!
So without any further ado let’s jump right into the meat of the content and learn how to speed-clean your way to a spotless home in just minutes a day.
Basic Home Cleaning Kit
It’s just impossible to create one all be all cleaning kit that suits every scenario, but here are the basics.
Invest in a plastic tote to carry your kit around every corner of the house with you as you work.
You’re more likely to keep the dirt at bay if you can grab the product you need quickly.
The key to keeping your house clean effortlessly is to tackle jobs promptly and do little and often.
- Bleach – Use to disinfect and avoid mold and mildew.
- Disinfectant spray – Use for bathrooms or kitchen countertops.
- Plastic tote – Very useful for carrying your cleaning kit around every corner of the house with you as you work.
- Dust cloths – Use these to buff up a surface after polishing. The greener alternative would be a piece of old T-shirt.
- Microfiber cloths – Use these dry or lightly damp for almost any job where you need a cloth.
- Scourers – Use for scrubbing pans. Buy plastic ones for nonstick pans.
- Rubber gloves – Wear for most cleaning jobs to protect your pretty hands.
Storage-closet Cleaning Kit
You’ll probably need a storage closet for bigger cleaning items.
Here are the essentials to help you get your home guest-ready.
Keep the things you use very often, such as the dustpan, brush, and vacuum cleaner near the front of the closet for faster access.
- Vacuum cleaner – It’s the most useful appliance in your cleaning toolkit. Period. I personally use and love the vacuum cleaner from the brand Shark.
- Broom – Use it when you need to sweep the dirt quickly instead of getting out the vacuum cleaner.
- Long handled dusting brush – Use to dust from hard to reach places.
- Mop bucket – A bucket with a mop wringer or spinner fastly and efficiently wrings out the traditional type of mops.
- Dustpan and brush – Use it for small spills and messes around every corner of the house.
Now that you’re armed with your cleaning kit let’s get to some emergency clean-up.
If your home is in chaos and you have a very limited time before visitors arrive, don’t worry.
It’s amazing how much you can get done in just 10 minutes if you follow my 8 life-saving checklist for cleaning your house in 10 minutes or less.
#1. Be selective
Don’t clean the whole house. Just think about the main areas of your home which you want to look clean.
They’re most likely to be the kitchen and living room, and you’ll probably want to include a bathroom too.
#2. Dispose of garbage
To eliminate bad smells, make sure you dispose of full bags of trash. Then open the windows to let the fresh air in or light a few fragranced candles.
#3. Clear the tables
When tables are cleared and clean, everything looks much better. If there’s any paper laying around, adding to the clutter, pile it into a box file or folder.
#4. Clear the kitchen sink
This may involve washing few dishes, putting away any dry dishes, and/or loading the dishwasher machine.
#5. Pick up the living room
Clean the coffee table and keep books and magazines away. Then pile everything else that’s cluttering the living room into a box and tuck it in a corner to sort out later.
#6. Straighten the rugs
You won’t have time to dust rugs out, but just straightening them and picking up crumbs makes all the difference.
#7. Whizz around the bathroom
Don’t get caught up in extensive cleaning. Just wipe down the sink and behind the faucets, check that the toilet’s clean, and put away any cosmetics that are just hanging around.
#8. Hide the rest
Hide rooms you haven’t gone to by shutting the doors, then adjust the lighting throughout the house so dirty corners can’t be seen.
Follow these and save yourself from scrubbing and cleaning throughout the day, every day.
Now, let’s go to the most important parts of the house, kitchen, and bathrooms as these 2 are notoriously popular for their messes and takes the longest to be cleaned than any other part of the house.
Kitchen Speed Clean
Cleaning your kitchen from top to bottom is a job that could take you all day.
Follow this speedy schedule and you’ll get all the important jobs done in just minutes.
Takes no more than 15 minutes. Literally.
Deal with dirty dishes
Scrape unwanted food into the compost container or garbage can, then wash the dishes or load the dishwasher. If you’re washing dirty dishes by hand, leave the dishes to dry while you do the other jobs.
Tackle dirty pans
Put away any clean saucepans and frying pans. Fill heavily greased pans with warm water (use cold for remains of proteins, such as egg) and a handful of dishwashing liquid, and leave them to soak.
Wipe the stove
Wipe with a damp sponge and use a squirt of all-purpose cleaning spray to remove any stubborn stains. I personally use and love www.OzKleen.com for my cleaning products.
Store food away
Store the leftover food in suitable containers inside the fridge.
Wipe counters and tables
Just wipe down the surfaces with a damp cloth and all-purpose cleaner, to gather up crumbs and wipe down any marks.
Dispose of garbage
To reduce unpleasant smells, get rid of the garbage and line the garbage can with a new trash bag. Put any wine bottles, newspapers, and other recyclable items in the recycling.
Sweep the floor
Whizz around every corner of the kitchen floor with a broom to gather up a pile of dirt, then collect it with the dustpan and brush and toss it away.
Bathroom Speed Clean
You can get your bathroom cleaned in just 10 minutes if you gather the appropriate cleaning materials in a bucket before you even start the work.
Ventilate the room
Either open a window or turn the extractor fan on while you follow the rest of the steps. Good ventilation prevents dampness and mildew.
Wipe the sink
Wipe behind the faucets and around the sink to get rid of any soap scum. Empty and wipe down the soap dish if it’s full of soapy water.
Wipe the bathtub
Wipe down the bathtub to get rid of soap scum, hair, and other dirt.
Dry the shower curtain or screen
If the shower curtain is wet, open it completely, shake it out, wipe it dry, and leave it open. If you have a shower screen, wipe it dry too.
Clean the toilet
Wipe down the seat, then spray some disinfectant toilet-bowl cleaner into the bowl, especially around the rim.
Clean the mirrors
Clean any smudges from the mirrors with a barely damp microfiber cloth. If they’re stubborn marks, get rid of them with a tiny drop of dishwashing liquid.
Change towels and washcloths
Once a week, replace dirty towels and washcloths with clean ones. If you’ve got a full machine load, wash them right away, if not and they’re not dry, leave them to dry before putting them in the laundry hamper
Clean the floor
Sweep the floor to remove dust and fluff. At least once a week, mop with a floor-cleaning product, focusing on the area around the toilet.
Empty the garbage can
Empty the trash can, separating any items that can be recycled, and put the rest with the household trash.
There you have it.
The key is to set priorities, have the cleaning kit always ready to use, and adopting a clean habit in order to keep your house from getting dirty and clean in just minutes a day.
To learn more about adopting a clean habit read my in-depth article here. Home Cleaning Made Simple.
Or if you’re interested in learning more you can join the Cleaner’s Clubhouse Challenge here.
