Unless you really enjoy cleaning, aside from having someone else do it you’d probably give anything to clean your home faster. Cleaning a large home can sometimes take all day and life gets busy. If you have young children, you know that the house will never be perfectly clean anyways. So what can you do to make things easier to clean?

With a few small changes to your cleaning routine, you’ll notice a big difference in the time you save when you need to tidy up your home again. Here are the best tips you should be following to help you clean your home faster.

USE A TOTE

One of the biggest issues with cleaning? You have to go all over the house and some cleaning tasks require certain supplies or tools. It’s annoying having to go up and down the stairs repeatedly to get something you forgot about. 

One easy thing you can do to save time is to get a tote or toolbelt for carrying around your cleaning supplies. This can make a huge difference in how much you can get done in a day. A small cleaning tote does not cost much money at all, but it can save a lot of time having to run around to find what you’re looking for.

TRY HANDS-FREE VACUUMING 

While it’s certainly good to have a vacuum you can take out to clean the baseboards or tackle places that are tougher to reach, you can make your life so much easier with a hands-free vacuum cleaner. There are a variety of options for a robot vacuum, with the Roomba being one of the most well-known brands because it was the first to take this technology mainstream. 

You simply set it and forget it and come home to a cleaner home! It can be programmed to run for a certain amount of time and you can move it around a different room in your house once a day to take care of one bigger task while enjoying things you actually want to do.

SWEEP BEFORE MOPPING

Once most of your vacuuming has been done for you, you only need to give each room a quick sweep before mopping, This way all the dust and debris is out of the way and you’ll know you have a super clean floor that can withstand a bit more activity than usual until it needs to be cleaned again.

FOCUS ON ONE TASK FOR THE WHOLE HOUSE

With the exception of the hands-free vacuum that can be turned on throughout the week, make sure you’re doing each cleaning task throughout your whole house.

Get the duster, turn on some music and start wiping down all of your overlooked surfaces. Take your cleaning tote and start scrubbing all the sinks, toilets, showers, and tile. Take a big roll of paper towel and some Windex and channel your inner Karate Kid as you wipe down all of your windows. You’ll get into a good rhythm and everything you need is at your fingertips. 

Sometimes, it can be therapeutic seeing the before and after results once you see how squeaky clean your surfaces get. And once you’ve finished one cleaning task, you’ll know it’s been done right and will be good for a while. 

EXTRA HANDS MAKE FOR QUICK CLEANING

If you have kids, get them involved in some age-appropriate cleaning tasks in exchange for a weekly allowance. They’ll be motivated to help and it will take far less time than doing it yourself. Or you can plan around a free week night where both you and your partner are home and get all the cleaning done so when the weekend comes around, you have nothing to worry about. 

HIRE HELP FOR THE BIGGER CLEANING TASKS

If you simply do not like the thought of cleaning or your lifestyle makes it so you’re not home a lot and want to enjoy the time you are, there’s no shame in hiring a cleaner. You can schedule bigger monthly cleans to take care of the time-consuming tasks so you only have to keep up with the easier day-to-day tidying. 

Hiring a professional cleaner ensures the job is done right and you’ll free up a lot of your spare time to tackle other projects you want to do. Maybe you’ve always wanted to pick up gardening but life just got too busy. With cleaning taken care of, now you can head out into the backyard for even a half hour each day to relax and water your plants.

DECLUTTER BEFORE YOU CLEAN

Another big time-waster people experience when cleaning is having to move around clutter. Clearing off tables, desks, and counters will make a huge difference in how your home looks. It already looks cleaner when everything has a place and is organized. Not only that, it will reduce the overall stress you may have when it comes to cleaning. The next time you start cleaning, take a few minutes to clean up your clutter and put it away. You can also donate or sell any items you haven’t used in many years.

Cleaning your home is an important part in maintaining its appearance and creates a welcome space you want to spend more time in. However, no one wants to spend hours a day cleaning. If you have a system, you can have a clean home without spending too much time doing so. These tips will help you clean more efficiently so you can do more of the things you enjoy!

Related Article: 9 Tips to Make Small Spaces Look Bigger

Originally published Oct 12, 2017; updated Nov 18, 2022

Author: Sereena S.

Mom of two, wife to one, and a dog lover. Although cats can be okay too, but only sometimes...