Cleaning quickly is an art form and one that takes some time to perfect. Unfortunately, the thing you don’t have is, well, time. Whether you are looking to tidy up for last-minute guests, or are heading out the door and want to clean so you can come home to a nice clean living space, you need some quick cleaning tips.
Here are some of our favorite cleaning hacks to tidy up your home in just 20 minutes or less!
Make a List
The first step to effective, quick cleaning is to make a list. When you have limited time to clean, your mind is already going to be a bit scatterbrained, so organizing your cleaning list and making a plan will help you maximize your time and optimize all the cleaning hacks!
Prioritize the main things you want to clean around your house in the 20 minutes you’re given. Big stuff like the toilet, kitchen and living room are likely going to be some of the more visible and more important areas to focus on. Be sure to create a strategy and stick to your list! Jumping from room to room can create an “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” situation, where you start a lot of little tasks without completing any of your main tasks. Remember, you can always add to your list if need be, so if you notice something, write it down while sticking with your original plan.
Hit the Big Stuff
Cleaning with less than 20 available minutes means you’re going to have to focus on the bigger stuff around your house. You’ll likely not have time to tackle deep-cleaning chores, like scrubbing the floorboards, cleaning out your fridge or power washing your deck. Instead, focus on what is really important (see tip 1).
What is going to be the most noticeable, or what areas are the messiest? Go through your home and target high-traffic areas or places where people gather the most. A second bedroom isn’t going to be as important as cleaning up the main living room area. Prioritizing is one of the best quick cleaning tips you can keep in mind, whether you have 20 minutes or all day to clean.
Declutter Dumping Grounds
The majority of cleaning consists of putting stuff away. When you’re working under the clock, clear out your common cluttered spaces. This will do wonders for cleaning up quickly and will give you a bit of a momentum boost to tackle some of the other stuff you want to get done, too.
We get it. When you get home after a long day, you’re not always going to put your bag away. Or your mail will start to pile up on the counter, or you put something down on the table “just for now” only to forget about it and never return to it. That happens to all of us. So, if you need some cleaning hacks, try opening up your space by decluttering.
If you’re really in a time crunch, put that piled-up clutter in a second bedroom or closet for now to give the illusion that you cleaned (we won’t tell anyone!). Focus on countertops, tables, couches, and other highly visible spaces in your home that people’s eyes will be immediately drawn to. If most of your surfaces are cleaned off, you’ll be able to get away with neglecting to clean some of the other spaces in your home.
Use a Long Handle Scrub Brush On High-Traffic Areas
With the right tools, cleaning becomes much easier and much faster. For example, microfiber towels or the right all-purpose cleaner can make wiping down surfaces fast and easy since you don’t have to scrub as hard. A long handle scrub brush can also make all the difference when it comes to quick cleaning tips around your house.
After you’ve gone through and cleared off the surfaces of your home and given your toilet a quick flush, pass through high-traffic areas with a long handle scrub brush. Wet or dry, you can pick up a lot of dirt and make your floors shine for guests. It is an easy way to clean quickly before people come in, and they may not say anything, but it is much more noticeable if you don’t wipe down your floors.
Plus, after guests leave, you can use a long handle scrub brush to clean up again, just as quickly and easily!
Quick! Check Out The Simple Scrub
Looking for quick cleaning tips? Clean with The Simple Scrub. Whether you have 20 minutes or all day to clean, The Simple Scrub makes household cleaning fast and easy. Our ergonomic long handle scrub brush comes with a variety of scrub pads that make wiping down floors, walls and even ceilings easy for everyone.
Ordering The Simple Scrub products takes way less than 20 minutes, and you’ll save even more time when you’re cleaning the Simple way.