Tips to clean your home in half the time

Before you even start cleaning, go from room to room in your home with a basket, tote, or bag and use it to stash any clutter that doesn’t belong in the room. As you move around from room to room, put the things that are accumulating in your receptacle of choice away in their proper place and toss anything that is garbage.

If you clean room by room, then you are going to need to have different cleaning supplies on hand and start over in each room. But if you clean one thing at a time like let’s say mirrors, then you can zip from room to room with the same cleaning supplies and have all the mirrors done. Same with dusting and vacuuming.

Why switch to a broom for non-carpeted floors when you can use a vacuum with no dust pan necessary? Vacuums do a great job of picking up dust, crumbs, and pet hair. Use attachments to get into hard-to-reach corners.

An old-fashioned mop is messy and makes cleaning floors take longer than it needs to. Plus, then there’s the whole issue of having to clean the mop after you’re done cleaning the floor. Instead, invest in a good steam mop that can work on hardwood floors as well and get your floors clean much faster and with less effort.

Choose cleaning products that will work on a variety of different surfaces, such as wood, glass, stainless steel, and painted surfaces. That way, you'll spend less time switching between products and can get the cleaning done faster.

Regardless of whether you like to clean one thing at a time or one room at a time, keeping all of your cleaning supplies in a caddy that you can take with you from room to room is a time saver. No more back and forth to get supplies.

You’ve probably heard that your kitchen sink has more bacteria than your toilet seat and if you hadn’t heard, then I’m sorry to be the bearer of such gross news. To sanitize your sink quickly after you’ve already scrubbed it down, fill it with warm water and add about a tablespoon of bleach to it and let it sit for at least five minutes. You can also dip a sponge or microfiber cloth into the water and use it to wipe down the faucet and handles.

When I was a little girl, my mom taught me that the last thing I should clean are the floors because if I started cleaning the floors before everything else, they would be dirty from all the dust and junk that comes off of everything else. So start by dusting and wiping surfaces from the highest on down, then when you are done, do the floors.

You know how when you use a paper towels and glass cleaner to clean your windows it takes forever to get rid of streaks? Skip the paper towels and buy a good squeegee. Spray your windows, then use the squeegee to remove the cleaner, working from top to bottom. Use a cloth to dry the squeegee after every swipe.

I know you know this already, but if you live with family, they can certainly help you clean. Assign different cleaning tasks to family members and put them to work. You can all do the cleaning at the same time or give individuals a deadline for when their cleaning task needs to be done.

Instead of using your time and elbow grease to clean your microwave, pour about a cup of vinegar into a bowl, place it uncovered in the microwave, and turn your microwave on for 5 to 10 minutes. Be careful when it’s done because the vinegar is going to be hot and the microwave will be steamy. You can then dip a kitchen sponge into the hot vinegar—again, be careful, it’s hot—and wipe the grime away.

OK, so I know this one is not everyone’s favorite, but outdoor shoes are dirty and that dirt gets tracked into your home, which means you have more cleaning to do. Let’s not even get into the germs, bacteria, and viruses that your outdoor shoes can spread around your home. If you don’t like going barefoot or are worried about needing support on your feet, then you can wear indoor chanclas or slippers that are only for your home and not to be worn outside like ever.

I do this all the time. I set a timer for 15 minutes and focus on cleaning one room. I do not allow myself to get distracted from the task and I try to move as quickly as possible doing the whole cleaning from top to bottom method. It’s amazing how much cleaning you can get done in 15 minutes when you are focused and do not allow for distractions.

Many mamás, myself included, ask our kids and family members to help us clean only to complain about what a terrible job they’ve done. Then we either making them clean it again or we clean it again ourselves. Not only does that make helping us unpleasant for everyone, it’s pretty rude. How about we embrace the help, say thank you, and the next time we ask for cleaning help we can suggest a few improvements they can make. Things don’t have to be perfect, they can be “clean enough.”

OK, so this one is kind of a no-brainer. Of course, paying someone else to clean for you, budget allowing, will save you time. The thing is that there are some of us who just feel weird about paying someone else to clean our homes because shouldn’t we be able to do it ourselves? Here’s the thing: We need to get over it. If hiring someone to clean for you is an option, do it! You deserve the help, the time, and a clean home.