These quick cleaning hacks and tips for busy moms will help you have a clean home without spending hours cleaning it. Whether you’re a stay at home mom, working mom, or work from home mom you’ll find the cleaning hacks useful.
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What’s something that takes hours to do and all of your hard work is undone in less than a day?
Cleaning!
That’s why so many moms despise this never-ending chore (including me!).
But I’ve uncovered a few time-saving cleaning tips that’ll help you make cleaning easier and dare I even say…fun.
Try out a few (or all) of these quick cleaning tips for busy moms that’ll help you spend less time scrubbing baseboards and more time laughing with your family.
1. Have a cleaning schedule
The easiest way that I’m able to keep my house semi-clean without constant cleaning is by having a cleaning schedule.
I do certain tasks on certain days so I’m not trying to cram all of my cleaning into an entire weekend.
This helps me minimize overwhelm and lower my anxiety because I know that if my baseboards are dirty I’ll clean them on Thursday so it’s no big deal.
Start with this simple daily cleaning schedule and when you’re ready to have a more in-depth cleaning routine you can grab the Clean Home Action Pack.
2. Create a to-do list
I know some (or most) people hate to-do lists, but they’re empowering for me.
The problem is that people cram so many items on their list and feel like a failure when they don’t accomplish 16 tasks that day.
With the way I set up my to-do list it’s okay if I don’t finish all of the tasks because I know which tasks are the most important.
So even if I only finish 3 tasks for an entire day I finished my 3 most important tasks so I still feel like I accomplished what needed to be done.
Use this to-do list and brain dump guide to help you prioritize your cleaning tasks so you get the most important tasks done first.
Related: The best weekend to-do list for a productive week
3. Declutter
It makes sense that if you have less stuff you’ll have less to clean.
I’m in the process of decluttering my closet and I already feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
When you’re surrounded by stuff it feels overwhelming like the walls are closing in on you.
Try getting rid of things that you rarely use or wear so you’ll have less clutter and less cleaning.
4. Tidy throughout the day
When I assessed my time (you can read about that HERE) I realized that I was spending way too much time cleaning the same things over and over again.
So now I only clean during nap time and before bed. But throughout the day when I see small things to tidy, like my husband leaving his cup on the fireplace mantel, I’ll go ahead and take it to the kitchen.
This task only takes a few seconds and usually I’m headed to the kitchen anyway so it’s not a waste of time.
Tidy throughout the day so when it’s time for you to clean it’ll be a little less work.
5. Have the kids help
My daughter has been helping me do the laundry, unload the dishwasher, and put away the groceries since she was about 12 months.
Yes, it takes longer to get it done, but it’s more enjoyable than her wanting to help I tell her no and now she’s crying in the middle of the kitchen.
Plus these are life skills she needs to learn anyways so the sooner we can practice and make them fun for her the better.
A few ways she helps with laundry is by putting her clothes in the bins or I’ll hand her the clothes from the washer and she puts them in the dryer.
We also have bins in the playroom so she can easily help clean up her toys.
I love these storage bins and cube organizer because I save so much time by not folding clothes and putting them in drawers and they make the room feel clean and organized.
Related: The Best Ways To Have A Clean House With Kids
6. Make it fun
Cleaning without music is like going to Target for a shoe rack and coming out with $100 worth of stuff…and you forgot the shoe rack.
It’s insane!
And that’s definitely a true story. 😂
Sing and dance while you’re cleaning or throw on a podcast to make it more exciting.
I’ve also got 17 ways to get motivated to clean if you’re really not in the mood.
7. Inventory your cleaning supplies
Now that you’re motivated to clean you have to make sure you have all the cleaning supplies you need.
Inside of the Clean Home Action Pack you’ll find a cleaning supplies inventory so you can keep track of what cleaning supplies you have on hand and when they expire.
This way you won’t get in your cleaning groove and realize you’ve run out of multipurpose cleaning spray.
8. Have a laundry routine
Laundry is one of those tasks that some moms genuinely hate. And from what I’ve gathered they mostly hate putting the laundry away.
I tend to do all of the laundry on Sunday for my small family of 3. I wash the clothes, dry them, and put them away throughout the day.
One of my favorite laundry hacks is not folding clothes. I hang everything up that can go on a hanger and anything else gets thrown in a bin.
If you despise doing laundry, try a few of these time-saving laundry hacks.
9. Keep things organized
How many times have you wasted time walking around the house trying to find your child’s other shoe or where to put this important piece of mail?
Having a designated spot for things saves that unnecessary time you spend wandering around.
Of course, kids misplace things, but eventually, they’ll also learn that it makes life easier to have a designated spot for their shoes so they don’t have to run around the house looking for them and miss out on valuable playtime.
Even when my husband takes off our daughter’s shoes and throws them somewhere random I watch him walk around and look for them so he’ll see how much time it wastes when you don’t put things where they go.
I try to have a designated space for everything so nobody gets frustrated when they can’t find something.
10. Create cleaning shortcuts
One reason you may hate cleaning is because it takes fuh-eva!
Create a shortcut so you’re not doing as much work but still getting a result you’re happy with. Here are a few shortcut ideas…
Stop folding
When I do laundry I don’t fold anything. We don’t even have a dresser!
I hang anything that I can hang up and for things like undergarments or winter hats I use this cube organizer and storage bins.
It saves me so much time when I’m doing the laundry.
Use mesh bags
When doing laundry you may find yourself searching for matching socks but using this mesh bag will keep socks and other undergarments together.
Robot vacuum
An epic hack to save you so much time is to use a robot vacuum. Even if you have hard surface flooring you can still use a robot vacuum.
No more sweeping or fumbling with a vacuum cord.
11. Use a timer
When you really don’t want to clean but the house is a disaster, set a timer for 20 minutes and do a quick speed clean.
The beauty of speed cleaning is that the more you do it the faster you’ll get.
Have a list of what you want to clean during that 20 minutes and go down the list as fast as you can.
Whatever doesn’t get cleaned can get done later.
Quick recap…
You don’t have to have a love-hate relationship with cleaning.
Find ways to simplify your cleaning routine and make it more enjoyable.
Head over to the smart productive mom Facebook group and let me know your favorite time-saving cleaning hack!
