10 Top Tips for Reducing Housework – How I Reduced The Time Spent On Housework in Half.
Table of Contents
Declutter
This is my number 1 tip. A clear countertop and clean floor are ten times easier to clean when there is nothing you have to remove first. If you have lots of stuff on your countertops and the floor, start by getting a big box and fill it with the clutter. You can store the box away for the time being. It will immediately feel better and cut down your cleaning time. When you have a few minutes, sort the stuff in your “clutter box” and either give it away, store it somewhere else or trash.
This is my bathroom – it takes no longer than 5 or 10 minutes to clean because there is nothing to move out of the way. I keep any stuff I need in the bathroom cabinet and we have a cupboard just outside.
Use a timer
My favorite thing to do at the moment is use a two minute timer. At the start of each day, I go through each room and give myself two minutes in to tidy up and give a quick clean. Obviously, this isn’t going to get the room sparkling but if you do it everyday it adds up. It also means I can give my room a quick clean in tidy in less than 15 minutes.
Using a timer is useful:
- It allows you to let go of perfection. The aim is to do as much as you can in 2 minutes not have a sparkling clean room.
- You decide where to put things really quickly. No procrastinating on where things go.
- It makes cleaning into a game. It’s fun!
- You feel you’ve achieved something in a very short about of time, which gives you the motivation to do it everyday.
- As your time is limited, you focus on the tasks that really need doing. You prioritise well.
You can set your time for as little or as much time as you want. Have fun with it. Maybe one day, you can see how much you can do in one minute. On another day, you may feel inspired to give each room a deep clean for 30 minutes.
The other thing to do is to get the kids involved. What can they achieve in their room in 2 minutes? Can they make the bed, pick up all their toys. Put their clothes away. Young kids will love the fun element of the game. Older kids and teens are easier to motivate if you tell them it’s just for 2 minutes!
Tidy and Clean As You Go
It takes a few seconds to quickly wash up a plate that you’ve just eaten off. Leave it and it becomes much harder to clean. Cleaning up a small mess can take seconds. Leaving lots of small messes to be cleaned up at once means a huge amount of time. Dirt settles and food dries harder onto plates but more than anything it’s easier to motivate yourself to clean up a small mess a big one.
Use Technology – Automate Your Cleaning
There are many gadgets that you can use that will cut down your cleaning time drastically. Here are some:
Robot Vacuum Cleaner
I have just bought a robot vacuum cleaner. Omg, why has it taken me so long to invest in one? It’s the best thing I’ve bought in a long time. As I’m writing this, it’s cleaning my carpets upstairs. When I go out I simply set my vacuum to do the downstairs. I come home and it’s done! It feels like a cleaner has been in. You might think a robot vacuum cleaner is expensive. But it’s not any more expensive than a normal vacuum. Check out my vacuum cleaner in action on the pic below. You can read all about the Eufy Robot cleaner I bought here.
You can also purchase a robot window cleaner (#amazon affiliate link) (I haven’t invested in one of these yet! but if you have the funds it will clean your windows for you!).
Another gadget I’ve bought is a sonic scrubber (#amazon affliate link). If you have tough stains to clean, the sonic scrubber will do the hard scrubbing work for you. It’s essentially an electric scrubbing brush (a bit like an electric toothbrush – but don’t use it on your teeth!!) It will reduce the time to clean items which has dirt that is tough to remove. People use them to clean all kinds of items such as the grout in the bathroom, round sinks, plugholes, the hob and parts of the oven. But it’ll clean anything you want!
You can also get an automatic mop (I prefer my spray mop tho!), a robot lawnmower, and a self cleaning cat litter box.
If you’re in need of a new washing machine you can get a washer dryer in one (no need to move laundry in between two machines!) And if you need a new cover, go for a self cleaning one – we have a self cleaning oven and I love it!
Use Your Dishwasher for more than just the dishes
If you’re lucky enough to have a dishwasher, make sure you’re washing more than just the dishes in it.
You can use your dishwasher to clean all kinds of things and speed up your cleaning. Here are a few ideas:
All the fridge shelves and compartments.
Silver over racks – I have a self cleaning oven but you have to take out the silver oven racks, it won’t clean those. I put mine in the dishwasher. The dishwasher loosens the dirt, making it much easier to wipe the dirt off in the sink afterwards.
Kids bath toys
My kitchen exhaust fan filter
Kitchen sponges and scrubbing brushes
Tools
Toothbrush and soap holders
Enlist help
Get other family members to do their bit (including partners, kids or anybody that lives with you)
I’ve found the key to getting people to help is to make the tasks you ask them to do, short and quick. They are much more likely to help without nagging if it will just take them a couple of minutes. My kids always put their dishes in the dishwasher and wipe around their eating area (take them a minute or two)
Another tip is to make chores a habit. My two boys have to spend 5 minutes everyday putting away their clothes, tidying their room and making their bed. Having less stuff (toys and clothes makes this take super easy for them). Don’t get me wrong, I still have to get them to do this Every. Single. Day! But it’s just a quick ask and they do it. I also have a washing buddy for each laundry wash where they help me hang out the washing and fold it away.
Even really young kids can tidy up their toys and help with tasks. The earlier you start, the better. Making it a game with little ones really helps!
Efficient Cleaning Tools
I’ve already noted some automated cleaning tools like a robot vacuum cleaner but I have acquired many other cleaning tools that have drastically reduced my cleaning time. The best thing about these cleaning tools is that they’re relatively inexpensive.
Here are a few I use:
A Spray Mop
I love my spray mop. I no longer use a mop and bucket. With a spray mop, you fill a small container with water, attach it to the mop and spray as you go. It’s super quick. I mop my kitchen and downstairs floors in about 5 minutes or less. The bathroom floor takes about 30 seconds to a minute. No filling up a huge bucket of water and lugging it around with you. No having to change the water. Read more about my spray mop here.
Squeegee
My squeegee makes cleaning my bathroom a breeze. It takes seconds to clean my shower glass (read more about how I clean my shower). A squeegee is also brilliant for cleaning mirrors, windows or any time of glass. You can also use a squeegee to help when cleaning kitchen cupboards quickly.
Spray Bottle
A spray bottle is great for filling with a cleaning product (you can make your own out of white vinegar and bicarb of soda). It sprays just enough to clean a surface and wipe it clean without getting it drenched.
Oven Liner
An oven liner is great for collecting all the bits from food when you’re cooking. When you’ve finished cooking, put it in the dishwasher for an easy clean.
Clean when Needed – Don’t follow a weekly schedule.
The problem with a cleaning schedule is that often spending your time cleaning stuff that is still very clean.
This is not a good use of time. Instead, follow cleaning things when they need to be cleaned. Having said this, don’t wait until everything is super dirty, keep the cleaning as you go attitude. A quick wipe over a few fingerprints on a window will be a lot quicker than cleaning the window when it’s super grimy.
I find if I spend 2 minutes in each room tidying and cleaning every day (see point 2) it gives me a chance to notice anything that needs a bit of extra attention. I can them come back when I have some free time and give a deeper clean.
Prevention is better than cure
Think about how you can prevent having to clean so you don’t have to clean.
My kids have a habit of wiping their dirty hands on my walls. Making sure they wash their hands after each meal and after play outdoors makes a huge difference in what needs cleaning. Taking your shoes off in the house, having a place for everything, a doormat for people to wipe their feet as they come in and keeping loose fruit and veg in storage containers in the fridge- all these things can help prevent areas getting dirty so less cleaning is needed.
I get a pen and paper and noted down all the ways I could think of that will prevent cleaning. Here are a couple more:
One pot meals – cooking meals in one or two pots such as curries, spag bol, macaroni cheese, chillis and soups. This means a whole lot less washing up
Produce less laundry – some of these may not appeal to everyone, but think of all the ways you can do less laundry. Aprons when you’re cooking, spot cleaning instead of washing an item, only washing clothes when they don’t smell fresh (rather than on a schedule) and have clothes that you wear over again for dirty jobs so you can keep your other clothes cleaner for longer.
Stop Sorting Socks
I used to spend ages sorting every family members socks into pairs – what a waste of life! One day I had enough. So I ditched all the different colors and patterns of socks, went to the shop and bought new socks for everybody. At the moment, my youngest son has grey socks. Luckily, my teenage son, my husband and I can all use the same socks. We all have black socks. Now I no longer have to pair up the socks. The grey ones go to my youngest son. The black ones are shared between my husband, myself and my eldest son. It takes seconds to do.
If you have numerous family members with different feet sizes, pick a sock color for each child. This will make it so much quicker to sort out the socks. You can read more about my sock sorting adventures here.