A Simple and Easy Cleaning Routine That Won’t Overwhelm You

Inside: How to keep your home clean enough with a simple and easy cleaning schedule that works when life gets busy.

Feeling overwhelmed with keeping your home clean? I get it. Life’s hectic, and sometimes, cleaning falls by the wayside. But guess what? The answer is not fancy spreadsheets or color-coded schedules to keep your space tidy. That just leads to more overwhelm and less, you know… cleaning.

All you actually need is a simple, easy-to-follow routine that won’t overcomplicate things. My cleaning and organizing tips are always simple. So stop procrastinating and overthinking. Just follow this super basic schedule, and stick to it.

The Daily Ten Minutes

Let’s talk about your daily five-minute routines. There are two of them, and they are the backbone of your new, laid-back cleaning schedule. Every day, before you settle in for the evening, spend just five minutes each in the kitchen and bathroom. That’s it! (This does not include cleaning up after meals.)

Just a quick, focused effort to keep things in check.

Kitchen

First up, the kitchen. You’ve done the dinner dishes and wiped the counters. Now, set a timer for five minutes. Sweep, get a damp paper towel, and wipe down anything that needs it; tidy up one fridge shelf and wipe it down super quick. Tomorrow, maybe you’ll have time to pull out the coffee maker and clean around and under it. We’ll see!

There are many days in your life, and doing a tiny task in each will add up over time.

Bathroom

Next, head to the bathroom. It’s everyone’s least favorite room to clean, but with this daily habit, it won’t feel like such a chore. Spend your five minutes wiping down the sink, giving the toilet a quick brush with a DIY toilet bowl cleaner, and tidying up the counters.

Tomorrow, give the mirror a quick polish or straighten up the towels. The key is to keep it simple and focus on the areas that make the biggest impact.

By tackling these two rooms daily, you’ll be amazed at how much more manageable your home feels. Plus, you’ll be able to relax in the evenings knowing that you’ve accomplished something productive, even if it was just for a few minutes.

The Weekly Essentials

Now that you’ve got your daily routine down pat, let’s talk about the weekly essentials.

Once a week, set aside some time to dust and vacuum every room in your house.

Another time a week, tidy up your personal space.

If you’re still thinking about a day, Friday is your day to dust and vacuum. Sunday is your day to clean your personal spaces. Wasn’t that easy?

Dust Everywhere

Hit up all the surfaces in your home, from the bookshelves to the TV stand. Don’t forget about the often-neglected spots like the tops of picture frames and the baseboards. After a good dusting, it’s amazing how much brighter and cleaner your space feels.

Vacuum All Floors

After you’ve dusted, it’s time to vacuum. Give all your floors a good once-over, including carpets, rugs, and hardwood. Pay extra attention to high-traffic areas and those sneaky corners where dirt likes to hide. If you’re feeling extra motivated, move some furniture around to get those hard-to-reach spots.

The Sunday Reset

One final routine. Before your next week starts, reset all your personal spaces a bit from last week. Every week, do the following:

• Clean out your purse
• Throw out trash from your car and entryway
• Change your sheets
• Tidy up the space you get ready in (bathroom counter, etc.)

The Sunday reset will help you start each week with a fresh and pretty home.

It’s Okay to Keep it Simple

Is this an all-encompassing routine that would make your mother-in-law proud? Absolutely not. Is it good enough for super busy seasons? It sure is.

There is no magical way to make your house sparkling clean without time and effort. It takes a lot of time every day. But for now, this will do. Really.

It’s okay to keep it simple. You don’t need to spend hours every day scrubbing every nook and cranny. You don’t need to buy fancy cleaning gadgets or expensive products. All you need is a basic routine that keeps your home clean enough.

If you’re someone who loves a super tidy home, by all means, add more tasks to your schedule. But if you’re just looking to keep things under control, stick with the basics. The most important thing is to feel good in your space. Don’t stress about maintaining an unrealistic standard of cleanliness.

So embrace the simplicity, and don’t be afraid to adjust your routine as needed. Your home is your haven, and as long as it feels clean and comfortable to you, that’s all that matters.

Start Today, Not Tomorrow

You know that little voice in your head that says, “I’ll start cleaning tomorrow”? Yeah, it’s time to tell that voice to pipe down. The best time to start your new cleaning routine is today. Not tomorrow, not next week, not when the stars align and your favorite shirt is clean. Today.

Here’s the thing: the longer you put it off, the harder it becomes.

Once you get started, it becomes a habit. You’ll start to crave that feeling of accomplishment that comes with a clean space. You’ll look forward to your daily and weekly tasks because you know how good it feels to have a tidy home. And you’ll wonder why you ever put it off in the first place.

FAQs

Final Thoughts

Remember, the key is to start small and be consistent. Don’t try to tackle everything at once – just focus on the daily and weekly essentials, and let the rest fall into place.