How to Speed Clean Your Home : 30 minute Cleaning Routine

Share with a friend!

Have you ever been in a situation when you have to speed clean your home in a hurry? Umm… I do this quite often because I hate to clean. It takes me around 30 -45 minutes start to finish. Sometimes, by  the time I am done cleaning, even dinner is ready!

I don’t hate cleaning really, but I hate it when I have to do it Every. Single. Day! The same repeated set of things.

Make the bed… The dishes are always there. Where does all that clutter come on tables? The cushions on the sofa always slipping off… how many times should I fix them?!

It is boring. Cleaning is boring. Someone else makes a mess and I have to clean it!

I tried to make it fun by listening to audio books or podcast while I cleaned… but soon I found myself bored off it too. Also, when I was leisurely listening to books and cleaning, I dragged the work all day long. 

So one day, I made a list of all the things that I had to do.

I have older children now (my youngest is 7 as I write this) but at that time, my children were just babies and toddlers. I had a system for doing my kitchen work fast but cleaning the house with little children is challenging.

I’d put the littlest one in her activity gym and the older one would follow me around. When my school going kid was home, I’d involve him. He gladly pitched in because I used the word ‘help’. (If you have a preschooler, I hope you try this trick. Kids 3-5 years old love to be called ‘helpers’.)

This cleaning routine is now part of my Stay at Home mom routine. When I am working from home, it helps me save time and now, even with my children homeschooling, I find this to be the best way to involve them and yet, stay productive.

My 10 step Method to Speed Clean the Home Everyday

I am huge fan of gamification of things to make them fun. So cleaning my home is a 10 step method. It helps motivate me in getting things done and my children enjoy helping me because they see me cleaning in such a fun manner.

I am sharing my step by step, room by room cleaning method, in a checklist form at the end of this post. Be sure to grab it!

But before you start, I want you to remember a few things.

• This is MY way of speed cleaning. I am sharing it just as an example.
• It takes me 30-45 minutes to clean, but it could take you longer or lesser, depending on how big or small your home is.
• Please don’t judge my cleaning. This post is not for judgement.
• How dirty my or YOUR home is, will depend more on how many children you have, and how old they are and also, how small your home is. It has nothing to do with how long it has been since you last cleaned. (Yes, knowing that has taken so much stress off my mind! Why did I have to figure that out on my own??!)
• Also, this is not a method to deep clean your home. It is just one way to make sure your home is “guest ready” rather than CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over)!

Advice for moms about keeping a neat and tidy clean home

Something that I have learnt the very hard way is to remember that “good enough” is better than “perfectly clean”. Nobody has perfect homes. Nobody expects us to have a perfect home either.

Whether you have a perfect home or a good enough home, your mother will still judge you. If people other than your mom judge you, they have no right to do so. Please, do yourself a favor, ignore them!

Also, I don’t mop my home everyday. When I had babies, I’d do it twice a week – on Monday and Friday. I also have a cleaning calendar for doing more regular cleaning. I clean my oven, bathrooms and floors on specific days.

Golden Rule: Never Head EAST! 

This cleaning list below is my everyday cleaning routine. 

How to clean the house in 30 minutes or less.

Before you begin, I want to remind you that if you really want to clean your house faster, you have to move quickly while you work.

Just keep moving. Don’t stop. If you like, you can keep a timer on your watch, phone or even use the kitchen timer. I like the kitchen timer better because it makes that ticking sound that makes me want to run! (Works with getting my kids moving too!)

So, move fast and start step by step in this way:

1.Start the laundry.

Before I begin cleaning the house, the first thing I do is to start my washer. I start a load of laundry, quickly wiping the bathroom sink with a disinfectant wipe or two and then get out to do everything else.

2. Get those dirty dishes.

Grab the dishes, cups, mugs and glasses from all over the house and either put them in the sink or if you’ve got a dishwasher then just load everything in. Don’t forget to check the counters and oven top. May be you have a spoon or a fork lying somewhere, get that too.

3. Sweep the kitchen.

Take a brush or sponge and wipe off the oven and counters on to the floor. Next grab the broom, sweep the whole kitchen and use the pan to throw the trash. Remember to move fast.

4. Clean your entrance.

The first place I always start cleaning is the entrance because that’s the first thing my husband sees as he enters. I will quickly put the shoes back in. Pick any clothing and bags- if any, and put them back where they belong. Just move fast as you put things in order.

5. Sort the living room.

Take a big basket and trash bag as you go into the rooms. Fix the cushions, arrange the books, put the decorations in order. Pick stuff off the couches and throw in the basket if it belongs in other rooms. For toys, I find it best to have a basket with wheels to collect stuff in. Don’t vacuum yet. 

6. Clean the dining area. 

Wipe clean and arrange the table as you go. Push in the chairs. Pick up anything that is underneath that won’t fit in the vacuum. Don’t vacuum yet.

7. Sort the master bedroom. 

Make bed. Arrange the side table. Put clothes back in. If something belongs in another room put it in your basket. If you have trash put it in your plastic bag. Don’t vacuum yet.

8. Clean the kids room.

If your children are anywhere like mine, you know the kids bedroom is the most cluttered in the house.

When they were little we would clean it twice a day and I’d make sure that their bedtime routine included cleaning up but these days I just enter the room and they know better to join me asap!

We start by putting the clothes away and then books. Next they have to pick the toys while mom makes their bed (if they hadn’t that morning). This is when I grab my vacuum cleaner.

I always start from the kids room because that sets them running to pick the bigger trash and smaller toys. (I may be a little evil like that to secretly set fear in my kids hearts!) Anyway, we quickly vacuum the floors and then I move to my bedroom.

9. Vacuum the whole house.

As I said above,  I like to start with the kids bedroom. Next I do my bedroom, the living room, entrance and then dining room last because I have to move chairs and touch the corners in there. Sometimes, I also vacuum the bathroom. 

10. Take the trash out.

Empty the vacuum cleaner into the trash can. You have a plastic bag with the trash from the rooms so don’t forget that. Just tie up everything and take it out.

That’s it! You have a clean home! Wasn’t that fun? 

Let’s recap really quickly. My way of speed cleaning my home is:

I have made my cleaning routine very easy for me to remember by making a checklist out of it. It helps not just me but even my kids can use it to clean the house by themselves. If you’d like to print it out too. Fill in the form below and I will send it to you.

Share with a friend!