Maximize Family Time With These House Cleaning Shortcuts
Some people LOVE to clean. I am not one of those people.
I love having a clean home, but the problem is, I just don’t always feel like doing it, nor do I have the time. Enter: cleaning hacks.
If I can find ways to make the process easier or quicker, or even more fun, I’m here for that!
Explore these tips and put them to work for your family.
10 Tips for Keeping the House Cleaner
These 10 house cleaning hacks are the key to a busy parent’s sanity.
1 – Create a Cleaning Schedule
Setting a schedule is essential for saving your sanity! Instead of aimlessly doing tasks around the house and never really feeling done or feeling like you’re chasing your tail (can you relate?!), set a schedule so you clearly know what happens on what day.
A schedule like doing laundry on Sunday and Wednesdays, bathrooms on Saturdays, and floors on Fridays will help you limit yourself and keep up on household tasks. It can also clearly lay out for your family what you expect from them on each day. You can include daily tasks, weekly tasks or even monthly tasks on your schedule – make it work for YOU!
2 – Keep a Cleaning Supplies Stash in Every Area of Your House
Create a stash in every room with cleaning supplies. This will save you so much time from carting supplies around to every room in your house, and ensure that you don’t lose the one can of dusting spray and spend two hours searching for it.
Have rags or paper towels, appropriate cleaner, wipes, and anything else you need under each bathroom sink, the kitchen sink, the laundry room, the basement, and any other place you spend time cleaning.
This will also make it more likely for you to get in a quick cleaning on the spot (pun intended!) when you see a mess.
3 – Baking Soda and Vinegar to Clean Just About Anything
Oh, the power of vinegar and baking soda! I use vinegar in my kitchen as a disinfectant and as a fabric softener in my washing machine.
- Pour a half a cup of baking soda into your kitchen drain and follow it with a cup of vinegar. Let it sit for 15 minutes, and voila, your drains are clearer and smell better!
- Make a paste of baking soda and water and scrub icky grout with a toothbrush – then spray with vinegar and rinse.
- You can even do this same thing for greasy stovetops.
And the best thing about these two things is the cost: cheap!
4 – Lint Rollers Offer Easy and Quick Clean Up
Got a crumby mess? Dust piling up on hard to clean surfaces? Try a lint roller.
It is perfect for dusting off lamp shades, ideal for a quick clean up of crumbs in the car, and very handy for dirty screens. And let’s not forget pet hair – it gets on EVERYTHING and lint rollers are essential in cleaning up after our furry friends.
5 – Invite Guests to Dinner so You’re Motivate You to Clean
This might sound backwards, but trust me, it is genius! Having a semi-regular get together at your house will keep your house spic and span.
Nothing motivates me more than knowing I will be inviting people into my home – people with EYES to see my embarrassing cobwebs and toothpaste-crusted sinks.
I can clean like a whirlwind when I know people outside of my family will be at my house.
And during COVID and social distancing, we are opening our homes up to people via zoom calls, too. I’ve quickly learned that I need to keep my whole house tidy all the time, because my family could be hopping on a zoom call from anywhere in the house, whether it be for school or work.
6 – Clean Dreaded Window Tracks With a Toothbrush
Sometimes I avoid looking at my window tracks because I don’t even want to look at the gross mess that has collected there: dust, dirt, pollen and the like.
But, when I DO face the music and clean them my tools are easy – vinegar, baking soda, a toothbrush, a rag and a butter knife.
Simply sprinkle baking soda on the track, spray vinegar on it all, let sit for 15 minutes, and work the mess to the center with the toothbrush. Wipe up, and for the pesky crevices, use a rag covered butter knife as a tool to grab the stubborn stuff.
Your tracks will look brand new and when you can open the windows you won’t be letting all the grime blow into your house.
7 – Involve the Kids and Teach Good Habits
Teach kids good habits and foster in them a helping attitude by involving them in the cleaning. Show them that having a clean home is important and that it takes everyone contributing to make it happen.
(Hint, hint: allowances can help here, too!) And, there are SO many non-toxic supplies on the market now that are totally safe for the little ones.
8 – Make Cleaning A Fun Game with the Kids
One way I like to trick – errr I mean teach – my child is to turn a mundane task into a game. Set a timer and make a game out of seeing how much cleaning can happen in the span of 20 minutes.
Gather the family, haul out the cleaning supplies, on your mark, get set, GO! I love a good game, and kids tend to be motivated by the idea of fun. You can even include small rewards or prizes for the “winner.”
9 – Purchase Your Entire Cleaning Arsenal with One Convenient Stop
You can get everything you need to spiffy up your house at Family Fare! Cleaners, sponges, mops, paper towel, and more can be at your fingertips using Family Fare’s Fast Lane’s grocery pickup service.
If you don’t already have several cleaning supplies centers in your house, this is a quick way to take inventory of what you need, throw it into your virtual cart, and pull up to a Family Fare store (D&W, Forest Hills Foods) when it’s ready.
This saves SO much time and hassle, especially for busy parents!
10 – Deodorize Your Home as a Quick Way to Freshen Things Up
If you don’t have time to deep clean, sometimes deodorizing can make all the difference!
Pour pine sol into the toilet bowl brush holder to not only deodorize the bathroom, but also disinfect the brush.
Soaking a cotton ball with essential oils and putting it into trash cans helps eliminate garbage odors. Put a few drops of essential oils on the inside of the toilet paper roll.
Mix up some laundry scent boosters and water into a spray bottle for a homemade Febreze – spray on curtains, furniture, pillows and more to give a long-lasting fresh scent.
