7 Tricks for How to Clean your House Fast!

There’s nothing more motivating for a clean house than getting a phone call from unexpected guests saying they’re coming over for a visit. (Or am I the only one?)

Over the years I’ve figured out some tried & true secrets for how to clean a house fast when you just need to get it done quick!

A few years ago, I spent some time researching how professionals clean houses, and studied the basic methods of speed cleaning. I’m still using many of the tricks I learned way back then. These tips and tricks from professional cleaners will help you go from a messy house to a clean home in a surprisingly short amount of time.

7 Simple Tricks for Speed Cleaning

1. Prioritize which rooms to spend your limited time on.

The first thing you’ll need to do is prioritize which rooms you need to speed clean given the cleaning time you have.

For instance, if I don’t have a lot of time, my game plan is to concentrate on the living room and main floor spaces – not the entire house! I can clean the bedrooms and main bathroom upstairs when I have extra time.

2.Tidy one room at a time.

Before you can even get down to the cleaning tasks, the rooms must first be tidied of all the extra clutter that builds up in daily life.

Focus on only one room at a time and quickly gather up items that need to go elsewhere. A laundry basket can be helpful for this. If it is a particularly messy area, also take a garbage bag along and throw things in the trash bag as you go.

3.Move quickly.

Put on some peppy music if it helps, and keep your body moving as quickly as you can. Focus on staying on task in each room methodically tidying a room completely before moving on to the next. Don’t start tidying the dining room before you finish the living room!

4.Gather your favorite cleaning tools & supplies.

Once a room is tidyed you can get down to the cleaning part, so grab your favorite cleaning tools and get it done! Some people like a cleaning caddy to help with this. You can always have it stocked and ready to go.

Here are my favorite cleaning products for each room:

• Living Room & Dining Room: A wet microfiber cloth with clean water to dust the coffee table , bookshelves, & end tables (I use the Norwex Envirocloth); vacuum cleaner for my throw rugs and hard floors; microfiber mop for laminate floors
• Kitchen: Microfiber kitchen cloth with water for wiping down cabinets, countertops, kitchen sink, microwave, stove, and small appliances. A microfiber window cloth to shine the windows and kitchen sink & faucets.
• Bathroom: Microfiber cloth for counters, mirror, and sink. My homemade cleaner for how to clean a glass shower doors quick (which also works great for my fibreglass shower tub unit), paper towel and toilet bowl cleaner for the toilet, and microfibre mop for the floors.
• Bedrooms: Microfiber cloth for dusting the floating bedside tables and dresser; Vacuum for the rugs

5. Clean from top to bottom.

The best way to clean a room is to work your way around the room clockwise, and from the top of the room (ceiling) to the bottom (floors).

This sounds complicated, but it’s not! Just pick a spot to start in a room (like the far corner away from the door) and start cleaning from the top down.

This logic is this – You don’t want to dust ceiling fans and light fixtures and have the dust fall onto your clean hard floors! Cleaning from top to bottom helps prevent you undoing work you’ve already done.

You will get so much more done in less time when you work in a methoical system.

6.Do laundry as you clean.

While you are cleaning, you might want to start a load of clothes or bedding in the washing machine. It can be working away as you are working on other things! Then after you’re done cleaning the rooms, you can put fresh, clean sheets on your bed. It feels great to have a refreshed bedroom to relax in after a hard day of cleaning!

7.Develop a cleaning routine that works for you!

The last thing I want to mention about house cleaning is that it’s a good idea to come up with a cleaning schedule that works for you. If you get into a cleaning routine where you are doing small tasks on a consistant basis, then cleaning the whole house doesn’t take as much time.