10 Minute Tips to Make House Cleaning Easier

If we're honest, very few people like cleaning their house. You might think you're worse than everyone else when it comes to house cleaning, but you've got company. And when you visit friends and their home seems so neat and organized, it's likely they made a quick pass through the house just before you arrived.

So what do we do with chores we don't want to do? We procrastinate and the pile of dishes, laundry and unopened mail just get taller. We might dream about the genie in a bottle, but don't expect her to arrive soon unless you're going to hire a cleaning service and that might be a great trade-off versus your daily latte on the run.

So when I found this article, 11 Habits to Maintain A Clean Home, on cleaning your home in bit size, 10 minute chunks of time, it caught my interest. Here are a few of the highlights, and if you like them, you can read the full article.

Good Habits Make Life Easier

The article starts with the underlying principal that we can accomplish a lot in just 10 minutes. Jenny says it best “Never underestimate the power of 10 minutes” so when you're waiting to take dinner out of the oven, or leave for an appointment, make the most of that time.

House Cleaning Tasks in 10 Minutes or Less

You might need to rearrange things like storing bathroom cleaning supplies in the bathroom. But think of the free time you'll get back by tucking small tasks into those minutes lost in today's hectic environment.

• Make your bed.
• Start the laundry — later there'll be another 10 minutes to put it away.
• Wipe down bathroom counter tops.
• Clean the shower or bathtub.
• Load or unload the dishes.
• Vacuum a room.
• Sort the mail, and organize follow-ups that fit into 10 minutes.

Stop Procrastinating & Manage the Piles

Jenny's tips here are all about creating routines so you've always got clean dishes, and the kids sport clothes ready when they need them.

• Dishes, pots and pans.
• Laundry, and that includes the clean clothes that don't get put away.
• Mail.
• Trash.

Make House Cleaning a Family Habit

There's no reason why one person should do 90% of the cleaning, so Jenny offers some great tips on how to make house cleaning something everyone gets involved in. My favorite tip is to have everyone do 10 minutes of cleaning before bedtime.

Maybe you want to go a step further, and have everyone do their cleaning at the same time and make it into a game as kids love to see who can do things faster, or finish first. It also brings the family together, and that's something we don't do enough of these days.

Cleaning and organizing go hand-in-hand, so you might also enjoy my article, 5 Organizing Tips to Avoid Clutter and other tips on organizing and cleaning, here at Home Tips for Women.