Does it feel like it takes forever to clean your House?

You want a clean home but it just feels like it takes so long to clean it. When you finish cleaning, you turn around and it’s a mess again.

So you give up or let it build up until the weekend and spend most of your Saturday cleaning your home. Your family may be living life while you’re building up bitterness and resentment because you HAVE to clean.

Friend, let’s stop that weekly cycle dead in its tracks. What you need is to identify cleaning zones in your home, set up your systems and routines, and delegate responsibilities to your family members.

In this episode, I’m sharing three tactical tips to help you stop the endless cycles of “deep cleaning” and show you how resets and habits can help you clean in less time. You’ll have more time to spend doing the things you actually love.

TIPS #1 – Identify cleaning zones in your house.

When you divide your home into zones, you’re better able to focus on one area at a time. This will help you to stay focused and follow through completely.

Possible cleaning zones:

Kitchen

Bathroom

Laundry

Bedrooms

Car

Outside

Cleaning Zone planner

Here’s a helpful printable for planning out your cleaning zones. As you listen to the episode, write down any ideas for systems to create in each zone. I recommend starting with just one new system in each zone and then setting up one system at a time. Do not try to do everything at once.

TIP #2 – Set up your systems & routines for easy cleaning.

In this section, I will provide you with some ideas for systems for these different zones. You can not and should not set up all of these systems at once but rather build on them little by little. Setting up your systems and establishing habits in the goal. Perfectionism is not the goal.

Kitchen

Idea #1: Minimize kitchen stuff by decluttering first.

Cleaning is much easier when you’re not having to move stuff around.

Idea #2: Establish a dishwashing routine.

Try to establish a habit of washing, dry, and putting away right after using a dish.

Idea #3: Establish your meal planning routine.

Create a master list of favorite meals, and select the meals for the week. Clear the refrigerator, shop for groceries, and pick a day in the week as your meal plan reset day. Stick with it and don’t overbuy.

Idea #4: Establish a daily cooking routine.

Make a meal plan, take out meats to thaw, prep early in the day, empty the dishwasher, have dishwater ready to clean as you go, and create a kitchen reset routine. These are all habits that are helpful in daily kitchen maintenance.

Idea #5: Schedule a deep clean day on your calendar.

I like to use my phone’s calendar and set a reminder. The less I have to remember the better. You can do this monthly, seasonally, or every other season. There are no rules.

Bathrooms

Idea #1: Minimize bathroom stuff by decluttering first.

Again, rooms are easier to clean when there isn’t a lot of stuff.

Idea #2: Gather cleaning supplies and a caddy to keep in the bathroom.

Set up your cleaning station with supplies under the sink or in a bathroom closet.

Idea #3: Establish your daily cleaning reset routine.

Our cleaning routine includes “top to bottom” cleaning; mirror, counter, sink, and toilet with the same rag. Because we have our cleaning caddy set up, this task takes less than 5-minutes to do.

Idea #4: Keep a cleaning caddy in the shower.

Wipe down your shower every time you shower with one of those green cleaning pads. 

Idea #5: Designate a deep cleaning day.

Schedule this on your phone’s calendar. It can be done monthly, bi-monthly, etc.

Laundry room

Idea #1: Minimize the laundry clutter by purging first.

Idea #2: Establish a daily laundry routine.

Use habit stacking to stay on top of the laundry; wash, dry, fold and put away is a complete laundry cycle. Make it your goal to fully complete the cycle each day. It’s fine to save laundry for the weekend if you rather. Just establish your laundry routine.

Identify your clutter and bad habit traps – too many laundry baskets, no laundry baskets, getting distracted, not completing the full laundry cycle, clothes scattered everywhere, etc.

Idea #3: Designate a deep clean day.

Schedule this routine on the calendar.

Bedrooms

Idea #1: Minimize bedroom stuff by decluttering first.

I always recommend decluttering with your children so they are learning how to let go of items; however, this may be a struggle for a lot of families.

Idea #2: Work on establishing the habit of resetting the room before leaving the room.

Teach your kids to be mindful and to do the same. Lead by example.

Idea #3: Establish a nightly reset routine.

Before tucking your kids in at night, get them to reset their bedroom. Do the same again in the morning.

Idea #4: Designate a deep clean day.

Schedule this on your phone’s calendar.

Car

Idea #1: Minimize car stuff by decluttering first.

It’s amazing how much clutter we drive around in our cars.

Idea #2: Place a trash can beside where you park to collect trash after every trip.

Establish a “grab what doesn’t belong” motto with your kids so that they’re not leaving the car empty-handed after returning home.

Idea #3: Designate a bi-weekly or monthly car wash day.

Outside

Idea #1: Again, declutter.

Purge the outside tools, toys, and clutter. The less you have the less you’re responsible for.

Idea #2: Establish a weekend reset routine for outside.

TIP #3 – Delegate responsibilities to your family.

Mama, you don’t want to feel like you’re doing it all by yourself. Sometimes we forget to ask for help. Here are some ways to recruit help at home.

Also if your kids are little, minimalism is YOUR BEST FRIEND. Since they’re not able to help a lot and tend to make even bigger messes, set up your home in a way that prevents big messes that you have to clean up. Purge, purge, purge my friend.

Kitchen

Idea #1: Create a meal plan that includes simple meals your husband and kids can cook without your help.

Idea #2: Assign clean-up chores to everyone after dinner so that your evening reset is not completely on you.

Idea #3: Establish a “wash, dry, put away” motto after using every dish so that dishes are reset right away.

Bathroom

Idea #1: If you have more than one bathroom, make it a part of your kids’ nightly routine that they wipe down the mirror, sink, counter, and toilet after they brush their teeth.

Idea #2: If you only have one bathroom, create a cleaning rotation. Again, reiterating the routine to clean from top to bottom. This means a simple wipe-down with one rag- mirror, counter, toilet.

Laundry

Idea #1: If everyone has their own laundry baskets in their bedroom, they are responsible for completing the laundry cycle for their basket on a designated laundry day.

Idea #2: If you have a shared family basket, establish a routine with your family members to help switch the laundry from the washer to the dryer and to help with putting clothes away. Either you can rotate days between family members or have everyone put their own clothes away.

Bedrooms

Idea #1: Everyone is responsible for resetting their bedrooms at the end of the day. When bedrooms have minimal amounts of stuff, the reset should be easy to perform.

Idea #2: Make sure that every item has a designated home as well. It’s easy to reset the room when it’s clear where things belong.

Car

Idea #1: Be mindful upon returning home and ask that everyone in the car grab a handful of items that don’t belong.

Idea #2: Once a month, treat yourself to a professional car wash or run through the automated car wash.

Idea #3: In between washes, hire one of your children to wash your car and vacuum the inside. This is worth the $5-10 weekly investment.

Outside

Idea #1: Take some time during your weekend reset to tidy up the yard.

Idea #2: Ask your kids to pick up and put away anything that is theirs. Let them know anything that is left out will be taken to donation or thrown away.

Idea #3: List the outside chores on a whiteboard and ask everyone to volunteer for a chore. Offer something fun for everyone who helps. This is sure to get everyone on board.

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I’d love to hear from you!

Which of these tips do you need to work on to make cleaning your home easier? Do you need to identify your cleaning zones so you’re able to stay focused better? Do you need to declutter and set up your systems? Or do you need to recruit the help of your family by asking for help? Tell me below.

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