Cleaning Your Home in Just Minutes a Day
Cleaning is an unavoidable part of both adulthood and parenthood. Here's how to stay on top of things in just a few minutes per day.
I used to be the type that found cleaning therapeutic. I could spend a whole day making sure my home was spotless and fresh and perfect for relaxing, basking in the glory of my wonderfully-scented, dust-free living space. The level of peace and tranquility after such cleaning binges cannot be properly expressed with mere words.
Since having kids though, the messes are endless (and often horrific), and the amount of time and energy I used to have for cleaning when flying out the window right along with all the toys those mini-humans threw out and left in the yard.
Rather than letting chores build up and losing your mind over attempting to binge-clean an entire home in one full day, exhausting yourself to death and fighting the onslaught of child-fueled mess waves, you can actually accomplish just as much and manage the chaos by breaking it up into small chunks of time for each cleaning task each day.
The key is realizing just how little time each of these tasks takes.
Newsflash: Chores Are Not That Time-Consuming!
You're probably wondering what I'm going on about, but hear me out. How long does each of your chores take? It probably feels like forever (probably because the list of chores never really ends as a parent), but have you actually timed yourself? Do you know just how many minutes are spent on each of those items on your cleaning checklist?
Here are some of the usual offenders that actually only take one to three minutes at the very most:
Wiping down the bathroom mirrors and sinks
Cleaning around and inside the toilet
Dusting one shelf
Wiping down the outside/handles of the fridge and microwave
Straightening up or making a bed
Wiping down the kitchen counters and stove
Checking the fridge or pantry for expired goods
Scrubbing a heavily soiled dish/pan
Wiping the fingerprints (and dog slobber) off of one of the windows
Dusting the photos/frames in a room
Wiping down one table surface (kitchen/living room/nightstands/desks)
It probably sounds exhausting to do all of those since we parents and caregivers generally always seem to be doing one of them nonstop, but make yourself aware of just how long it actually takes you to get the chore done. Once you realize it isn't so bad, you'll alleviate a lot of your stress related to cleaning just through the very free gift of awareness.
"But There's Still So Much to Do!"
Of course, there are still the more laborious and time-consuming chores such as folding and sorting laundry, vacuuming, mopping, and (god forbid) cleaning out the car. Those are unavoidable, take a significant amount of time, and will always be a pain.
However, most of the little things simply add up over time and become excessively frustrating once they're all bulked together and you get hit with all of them needing to be done at the same time. Being broken apart into smaller pieces to address bit by bit each day makes them much more manageable.
By taking the time to tackle a few of your smaller chores each day and realizing just how quickly you can get those tasks completed—they do not take as long as you think they do!—you'll stay on top of your home's cleaning needs and not get bombarded with everything all at once.
Much less stress. Much less anxiety. A much more consistently clean home.
Now, if only if the kids would stop throwing every single toy they own onto the floor...