5 House Cleaning Tips to Save You Time and Energy

Are you ready for a deep clean, but does the thought of cleaning your home make you feel overwhelmed? These house-cleaning tips will save you time and energy — and they might even make some chores fun!

1. Buy All the Gear

You’ve probably heard the expression, “If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.” This applies to anything in life — including house cleaning — so take this tip to heart: Before you pick up a speck of dust, make a list of all the gear and products you’ll need.

Take it room by room. No single space requires the same safety equipment, appliances, and cleaning products as another. Make a list of items you’ll need to clean just the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, bathrooms, and garage.

Think about each space’s unique needs and how to address them, whether that’s with a broom, vacuum cleaner, mop, or an old toothbrush. No one knows the space as you do, and in many cases, you can ‘make do’ with simple cleaning tools.

Also, consider the specific cleaning products and safety gear you’ll need. While it’s tempting to grab popular products — with harsh chemicals — there are many natural cleaning solutions for everyday spills, stains, and odors. You’ll also need to plan for safety glasses, gloves, and maybe even earplugs, depending on the task.

Making a detailed list ahead of time ensures you have everything you need and saves you from constantly running around looking for missing supplies. This makes the cleaning process more efficient. Consider keeping a master checklist on your phone that you can easily reference each time you clean.

Eco-Friendly House Cleaning Options

Here are some tips for eco-friendly cleaners you can make at home to tackle dirt, grease, and grime.

• All-Purpose Cleaner: Slice up some lemons, place them in a bowl, and pour white vinegar up to the brim. Then, let this combination sit overnight and pour it into a spray bottle to create an all-purpose cleaner. The citric acid in the lemons helps cut through grease and grime.
• Grime Loosener: Need to clean the inside of your oven? Make a paste from baking soda and water, apply it to the bottom of the oven, and let it sit for an hour to turn all the grime loose. The abrasive texture of the baking soda paste scrubs away baked-on food and grease.
• Garbage Disposal Solution: Your garbage disposal and dishwasher are often the culprits of kitchen odors. So, to make the place smell good, place baking soda in the garbage disposal and leave it there for a few minutes. Then, flush it out with water. The baking soda neutralizes odors.
• Dishwasher Deodorizer: Pour a bowl of white vinegar right into the dishwasher, and then run a normal wash cycle to clean the appliance and make it smell great. The acidic vinegar cuts through soap scum and lime deposits that cause odors.
• Cutting Board Cleaner: Rub a slice of lemon on your wooden cutting board to disinfect the surface. Bonus effect: It’ll also make the cutting board smell great! The acid in the lemon has antibacterial properties.
• Easy Rust Remover: Make a paste from baking soda and some water and apply it to the rust stain. Let it sit for a half-hour, and then wipe it clean. The abrasive baking soda scrubs the rust away.
• Window Spray: Washing windows? Here’s a simple trick: Put 50 % water and 50 % vinegar in a spray bottle; then spray the windows with this mixture and wipe them with a microfiber cloth. The vinegar helps cut through greasy fingerprints and dust.
• Mold and Mildew Mixture: Notice mold and mildew on your patio or brick surfaces? Don’t use chlorine bleach to remove them — oxygen bleach is much friendlier to the environment, less caustic, and most importantly, it really works! The oxygen bleach contains sodium percarbonate that breaks down mold and mildew.

Now let's look beyond DIY cleaners to some other ways you can green your cleaning routine.

• Look for plant-based ingredients like essential oils and citrus extracts when buying cleaning products. Stay away from harsh chemicals like ammonia that are toxic to the environment.
• Opt for cleaning tools with replaceable pads rather than entirely disposable products. For example, reusable microfiber cloths and dusters reduce waste.
• Use hydrogen peroxide as an alternative to chlorine bleach for disinfecting and whitening. While bleach is effective, hydrogen peroxide is less toxic and safer for kids and pets.
• Purchase concentrated cleaners and dilute them in reusable spray bottles. The concentrate lasts longer than ready-to-use cleaners, reducing plastic waste from bottles.
• Air out your home naturally rather than relying solely on chemical air fresheners. Open windows to let fresh air circulate.
• Look for the Safer Choice label from the EPA when buying cleaning products. Safer Choice-certified products meet standards for human and environmental safety.
• Use old rags and towels for dusting and cleaning instead of paper towels. You can also repurpose old socks as cleaning rags!

DIY Cleaning How-To Guides

2. Stock Some Cleaning Caddies

Purchasing cleaning gear is just the tip of the iceberg. After all, you can stuff a bunch of products in your pantry or garage and forget they’re even there!

And let’s face it: No one feels motivated to perform even the most basic home maintenance if they lack the right tools to do the job or if they can’t find those tools when they need them.

So, here’s a house-cleaning tip that will help you to get into a convenient routine: stock some cleaning caddies with everything you need when you need it. That way, they’re ready and waiting for you to grab and go!

Now, you can tackle this in one of two different ways. I like having a cleaning caddy for every room. This is the most convenient option because you can purchase everything you need to clean each room and keep a fully stocked caddy in each closet or another nearby location, out of view.

Yes, there’s some additional up-front expense — for all the caddies, the safety glasses and gloves, and other items you may need — but that means you’re not running from one room to the next to grab what you need. Some of these items (like safety glasses or a duster) will last a while.

As for Plan B? You can purchase all the products you need and keep one central cleaning caddy to maintain every room.

To do this, just grab your room-by-room checklist — the same one you took to the grocery store or home center — and fill the caddy with the items you need to clean each space. After you’ve cleaned one room, refer to the checklist, then remove any items you don’t need to clean the next room and add any items that you do need.

This option, of course, requires less up-front expense but takes more time because you have to change the caddy’s contents from room to room.

There’s no wrong option, so just pick the one that’s right for you and your household budget.

Some ideas of what to stock your cleaning caddies with:

• All-purpose cleaner and disinfectant
• Microfiber cloths, sponges, scrub brushes
• Dusting spray and dusters
• Glass cleaner and paper towels
• Vacuum attachments like crevice tool, upholstery brush
• Gloves, safety glasses, earplugs
• Baking soda, vinegar, lemons
• Sponges, scrub pads, old toothbrushes
• Mop, broom, dustpan

Having a fully stocked caddy for each room or one central caddy saves you time spent searching for tools and makes cleaning more efficient.

3. Declutter

Don’t lift a broom or grab a mop before you do one important thing: declutter the room. This house-cleaning tip is important for two reasons.

First, you need to prioritize home maintenance tasks. For example, it doesn’t make sense to scrub a countertop covered with mail, books, and groceries. You need to clear that countertop to properly clean and disinfect it.

Second, it’s good to get in the habit of organizing your home so nothing gets out of place — which makes the room harder to maintain and reduces your motivation to clean it.

Here’s the game plan: First, remove any trash or debris — anything you can quickly pick up and throw away — and discard it right away. Then, identify everything in the room that’s out of place and relocate it. So, mail? Filed away in the office. Shoes? In the mudroom. Groceries? In the pantry. Reusable grocery bags? Ditto.

Once you’ve removed everything that doesn’t belong and cleared spaces you know will need scrubbing, it will make it that much easier to clean.

After all, you’re halfway there — the space will look less daunting to maintain, and all you’ll just need to add the finishing touches, like sweeping, vacuuming, mopping, and then sanitizing and disinfecting high-touch surfaces.

Decluttering first allows you to really see the room and identify dirt and grime buildup so you can tackle cleaning in a thorough and logical manner. Don't just push clutter to the side. Take the extra couple of minutes to put things away properly. This will make maintenance easier each time.

Here are some examples of items to declutter from each room:

• Living room - old magazines, cluttered surfaces, stray shoes and blankets
• Kitchen - expired food, unused small appliances, junk drawers
• Bedrooms - clothes no longer worn, old electronics, shoes
• Bathrooms - expired medicine, empty bottles, old makeup/hygiene products

Tips for effectively decluttering before cleaning:

• Set a timer for 10-15 minutes and see how much you can put away in that time. Working against the clock prevents you from getting sucked into disorganization vortexes.
• As you put things away, take note of items without a proper home that need organizational solutions like baskets or shelving.
• Don't just shove things into closets and drawers. Take time to neatly organize so you can find items later.
• Recruit family members to help. Give each person a zone like the living room or kitchen to quickly declutter.
• Put on some upbeat music to make decluttering fun rather than a chore.
• Sort mail and papers into action piles: trash, shred, file, and respond to. Process accordingly.
• Gather up dishes and cups around the house and take them to the kitchen at once.
• Do a quick tidy of bathroom counters, gathering up products.

4. Work Smart

When it comes to cleaning each room, the same expression with which we started this list: “If you fail to plan, plan to fail.”

To that end, here’s a house-cleaning tip to ensure success every time — and prevent headaches down the line: work smart. In other words, think about each space’s needs and how every action you take in the room will impact another area of that room.

The simplest thing is to think “top to bottom.”

For instance, think about cleaning the kitchen. If you sweep the floors before you brush off the countertops and range, you’ll inevitably have to do double work as you pick up any crumbs and dust that fall to the floor after tackling those areas.

Newton’s third law of motion — “What goes up must come down” — applies, so that’s why it’s important to start at the top and work your way down in each room.

First, clean out the cabinets and dust them because anything your duster doesn’t catch will fall to the countertops. Then clean your countertops because any debris will inevitably fall to the floor. Then sweep and mop your floor because that’s the most logical place to end things!

Of course, your space’s needs will vary. But if you work with the same top-down strategy — to include windows, doors, and appliances — you’ll save yourself plenty of time and prevent double work.

Some tips for working smart:

• Assess the room first and think through your cleaning plan. Don't just dive in randomly.
• Group-like tasks together that utilize the same tools and products. For example, dust all surfaces first before switching gears to scrub counters and floors.
• For kitchens and baths, wipe down mirrors and glass after sanitizing counters. Otherwise, you'll get streaks from cleaning splatter.
• Clean walls before vacuuming floors. That way, any dust or debris falls to the floor, where it will get picked up.
• Work from the farthest point in the room back toward the exit to avoid trapping yourself or having to backtrack over clean areas.
• Change the mop water frequently to prevent spreading dirt.

Planning your approach intelligently prevents you from doing extra work for yourself. And you'll establish an efficient system to clean each room faster.

5. Delegate Work

The poet John Donne said, “No man is an island.” That’s true whether you’re a woman or a child, too, and it’s especially apparent when you’re cleaning the house.

For this final house-cleaning tip, remember one word: teamwork.

Cleaning a house is not a one-person job — not if you have family members under the same roof who can help. Tell your family: We’re all in this together, and everyone should do their fair share, whether it’s washing the dishes, sweeping the porches, or cleaning the bathrooms.

To that end, go ahead and delegate some tasks. Get the family involved, and you’ll be surprised by how much time you can save when house cleaning becomes a group activity.

For instance, no one likes washing the windows. But that’ll change when you have a partner clean the outside of one window while you clean the same window from the inside.

Take it window by window, and you’ll cut this tedious chore’s time in half! (You can even have fun with this chore because while you’re both washing the same window, you can make funny faces at each other!)

You can even delegate this list of house-cleaning tips! For instance, one person can stock the cleaning caddies while the other person declutters the space and preps the room for maintenance. One person can tackle upstairs chores while the other person can tackle downstairs chores.

There’s no wrong way to delegate these tasks — just figure out the combination that works for you, your family, and your home’s needs.

Getting the whole family involved makes cleaning day go faster and teaches kids responsibility. Here are some age-appropriate cleaning tasks kids can handle:

• Ages 2-3: Put away toys, wipe tables, sweep with a small broom
• Ages 4-5: Make their bed, clean up spills, put away dishes
• Ages 6-7: Vacuum, take out trash, fold laundry
• Ages 8-10: Clean bathroom sinks, mop, clean windows
• Ages 11-12: Scrub bathtubs, clean microwaves, clean ovens
• Ages 13+: Anything an adult does!

Turn on some fun music and order in pizza to reward the crew after powering through the chore list together.

DIY Deep Clean vs Hiring a Professional Cleaner

Cleaning your home thoroughly can feel like a daunting task. You have two options for tackling a deep clean: doing it yourself (DIY) or hiring a professional cleaning service. While a DIY cleaner will save money, hiring a professional cleaner offers several advantages.

The Benefits of a Professional Deep Clean

• Expertise: Professional cleaners are experts who know the best methods and products to deep clean your home. They have specialized tools and use techniques you may not know.
• Efficiency: Cleaners work quickly and efficiently. They clean homes every day as their full-time job, so they can get the job done faster than you can on your own.
• Thoroughness: Professional cleaners are meticulous and detail-oriented. They will clean areas you may overlook or can't easily access, like air ducts, ceilings, and windows.
• Convenience: Deep cleaning takes many hours, spanning multiple days for a DIY job. With professionals, you simply book the service and come home to a sparkling clean house without any effort.
• Physical Relief: Deep cleaning involves lots of exhausting physical labor like scrubbing, hauling, and lifting. Hiring out the job spares your body the strain and fatigue.

While hiring a pro costs more up-front, it offers unbeatable results, efficiency, and convenience. Consider supplementing your regular DIY cleaning with a professional deep clean once or twice a year.