10 Cleaning Shortcuts That Will Speed Up Your Chores

Keeping your home neat, tidy, and sparkling clean makes the space look welcoming and put together. Because cleaning takes plenty of time and effort, however, it’s not everyone’s favorite weekend activity. If you don’t exactly love cleaning (we don’t blame you!), try these quick, low-effort cleaning hacks to keep your home looking fresh and clean at all times.

1. Declutter Regularly

Arguably the best way to cut down on cleaning time is to declutter your home and cut down on stuff. At least once a year (ideally once a season), pick a room and sort through everything in it. Get rid of things you don’t use or need anymore by donating them, gifting them to others, or trashing them if they’re not usable. 

The next time you go to clean that room, you’ll have fewer things to work around, making the process easier.

2. Make Your Bed Every Morning

Although making your bed before you’ve had your morning coffee may not sound like fun, it’s a simple and productive task that sets the tone for the rest of the day. Taking five minutes to make your bed every morning will make your bedroom look clean and tidy, making you feel accomplished and ready to take on the day.

3. Invest in a Robot Vacuum

Vacuuming your floors can get repetitive and tiresome, especially if you have kids and pets who track in dirt from the backyard and leave behind crumbs wherever they go. Robot vacuums make it easier. You can control most models from your smartphone and leave them running for a few hours every day to clean your floors with very little effort on your part.

4. Toss Your Shower Curtain Liner in the Laundry

Shower curtain liners keep water from splattering all over your bathroom when you take a shower. They prevent mildew this way, but it also means they’re susceptible to mold and mildew growth themselves. 

Instead of throwing your shower curtain liner away every time it looks discolored and worn, wash it. Toss your shower curtain liner in the washing machine every few weeks to keep it thoroughly clean. Make sure to set the water temperature to cold before washing to avoid damage to the liner. Once it’s done, hang it up to air dry to avoid melting or shrinking it in the dryer.

5. Lift Dirt and Dust With Lint Rollers

If you have a furry friend, you probably have a lint roller (or two) in your arsenal. In addition to removing lint and pet hair from your sweater, lint rollers can pick up dust and dirt from all sorts of surfaces. Roll it on a dusty lampshade or use it to pick up crumbs off your coffee table.

6. Put Cleaning Supplies in a Convenient Spot

If you’re already not a fan of cleaning, why add any complications? Instead of trudging downstairs to grab your scrub brush each time you need to clean the upstairs bathroom, keep supplies in both spots. 

Stock cleaning supplies everywhere you use them to make cleaning convenient. If needed, buy doubles (or triples) of your cleaning supplies so they’re always at the ready or use vinegar and baking soda to clean and keep that solution handy.

7. Clean in Short Bursts

Deep cleaning can be an intimidating task, especially when your entire home looks a little worse for the wear. Just looking at a mess can be overwhelming. To make cleaning more digestible, break it up into small chunks of time. Set a timer for 10 minutes and see how much you can clean before time’s up. It might surprise you how much you can get done in that amount of time.

8. Clean As You Go

Prevent messes from piling up by cleaning as you go. While cooking dinner and dirtying dishes, wash them right away (or enlist the help of family members). If you just folded a load of laundry, put clothes away as soon as possible while you have energy. 

9. Quickly Wipe Down Surfaces Every Day

You don’t have to deep-clean your entire home every time you grab your cleaning supplies. Instead, do smaller cleaning tasks regularly to minimize dirt and prevent messes from piling up and becoming too overwhelming to handle. Make wiping down surfaces part of your evening routine. 

Clean counters instantly make your space look neat and tidy, and going over them every day takes scrubbing week-old spaghetti sauce off your list later. Plus you can spot clean more easily with a spray bottle and rag or mop too, making this a low-effort cleaning hack you’ll use again and again.

10. Hire a Pro

The ultimate hack for cleaning your house without much effort is to hire a local house cleaner to give your home a pro-level clean. House cleaners cost $170 on average, with most professionals charging between $30 and $50 per hour. Hire a pro to clean all or part of your home, depending on your budget and needs.