Quick Clean Your Home In Under 20 Minutes
You just received a phone call – “Surprise! We’ll see you in 30 minutes!” Ugh. The bad news: Your house is a mess. The good news: You can still welcome family and friends to a clean, neat and tidy home by following this simple quick cleaning guide.
Quick Cleaning Guide
1. Decide on rooms. This isn’t the time to clean your entire home from top to bottom. Choose the rooms that your guests will see. Odds are they will be the living room, kitchen and bathroom. Focus on these rooms first.
2. Let time do the work.
- In the bathroom: spray toilets, sinks and bathtubs with cleaner and let them sit.
- In the kitchen: put most dishes in the dishwasher, fill the sink with water and soak the dishes that don’t fit. Spray the stove top and counters with cleaner and let them sit.
That’s it now move on to point 3, we’re going for speed here.
3. Gather clutter. Using a large box or plastic tub, move from room to room and gather all items that don’t belong or that should be put away. If items can easily be put away, do so. If not, leave them in the box and put them away once your company has left. Clear surfaces of books, dishes, magazines, toys etc. Stash the box in a spare bedroom or other room that visitors will not enter.
4. The floors. Sweep or vacuum high traffic areas like hallways, the middle of a room, around chairs and furniture. This isn’t the time to move furniture and do a thorough job this needs to be quick. For vinyl or wood floors, take a damp cloth with cleaner and spot wash getting rid of any particularly nasty spills or spots. There’s no time to wash the entire floor.
5. Wipe down and finish up.
- Finish up the dishes that are soaking in the sink.
- Grab a wash cloth and wipe down the kitchen counters, stove top and table.
- Wipe down bathroom counter tops, sinks, toilets and bathtubs.
6. Freshen up. Add a sweet smell to your home with a light air freshener, open the window on warm days or light a couple of scented candles.
This guide has saved me on more than one occasion. Ultimately cleaning as you go and having your home ‘visitor ready’ at all times is the way to go but that’s not always possible, at least not for me.
Things to remember
1. Move quickly.
2. Get help if you can (other family members).
3. Focus only on rooms that your guests will see.
See also:
Eliminate Clutter Part 1: The Cost of Clutter and Where Does it Come From?
Eliminate Clutter Part 2: 4 Steps To Organize Just About Anything
Eliminate Clutter Part 3: Strategies to Getting Started.
Got Books? Tips To Decluttering and Organizing Your Personal Library
Photo courtesy of: Shaylor
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Tuesdays are Home & Organizing day at Serene Journey. We will share tips and ideas that we have learned and applied to the organizing and running of our home. If you have any suggestions for this series feel free to drop us an email or leave them in the comments.
21 Responses to “Quick Clean Your Home In Under 20 Minutes”
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Great plan Sherri! I am really accustomed to the spot wash on the floors. I clean the floors regularly but with two young kids in the house, it seems like there’s always dirty spots here and there.
One easy way to make the whole house smell good quickly is to spray air freshener into the air conditioner intake vent (I guess that’s what you call it). It will suck in the air freshener and distribute it through the vents in all the rooms in the house. Of course, the unit has to be running for this to work.
Amanda @ Mommy’s Idea Book’s last blog post..Easter Baskets, Buckets or Bags: From the Heart
This is excellent. I’ve been looking for exactly this kind of quickie routine. Bookmarked and ready to go when I get visitors on short notice.
Thanks.
David Cain’s last blog post..How to Keep Bad Moods From Taking You Over
Great tips for putting things in the right order so they work for you! (I’m going to rethink my quick clean up now!) Since I was little my mom would do something similar to this almost every day. She called it 1-2-3 clean up. Now that I’m the Mom, I employ a timer– I set it for anywhere between 15-30 minutes and hit the house as focused as I can getting it straightened and lightly cleaned. It helps to have these little clean up times in the day just to keep the space feeling tidied without having the time to do a thorough clean.
Lisa @ WellGrounded Life’s last blog post..Giveaway: Two Teas for You!
Hey, Sherri! If you have about 20 minutes to spare, I’d love for you to come over and show me how it’s done. My house sure could use it!
I think the biggie for me is De-cluttering. When I don’t have time for all the rest (like when I was selling my house and the realtor called for a showing,) I run through the house picking up “stuff”… you know, the stuff that doesn’t seem to have an official place. Grab a box, toss it all in, put the box somewhere out of sight, voila!
Clean… ish. =-)
Lisis’s last blog post..5 Lessons From My Immigration Ordeal
I find it very hard to live well when things are a mess and a messy room always adds to whatever stress I’m feeling. Cleaning and decluttering can really create a more serene environment so thank you very much for the tips.
Positively Present’s last blog post..how to deal with stress positively
Sherri,
Whoa, that bathroom fixture (that exact faucet and knob combo) is the same kind I grew up with. I haven’t seen one of those in ages! Where did you get that picture?
Thanks for the advice. I’m a guy, so if friends or family call and say they’re going to be over in 30 minutes, they can help me clean up after they arrive.
Michael’s last blog post..Get Ready for a Love Challenge!
@ Michael: LOVE IT!!! Great approach to cleaning!
@ Amanda – I hear ya with the spot washing!
Thanks for the tip with the a/c unit that’s great! When I read that it made me think of when we would put fabric softener sheets in the registers in the floor so hot air would pass through it and make the room smell really fresh!
@ David – Welcome! I’m glad you liked it and I hope it comes in handy. Thanks for your comment!
@ Lisa – I love the idea of doing this throughout the day. Gwynn and I try and do a reset of the house once the kids are in bed it makes getting up in the morning a lot nicer
@ Lisis – Sure thing do you live near by?
Decluttering is a big one and it takes a bit of time but it’s well worth the effort. There’s a lot to be said for a room or area with very little ’stuff’ in it. I saw the picture of your kitchen…it looked pretty decluttered to me 
@ Positively Present – I dislike living with clutter. That’s not to say that our home doesn’t get messy or have ’stuff’ everywhere from time to time, I just don’t like it and it actually affects me physically (anxiety, stress and just general unhappiness). I’m glad you liked the post and I hope the tips comes in handy for you!
@ Michael – That’s brilliant! We had a good chuckle. Funny you say you grew up with those fixtures because so did I! My folks still have them and they’re still in great shape
I found the pic on Flickr I put a link to it in the post after the “see also” so you can check it out if you like.
Hi Sherri,
Great advice. I will definitely share this with my friends. I think cleaning is one activity that not many people love to do. Including me!
Nadia-Happy Lotus’s last blog post..Doggie In The City
Hi Sherri
I’m with Michael on this. If they’re really friends or family then I’d prefer them to take me as I am (including where I live). If they’re not, then they’re certainly not going to invite themselves (I realise there’s probably a cultural bias in there).
Personally I keep my environment clean and tidy. There could be some dishes to wash but for sure, no stains on the floor!
Can I be blunt here? … Really? … Sure?
I found it hard to relate to the article especially when I got to the dishwasher and ‘move from room to room’. I live in one room and don’t have a dishwasher. I guess I’m not alone!
Ian Peatey’s last blog post..Spring, and time for a clean-up
@ Nadia – That’s great I’m glad you liked it!
@ Ian – Your comment made me reread my own post! lol. I suppose I could have clarified a bit more about the state of my place… Our place is generally very clean and we don’t have a lot of “stuff” around. We were not always this way and I found that this quick clean/tidy really helped.
As for spot cleaning the floors…this one I chuckled at because between the time I read your response and now (when I’m commenting) I spot cleaned peanut butter, milk and cheese off the floor and cantaloupe off the coffee table! We have a toddler so unfortunately spot washing is our reality for now. I’d be washing the floor all day other wise.
Just so you know I really and truly appreciate blunt honest feedback and comments so please feel free any time
Thanks for your comment Ian!
Hi Sherri.
Ah! the toddler years! My youngest is 6 years this month so those days are still fresh in my memory! Whenever she stays with me (pretty often) the apartment looks like a hurricane passed through and first thing I do is clean up.
So, when I say my place is clean and tidy, well, ummm … it’s not ALWAYS true! I realise now I may have come across as taking some ‘cleanliness high ground’ – which was not my intention at all. Or maybe it was, just it’s not high ground I can honestly claim as my own
LOL
Ian Peatey’s last blog post..Spring, and time for a clean-up
@ Ian – I’m glad you can relate!
We do the same as soon as the kids are in bed we clean up! I really dislike waking up to a messy home.
What a great guide. Pretty much describes my quick cleaning process. That box or bag of stuff gathered pre-visits is a little secret my friend and I share–our problem is remembering to retrieve it out of the closet we’ve stowed it in afterward and get it put away. We are notorious for having random bags of “stuff” (usually papers) hanging around too long after the quick clean-up.
Looking forward to exploring more of your posts.
Jessica Hazlewood´s last blog ..Baby Shower. Simple.
Have been enjoying these articles and snippets about managing the household mess etc.
after years of cleaning my own home and the homes of others, there are a few items that I would not be without:
1. A long handled dustpan and brush
2. a broom to scrub the bathroom and shower recess
3. a ‘clean’ mop for mopping out the bottom of the fridge and hard to get out corners in the kitchen cupboards.
4. a second toilet brush (DEFINITELY NOT FOR THE TOILET) but to use in other difficult places where a long handled brush might be more efficient.
I have also found that a dish washing brush in the bathroom and laundry is a must for scrubbing around taps and fittings. The second toilet brush can also be used for this purpose.
I have found too that cream cleansers in the bathroom and laundry can help encourage mould if not washed away properly.
Anything that helps you work smarter not harder is a must.
Cheers
Clarrie.