Keeping Your House Clean | 10 Minutes A Day

If you're anything like me, you dread cleaning the house. Yes, that's right. I'm a stay at home mom who hates cleaning, go figure. I want to let you know that there is hope. I recently found this AMAZING cleaning resource, For The Love of Clean, and it's led me to a serious intervention. I have no choice but to love cleaning, because having a clean house means having a clean mind... or something like that. Clear mind, maybe?

Here's my newfound secret to keeping a tidy house -- a little bit at at time.

I clean my house every day, and although that sounds like it would be tiring it isn't, because I only spend about 10 minutes a day cleaning. (Give or take when there's an extra mess). Here's how...

(See Gracie with her collection of diapers hanging to dry? She's obsessed with her cloth, just like me haha. Those are her Charlie Banana pocket diaper covers, and that gorgeous floral one is their new swim diaper print, Floriana. Do you use swim diapers?)

Monday: Kitchen
Mondays can be rough. There are some days where I get a ton of stuff done, and other days where I literally can't deal... so it just depends on my mood! I obviously clean my kitchen every time I use it, I wipe up messes when G eats, and I almost always do the dishes when I eat so that they don't pile up, but I also spend my Monday getting my kitchen ready to be used.

First, I make sure the dishes are done, and I deep clean the sink and counters if they aren't already clean. Then I wipe down the cupboards with some warm water and some dish soap. I do the same thing in my fridge and kind of re-organize it so I know what foods I have for the week. This is pretty much all I do in my kitchen other than deep cleaning my floors (vacuuming/mopping) but that's coming up next!

Tuesday: Floors
So, I don't sweep. I don't have to. I have this gorgeous Dyson V6 Animal cordless vacuum and it literally does everything I could ever want and more. First I use the hardwood floor attachment and clean my floors downstairs (as you can see I have tile) so I don't have to sweep at all, which is glorious. Then I vacuum my rugs downstairs with the carpet attachment! This takes all of five minutes if I'm wearing G, and I pretty much always do when I clean.

Then I go upstairs and vacuum our rooms and hallway. It's pretty easy and done in ten minutes if I stay focused. I love the feeling of clean floors.

Also, confession: I use my vacuum almost every day when cleaning up after G when she eats on the carpet or in her high chair, haha. Honestly, it's been a major life changer since my previous vacuum weighed like 50 pounds.

Wednesday: Laundry

Try to limit it to two loads if you can - if you keep up with the schedule then you won't have that much laundry... keep in mind, though - we only have three people in our household. So laundry day may take a bit more time for you than it does for me. That being said... You should definitely get it all done in one day; don't drag it out. I'm talking wash, dry, fold, put away! It's sooo tough when you have loads and loads of clean, unfolded laundry sitting there!

I also cloth diaper, so I do laundry twice a week, but hey, that's my own personal choice to plague myself with more laundry haha. I think it's worth it! I love cloth diapering - we use Charlie Banana's one size pocket diapers, and they have an amazing new tencel blend material that is SO soft! I love that they come in a variety of prints and colors!

Thursday: Bathrooms (may take longer, but 1 out of 7 days over 10 minutes isn't bad)

This one is tough because I have three bathrooms so sometimes it can take a bit more than 10 minutes. My routine for bathroom cleaning is quick, however, so I try to get it out of the way in the morning before starting my day so that I feel accomplished! 

Always start from the ground up. So ceiling/walls/windows, then wipe counters and mirrors, then clean toilets, and floors last. Once a month I do a deep clean of our showers and grout. For The Love of Clean has great tips and resources for deep cleaning bathrooms!

Pictured above: The U.S.H. Sock Monster - a place to store all of your mismatched socks until you find their mate!

Friday: Bedrooms

Bedrooms are pretty easy if you keep them somewhat clean on the daily. Making your bed is a great way to feel like your room is clean. Same thing goes for picking up your clothes when you're done wearing them [unless you're like my hubby who prefers to leave them sprawled on the floor]. Having a clean room, free of clutter is super nice at the end of a long day, however, so try to keep that picked up!

As far as kiddo rooms, picking up anything that gets thrown about or left out during the week is probably a good idea. By this time, it's Friday, so the weekend is here and you've got lots of weekend plans which means your babes won't be playing in their rooms often, which then means you get to start your week off with clean kiddo rooms! Make this a family effort if you have older kids. My mom used to put on music and we would all clean (she would clean her room, and my sister and I would have to clean ours) we always felt better about cleaning our room when we knew she had to clean hers too haha. 

If you're like me and have a toddler, however, you're just going to have to do twice the work and until they're old enough to help, and also utilize #babywearing all day, every day, to keep that little toddling love from making a mess as you clean up a mess!

Saturday: Outdoor Yard Work OR Day of Rest

I'm not big into outdoor cleaning like mowing lawns, but if I were, I'd probably make it a family event on Saturdays -- or you can leave your grass long/hire someone to do it and take a Day of Rest!

Sunday: Declutter

This one really is ten minutes or under because it's just getting ready for the busy week ahead! I love starting off with a tidy house... free of toys strewn about or dishes it the sink. On Sundays, anything I didn't get to do one day that previous week because I was too busy, I do on Sundays, in addition to decluttering/picking up my house! It feels amazing.

This intervention has taught me so much about how important it is to maintain a clean living space. Believe it or not, no one taught me how to clean. No one said "this is how often you clean your sheets" or "this is the type of cleaner you need for your bathroom/shower" I kind of just had to learn it on my own. So, here I am 26 years later, a mama and wife, finally getting my stuff together! ha.

I truly want to know if you try this out, and whether it works for you! Try it for a week, or maybe the whole month of August, and let me know! You can also join in on all of the mom convos in our Mom Tribe over on Facebook! We'd love to have you.

*This vacuum was provided to me free of charge by Dyson, which is what inspired me to share this content with you. Thank you so much for reading!

xo. L