Clutter Free Home: Organize Your Kid’s Clutter

June 13

It’s easy to accumulate a lot of clutter and become disorganized when you have kids. Each season of life brings new gear, new toys, clothes, and craft supplies to name a few. Helping our kids grow, supporting their hunger for learning, and celebrating birthdays is fun, but can make a mom feel like there’s no way to get on top of all of the kid’s clutter. Read on if you want a clutter-free home, tips to get your kids involved in decluttering and organizing, along with storage ideas.

How do you get your child to declutter?

Kids as young as 3 years old can get involved in decluttering (to some degree.) When my daughter was three, she wanted a Melissa and Doug ice cream cart. It was a great toy, but I was concerned that we were accumulating too much stuff. So, I made a deal with her. If she chose 5 toys to donate or sell, we could get the new one. It was a bit of a struggle, but after some deliberation, she made her decisions.

That was one of the first times I involved her in the process, but on a regular basis, we sort through clothes and shoes she’s outgrown along with toys she no longer uses. Now, at five-years-old, she is more involved in the process and deciding what goes and what stays. Here are a few tips to get your child involved in decluttering.

Create time to declutter as a family

Make decluttering a regular practice so that it doesn’t become an overwhelming job. Determine the cadence that’s right for you…maybe you do it every 3 months, maybe you declutter a different family member’s room every month, maybe you have a “one thing in/ one thing out” policy. The bottom line, it’s up to you to make a routine and to set the expectation.

Involve your child in decluttering

Depending on their age, ask them to identify the number of toys they no longer play with, clothes they’ve outgrown, or things they don’t wear. Explain to them why it’s important to declutter and organize. See if you can find a reason why it might be important to them personally.

Create reasonable tasks

No one wants to be overwhelmed with decluttering and organizing. If you can do things a little at a time on a more frequent basis, then it becomes routine. Ultimately it lightens the load and makes it easier on everyone.

As you assign decluttering tasks to your kids, make sure they are sized appropriately for their age. You may ask a young child to choose between a couple of toys or books. You could ask them to find 3 shirts that no longer fit etc. For older kids, you can assign a drawer to go through or a row of clothes in their closet. As they get older, you can assign tasks that require more time or more thought.

Teach your kids the value of passing things on

I remember as a child, my mom passing on our gently used clothes to a family friend. It left an impression on me that we could share things that would bless others. Both new and gently used items.

In the story, I shared earlier about my daughter picking out 5 toys to give away. One of the items was a dollhouse she didn’t play with. A day after she selected her toys to donate, we learned about a girl close to my daughter’s age that didn’t have many toys. This was a great opportunity to share things my daughter still liked but that someone else would treasure.

By creating time to declutter, being a role model, creating reasonable tasks, and teaching your child the value of passing things on, you can get your child to declutter and organize with you!

How do you organize your kid’s clutter?

Ok, so now you have your kids on board and you’re on a mission to conquer your kid’s clutter, organize the kid’s toys, and implement easy children’s bedroom storage ideas. Let’s talk about toy storage first.

Let me be honest with you…I am not a minimalist. We love to give or kids things or buy gifts for family members birthday’s etc. I’m also pretty good at rationalizing why we “need” to get “insert item name here.” With this as the backdrop, you can imagine the number of toys, activities, and crafts we accumulated with having young kids at home (no daycare) + long winter months. A ton!!!

Learning how to declutter and organize was a top priority for us. Let me share a few helpful tips to help you organize your kids clutter.

Organization Tips for kids toys and things

Assign everything a home. Anything that doesn’t have an assigned home quickly becomes clutter
Store things in close proximity to where you use them
When possible, store things vertically instead of in a pile so that you see what you have. This works well for clothes, craft paper, board games, and puzzles.
Store big items in the back, small items in the front, and heavy items down low.
Implement a rotation system for toys. If you have a lot of toys, you can put 80% of them up in a bin in a closet and rotate them out every week or every month. This cuts down on visual clutter and keeps your kids interested in the newly released toys once you rotate.
Use storage containers and label them. More on this in the next section.

Storage Ideas including toy organizer and craft cart

Whether you’re looking for a toy organizer or just a way to keep the kid’s clutter away, here are some helpful storage products you can use.

Clear plastic storage bins – these are great if you’re storing out-of-season clothes or doing a toy rotation. Make sure they are clear so that you can see what’s inside.
Under the bed storage bins are great for things you want easy access to including kids toys like legos, barbies, board games, etc.
Square cubby boxes are terrific for separating like toys. You can have one cubby box for plastic dinosaurs and another box for toy cars.
Baskets – I love love love baskets. They are my go-to storage container. I love that they can look nice and adult-ish, but store things that are kid-friendly. I have one in every room that my kids play in so that we can easily pick up toys.
Craft Cart – Like I confessed earlier, our craft supplies was out of control. We finally made a craft cart with pretty labels. Our supplies were neatly organized and easy for the kids to find and more importantly…put back on their own!

Maintaining a clutter-free home

Once you have your kids involved, the kid clutter organized, and storage solutions in place, it’s time to deal with clutter traps…with solutions that work. By addressing your most common clutter traps, you’ll be able to maintain the organization you’ve established and keep the kid’s clutter away!

Step 1: Identify your top clutter traps

Step 2: Decide why it’s a clutter trap. Is it a storage, assignment, routine, or motivation problem?

Step 3: Solve the problem. Have a place for clutter to go, assign a home, or implement a new routine.

Step 4: Get your family involved. You likely didn’t cause the clutter yourself and you won’t solve the clutter yourself. Make sure your family is aware of assigned homes. Labels can help with this. Ensure there are strong routines in place.

Step 5: Make it a practice to frequently declutter and get rid of stuff you don’t use and don’t bring you joy!

Check out Decluttering Tips: Deal With Clutter Traps For Good for more ideas.

It’s true, kids clutter can be overwhelming but it is possible to have a clutter-free home. Don’t try to do it all by yourself. Involve your kids in conquering the clutter. Once you have them onboard, make sure you use the simple organization tips we reviewed earlier. Make sure the things you keep all have an assigned place and implement smart storage solutions. These home organization ideas will help you conquer kids clutter and maintain a clutter-free home!

The Exact Way to do Marie Kondo’s Decluttering Method

May 31

Are you looking for a decluttering method that will stick? One that will prevent you from relapsing into clutter chaos? The KonMari Method promises to do just that! Read on to discover the Exact Way To Do Marie Kondo’s decluttering method.

Marie Kondo tidying - folded kitchen linens in white basket, top view with text the exact way to do marie kondo's decluttering method

Who is Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo is a Cleaning and Organizing consultant from Japan. She’s was listed as one of Time Magazine’s most influential people in 2015. She started reading home and lifestyle magazines when she was five and studying ‘tidying” at the age of 15. Her best selling book, the Life-changing magic of tidying up came to the United States in 2014. In 2019, Netflix released her series “Tidying Up” which took her decluttering approach to millions around the world.

What is the KonMari Method?

The KonMari Method is Marie’s very specific approach to decluttering and organization. She refers to it as “tidying up.” KonMari is a combination of Marie’s first and last names.

The KonMari Method is comprised of six rules of tidying

Commit yourself to tidying up
Imagine your ideal lifestyle
Finish discarding first
Tidy by category and not a location
Follow the right order
Ask yourself if it sparks joy

There are two basic components to the method 1) discarding and 2) deciding where to store things. Kondo helps you figure out the things you want to keep so that you can get rid of the rest. She is a big advocate of discarding, and is a minimalist at heart!

What are the Exact things Marie Kondo says I need to do?

It’s important to note Marie believes tidying is not about a set of rules. But infusing your own preferences and making your own choices about the things in your home. While I’m going to cover the “rules” that are included in her books, to achieve the KonMari level of tidying up, you must apply your personal values.

Marie promises if you do her approach the exact way she prescribes that

“when you have finished cleaning up once and for all, you will never again relapse into clutter.” -Spark Joy, Marie Kondo

1) Commit yourself to tidying up

The KonMari Method is not for the faint. It’s intense and requires a big-time commitment. The payoff, she promises if you put in the work and make tidying an event instead of small chores like discarding one item every day, you will be more likely to complete the work and maintain the result. Discard in one major event instead of little by little. By taking it on as an event, you’ll change your mindset, see results, and won’t relapse into clutter.

2) Imagine your ideal lifestyle

Next, she encourages her clients to envision their ideal living space. What do you want to achieve once your tidying extravaganza is complete? How do you want the space to feel? Take a picture of the “before” state so that when you get weary in the process, you can remind yourself of how far you’ve come. Your vision of the future state will also help you stay motivated to complete the process.

3) Finish discarding first

To do the KonMari method exactly, you must discard before you organize. If you take clothes as an example. You’ll need to sort through all your clothes and identify the ones you are discarding and the ones you are keeping. Only after you’ve gone through all your clothes in the house, will you be able to organize the remaining clothes. Until you know how much stuff you have, it’s impossible to store and organize it.

4) Discard by category, not location:

This is a big one. Many home organization experts recommend tackling clutter room by room. The KonMari Method is strikingly different on this. She encourages you to declutter by category and not location.

KonMari’s clients gather all the “category” items throughout your house and place them in the center of the floor. This helps you see how much you’ve accumulated and makes you deal with it at one time instead of repeating the process with the same types of items many times.

By approaching it this way you avoid shuffling things from one room to another. Have you ever picked up stuff in a room, had a pile of things you didn’t know what to do with, and set them in another room to deal with “later.” When you finally get to that other room, you go through the same process with that exact pile.

Marie’s point, if you discard by category, you avoid this redundant cycle.

Also, as I mentioned before, the other aspect that’s powerful about her approach is by gathering all the things in said category e.g. clothes, you can see the magnitude of how much “stuff” you’ve accumulated in your home. Ultimately, it fuels the motivation to discard and pare down.

5) Follow the right order of categories

We just talked about approaching tidying by category instead of by room. Well, the KonMari Method spells out the specific order in which you approach those categories. Based on her experience with clients, Marie has tidying down to an exact science. Essentially, her goal is to go from easiest to most difficult.

The primary criteria for deciding to keep or toss things is “does it bring joy?” (more on this in the next section.) In her experience, people are the most “in tune” with their clothes and can more quickly learn to decipher if something brings joy or not. Thus, she starts with clothes.

But, sentimental items, like your kid’s artwork, your mom’s china, or a life-long collection of birthday cards are much more difficult decisions to make. Other emotions run deep with sentimental things. You may feel a sense of obligation to keep or guilt for wanting to discard an item. This is why she has sentimental things as the last category to sort.

The Recommended order of Categories for Tidying Up

Clothes
Books
Papers
Miscellany
Sentimental Things

It’s important to note, the KonMari Method also has an order of categories within each category. For example, when sorting clothing, you should do it in the following order: tops, bottoms, clothes that should be hung, socks, underwear, bags, accessories, clothes for specific events e.g. swimsuits, and shoes.

Grab your free copy of my printable that summarize her recommended order for tidying up, so that you can have it at a glance!

6) Ask yourself if it sparks joy -The Identification Process

Interestingly, Marie encourages people to focus on what they want to keep instead of what they want to get rid of. She has one criteria – “Does it spark joy?” Her recommendation is that the things we keep we should enjoy, they are things that should make us happy, and thus, the only things that stay in our house (for the most part) are the things that “spark joy.”

Don’t change the method Aim for perfection

Marie Kondo is known for her decluttering genius. She has helped hundreds if not thousands of clients around the world. Based on her tried and tested methods, she tells readers to set the bar high. Aim for perfection! Yes, it will be hard, but don’t change the method. She shares that out of all her clients she has NEVER had one person relapse into clutter. The tidying process helped their homes and changed their lives.

This is the Exact Way To Do Marie Kondo’s decluttering method in a nutshell. If you’re intrigued and want more, I strongly encourage you to go get her two books. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up- is a great overview of her process. She shares in much more detail than I have out to apply the 6 rules we reviewed along with tips that will help you:

Identify what “sparks joy”
Know how to approach each category
What to discard
What to do with the things you keep

I also found that her second book “Spark Joy” is helpful if you’re looking for more detail. There are a few pictures included and more tips around how to apply the KonMari method.

More Decluttering Inspiration

16 Things Marie Kondo Says Everyone Should Discard

Minimalist Storage Tips from Marie Kondo

Decluttering Tips: Deal With Clutter Traps For Good

Decluttering: 100+ Things You Can Get Rid of (and never miss)

Common Decluttering Barriers and Solutions

15 Minute Decluttering Tasks That Don’t Overwhelm

How To Deal With Decluttering Guilt

KonMari Shortcuts - Alternative Decluttering Methods

Decluttering: 100+ Things You Can Get Rid of (and never miss)

May 24

Is your biggest challenge with decluttering just getting started? Do you look around the house and feel overwhelmed by the pile of clothes you haven’t worn in 6 months, stacks of unread self-help books, and mismatched plastic containers in your kitchen? Maybe you know what needs to get don’t but just don’t have the time to do it. That’s how I’ve felt since having two young kids. I love to organize, but where do I find the time? Many people say, once they start they feel a sense of accomplishment and become excited to keep going. Maybe you don’t have a lot of time to dedicate to a decluttering project, but chances are you could commit to getting rid of 1 or even 5 things every day.

Are you ready to get rid of that dusty pile that accumulated in the corner? Do you want to only have perfectly matched plastic containers in your kitchen drawer? Get unstuck this week! Check out this list of 100+ things you can get rid of and never miss!

Paper

1. Unread books

2. Reference books

3. Books you’ve already read and don’t plan on reading again

4. Old receipts

5. Credit card and bank statements

6. Old warranties

7. User manuals

8. Finished notebooks

9. Old magazines

10. Travel guide books

11. Newspapers more than a couple of days old

12. Expired coupons and vouchers

13. Old invitations and save-the-dates

14. Old planners and calendars

15. Greeting cards with no sentimental value

16. Takeout Menus

17. Phone books

18. Catalogs

19. Business cards that you don’t need

20. Old school books

21. Random scraps of paper

Linens

22. Spare sets of bedding

23. Towels that are thin, worn-out, or with holes

24. Old pillows

25. Excessive amounts of extra blankets

26. Dining room linens you never use e.g. placemats, cloth napkins, table clothes, or table runners

Toiletries & Health

27. Cosmetic samples

28. Old Nail Polish

29. Old sunscreen

30. Hair appliances you no longer use e.g. Hot Rollers

31. Expired medicines

32. Old vitamins

33. Unused products from the latest health craze

34. Old Make Up

35. Old toothbrushes

36. Broken rubber bands and barrettes

37. Hair accessories you don’t use

38. Lotions and shower gel you’ve had over a year

39. Perfumes and cologne that you don’t use or that is over 2 years old

Clothes & Things You Wear

40. Mismatched socks

41. Clothing that your kids have outgrown

42. Clothing that does not fit, is stained, or worn out

43. Bras with the underwire poking out

44. Underwear with holes

45. Shoes that no longer fit or are worn out

46. Scratched sunglasses

47. Accessories you haven’t worn in a year

48. Old athletic wear

49. Eyeglasses with the wrong prescription

50. Free promotional T-shirts you never wear

51. Earrings that are missing a half

52. Broken Jewelry

53. Purses you never use

Kitchen Items

54. Cooking appliances you no longer use e.g. a vegetable steamer, bread machine

55. Expired food (in the pantry and the refrigerator)

56. Extra miss-matched coffee mugs

57. Plastic grocery bags

58. Containers without matching lids

59. Chipped dishes

60. Condiment packets

61. Cooking utensils you have multiples of

62. Empty bottles

63. Magnets on the fridge that you don’t use

64. Recipe books you never use

65. Old party supplies

66. Dish clothes that have holes or are smelly

67. Old cookware that is chipped or pealing

Technology

68. Boxes for electronics

69. Unidentified cords

70. Old DVDs and CDs you no longer use

71. Old cell phones

72. Old remote controls

73. Old electronics…e.g. a boom box or walkman

Garage & Garden

74. Garden equipment you never use

75. Tools you no longer need or use

76. Gallons of old paint

77. Cardboard boxes from your last move

78. Scraps of wood from old DIY projects

79. Sports equipment you no longer use

Cleaning Supplies

80. Old cleaning products you never use

81. Dried up shoe polish

82. Cleaning rags that have holes or are smelly

DIY & Crafts

83. Materials from an unfinished project

84. Spare buttons

85. Unused craft supplies

86. Pens with no ink

87. Dried out markers

88. Dried out paint

Kid Stuff

89. Broken toys

90. Plastic junk toys that come in kid’s meals, grab bags or carnivals

91. Stuffies with no sentimental value

92. Random crafts with no sentimental value

93. Equipment from abandoned hobbies (ballet shoes for the girl that detests ballet)

94. Toys they’ve outgrown

95. Games with missing pieces

96. Sheets of stickers they aren’t interested in

97. Books that are torn or that have pages stuck together

98. Toys they don’t use e.g. the dollhouse that’s in the corner

99. Furniture they’ve outgrown

100. Equipment they’ve outgrown e.g. stroller, tricycle

Miscellaneous:

101. Broken appliances

102. Games that are missing pieces

103. Extra handbags, duffle bags, briefcases that you no longer use

104. CDs

105. DVDs

106. Cassette Tapes

107. VHS

108. Empty boxes

109. Broken holiday decorations

110. Tourist swag

111. Gifts you don’t like

112. Dead or almost dead plants

113. Broken luggage

Per Marie Kondo…

114. Everything that doesn’t spark joy

Wow, who knew there were so many things you could discard today?!? If you want some more ideas about what to discard or how to declutter in a way that doesn’t overwhelm, check out these posts!

More Decluttering Inspiration

16 Things Marie Kondo Says Everyone Should Discard

Minimalist Storage Tips from Marie Kondo

Decluttering Tips: Deal With Clutter Traps For Good

Decluttering: 100+ Things You Can Get Rid of (and never miss)

Common Decluttering Barriers and Solutions

15 Minute Decluttering Tasks That Don’t Overwhelm

How To Deal With Decluttering Guilt

KonMari Shortcuts - Alternative Decluttering Methods

15 Minute Decluttering Tasks That Don’t Overwhelm

May 22

We all want to declutter, but feel like we need a major chunk of time to make a difference. I have two young kids and recently realized I had decluttered and organized 18 different areas of our house over the last year. This was impressive. How was I able to accomplish this with a toddler, preschooler, and two jobs? Then I realized the secret to keeping the home tidy during a busy season of life. Do things in small increments that don’t overwhelm. Check out this list of over twenty-five 15-minute decluttering tasks that don’t overwhelm.

Get Started Decluttering!

Paper

Paper clutter accumulates easily in our homes. If you have kids, there are craft projects they bring home, school paperwork, and those Scholastic flyers with the books they want you to order. As an adult, there is junk mail, magazines, user manuals, and bills that can collect. Each of these tasks can take as little as 15 minutes. Note, you’ll probably have to repeat the process several times to finish the job, but that’s ok. Our aim is progress, not perfection. Oh, and to only do decluttering tasks that don’t overwhelm. So, if this is an overwhelming place to start…go to a different category!

Sort through mail
Pick a pile of paper to sort through
Organize books – find at least 10 to discard
Clean out your magazines, recycle as many as possible
Discard any user manuals or old warranties
Request all bills be put on the paperless option an emailed to you instead of mailed

Clothing

We outgrow clothing, styles change, socks get lost, and the fabric gets worn out. Check out these four 15 minute decluttering tasks that don’t overwhelm.

Clean out your underwear and sock drawers. Throw away, or set aside any socks that don’t have a match and any underwear that is no longer useful
KonMari a Drawer or two. So, this goes against one of Marie Kondo’s primary philosophies, but it works none the less. She encourages people to do a tidying marathon and take on a lot at once. That didn’t work for me, BUT taking on a drawer at a time did. I implemented her vertical filing for clothes throughout our house over the course of a few days. It was life changing!
Clean out kid’s clothes that they’ve outgrown…just tackle one or two drawers or one rod in a closet. We have to do this about every three to six months at our house. (our kids grow fast). Even today, I sat down and took out all of the summer clothes from last summer that my daughter had outgrown. I did about 4 drawers in 15 minutes.
Identify 5 things to get rid of from your closet. I find my closet is a little harder to declutter. If I challenge myself to find 5 things I can part with, it makes it a whole lot easier. Again, little by little is the principle here!

Kitchen

There are at least ten areas of the kitchen you can declutter and tidy in 15 minutes or less.

Clean out expired food from the refrigerator
Pantry – take this on one zone at a time
1. sort through herbs and spices and throw away expired items
2. Baking supplies
3. Sauces and Oils
4. Cereals, Crackers, Chips, Snacks
Tidy and declutter the junk drawer
Clean out the medicine cabinet by throwing away any expired medicines
Get rid of plastic containers without lids
Discard any cups, plates, or bowls with chips
Pair down your kid’s dish collection including kid’s plates, bowls, and sippy cups.

Cosmetics and Toiletries

The bathroom can easily become a clutter trap. Again, you can take it on one drawer at a time. Check out these two bathroom decluttering tasks that don’t overwhelm.

Declutter bathroom vanity drawers
Throw away hotel toiletries and cosmetic samples you haven’t used in a year or more.

Miscellaneous

Finally, check out a few more things you can easily declutter in 15 minutes without overwhelm.

Clean out the toy box – if you have young kids, this can become the land of misfit toys. Clean it out every few months and discard anything that’s broken or missing parts.
Sort DVDs
Clean out your wallet
Clean out your purse

Stop Decluttering Overwhelm

Let’s say no to overwhelm and yes to productivity! Doing things in small increments can be incredibly helpful as you tidy up. This list of 25+ areas to declutter won’t overwhelm. Start small, commit to fifteen minutes and watch as your house is transformed. You’ll be surprised at your sense of accomplishment and empowerment as you tackle one area at a time.

Looking for more inspiration? Check out these posts:

Clutter – What it is and How to Stop Things from Accumulating

Decluttering Tips to Deal with Clutter Traps For Good

How to Keep your House Clean with 10 Minute Speed Cleaning

May 19

I do not love to clean. Truth be told, it’s a task that’s usually at the bottom of my to-do list (except for when we have friends coming over!) Honesty counts right?!? Daily there is too much to do and to little time to do it. I’m not alone! Many of us wonder how to keep our houses clean with so many competing priorities.

Cleaning is similar to exercise. I like the end result, but mustering up the motivation to actually do it can be a struggle. With exercise, I’ve found that when life gets too busy to squeeze it in if I can commit to a small amount of time e.g. 10-30 minutes, I’m motivated to be more consistent and some days I even exceed my expectations! If cleaning is like exercising when you commit to short bursts of work, then you’ll likely be more consistent and ultimately motivated to get more done.

Busy & Overwhelmed

Life is busy. Many of us are overwhelmed and focused on the urgent things we have to get done every day. If you’re not motivated to clean, you can find every excuse in the world to avoid it, but I’ve got a quick and easy solution for you. Even the busiest person can squeeze 10 minutes from their day.

Cleaning Routine Transformation Tip

Fitting in 10 minutes to clean and being consistent daily, can make a big difference. Especially if you’re not the only member of the 10 Minute Cleaning Pit Stop team. Yes, I said “team.” Many hands make light work. Get other family members involved and you will transform your cleaning routine! We’ll talk more about this at the end of the post

Speed Cleaning Tips

Decide what you want to tackle

Tip: look around where you are in that very moment and take on a task that is close in proximitiy to where you are. The more conveinet, the more likely you are to do it!

Set a timer for 10 minutes
Go get’em

You may be so happy with the end result that you decide to do another 10 minute task later in the day!!!

Ok, so now, let’s explore the list of 50+ 10 Minute Cleaning Tasks. Note: Because we all have different size homes and a different number of people living in our home, these tasks are approximations. If you have a smaller home you may be able to scrub all of the toilets, but if you have a larger home (or messier people living there 🙂 you may only be able to scrub 2 toilets.

Kitchen:

The hub of the home and clutter trap for many! Trust me, I know from daily experience! While the kitchen can get messy pretty quickly, it can also be cleaned in small bursts. There are many 10 minute tasks you (and your family) can do to help keep the kitchen tidy!

Clear the counter and put things up
Wipe down the counters and table
Wipe down appliances
Clean out the dishwasher
Empty the sink / Load the dishwasher
Run a cup of vinegar through an empty dishwasher
Sweep the floors
Mop the floors
Take out the trash
Clean Microwave and Scrub the Sink
Clean Oven
Wipe out the Utensil drawer

Living Room:

The Living Room can often see as much action as the kitchen, but because you’re not prepping food there, it doesn’t require as much clean up. Here are six 10 minute speed cleaning tasks you can work into your weekly routine.

Dust
Vacuum
Dust Frames and Hanging Pictures
Quick Pick Up
Wipe down blinds
Fold Blankets and Fluff pillows

Bathrooms:

Most homes have multiple bathrooms. You can either take on a lot of parts in one bathroom and do a quick 10 minute speed cleaning or you can tackle the same cleaning task across all bathrooms, for example, you could clean all of the toilets in your home in 10ish minutes.

Clean the toilets (up to 3 bathrooms)
Wipe down the counters (up to 3 bathrooms)
Empty the waste baskets (all bathrooms)
Clean the bathtub and shower
Clean the mirrors (up to 4 bathrooms)
Change out hand towels and restock toilet paper
Clean your make up brushes

Bedrooms:

I’m going to share a deep dark secret with you. I don’t hang my clothes up every day. During the week I’m usually moving fast and moving from one thing to the next. From time to time (ahem, EVERY WEEK) I get into a rut and let my clothes pile up in my dressing area. So, if you’re not a clothes pile-r, then some of these activities won’t relate to you, but if you are…I’ve got quick solutions!

Sort clothes into piles hang, fold, wash
Hang up clothes
Fold and put up clean clothes
Do a quick pick up of anything that has accumulated on horizontal surfaces (top of a dresser, floor, night stand, etc.)
Make the bed
Change the sheets in 2 bedrooms
Dust
Vacuum

Laundry:

Now, the laundry can be a monster if you don’t stay on top of it! IMO! If you do a little each day, you will easily keep things in check. Let’s look at five 10 minute speed cleaning tasks.

Start a load of laundry
Fold a load of laundry
Iron a couple of shirts
Sort the items to take to the dry cleaner
Put up clothes

Misc:

Let’s cover our last speed cleaning category so that you never have to ask “how to keep your house clean” again! Our category covers the span of the house. They are things you can find in multiple rooms or areas. Again, all 10 minute speed cleaning tasks you can take on when you don’t have much time!

Wipe down the baseboards
Wipe down light fixtures
Tidy linen closet
Return items to their original location e.g. things the kids brought downstairs to play with, need to go back to their rooms
Wipe down door knobs with anti-bacterial wipes
Organized books / magazines
Change the Kitty Litter
Wipe down the pet’s food area
Wipe down light switches with antibacterial wipes
Clean off the ceiling fan blades
Change the furnace or A/C filters
Clean out the cob-webs from the ceilings

But what if I don’t love cleaning?

So, as I admitted up front, I don’t love cleaning. I do love to find things to help pass the time while I’m cleaning. Here are a few ways you can engage your mind while you speed clean.

Turn on a TV show if you’re in a room with a Television
Take your tablet or laptop and put on Netflix, watch a Facebook Live, or catch your favorite Pastor online sharing a message.
Listen to a podcast
Put on upbeat music
Listen to a book on tape

Involve others

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that you should involve your family in speed cleaning. This will help the work to get done faster and make sure responsibility is shared. Here are a few ideas for getting kids involved.

If you’re dusting areas, give the kids a rag and let them help
Make the speed cleaning a game…for example, see who can pick up the most toys in 10 minutes.
Do a challenge between two members of the family. My daughter and I are working on creating a new habit of making up our beds every morning before the day starts. We keep track of who made their beds the most times during the week. The winner has bragging writes (hey, it works!) and sometimes a little incentive. For me, it’s a foot massage, for her, it’s a coin.

Bottom line, even if you don’t love cleaning, and you’re tired of asking how you can keep your house clean there are many things you can do in only 10 minutes. By committing to dedicate 10 minutes a day, you can keep things in check. Involving other household members will also lighten the load. This list of 50+ Cleaning Tasks you can do in 10 minutes or less gives you an idea of where to start. Are you ready? Set? Go!

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