29 Helpful & Productive Cleaning Hacks for Busy Moms
29 Helpful & Productive Cleaning Hacks for Busy Moms
Cleaning your house can be overwhelming, especially if you’re dealing with all the crazy parts of motherhood along with it. If you are anything like me, then you look for ways to make your life a little easier. And let me tell you, making cleaning easier is a win whether you have kids or not!
By putting systems into place, your home runs more efficiently (psst… stay tuned for a post on just that!) and you can focus on the more important aspects of your life, like actually spending time with your loved ones.
Today I’m sharing my favorite cleaning hacks for busy moms and I think you’re going to love it. So let’s get to it!
Do a Load of Laundry From Start to Finish Each Week Day
This will keep it from piling up and become a regular part of your routine. Laundry used to be the bane of my existence. I tried doing it all in one day but I’d get overwhelmed and never put it all away.
I tried doing it every single day but I’d inevitably get behind on a busy weekend and thus, frustrated I couldn’t stick with it. Now I stick to one load of laundry each weekday and it has made my weekends happier and my weekly schedule simpler.
I rarely get overwhelmed with the amount that needs to be done, and we always manage to have clean clothes for every person in the house.
Involve Your Kids
At first, it may take longer to get everything cleaned, but eventually ,your kiddo will have learned to help with the messes they make and (hopefully) be less inclined to make them when they know how much effort it takes to clean it up.
Set a Timer
At the end of the day, after my son is in bed, I take 10-15 minutes to ‘put the house to bed.’ This means locking doors, wiping down the counters and kitchen sink, starting the dishwasher, tidying up, and usually turning on a diffuser to create a calming atmosphere.
It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something even if the whole day has gotten away from me. Plus, I can start my days calm because I am not met with a pile of dishes and other chores right when I come downstairs in the morning.
Make Your Bed
This small task is one I swear by! It makes my bedroom feel put together, so when I walk by throughout the day, my home feels less chaotic. It also makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something right at the start of my day, which I think helps put me in a mindset to accomplish even more.
Put Toys in the Dishwasher
If you have dirty toys, the dishwasher is a great way to get them clean. Obviously, you cannot put toys with electronics in there, but plastic blocks, cars, pretend food, etc… can all be washed in the dishwasher. This is great if your kiddo is small enough to still put toys in their mouths!
*Be aware that more flimsy plastics may melt from the heat of the dishwasher, but hard plastic usually holds up pretty well. Be selective in what you choose to wash this way.*
Wipe Down Bathrooms Daily
This is a great trick to make your house feel more in order than it actually is. Wipe down the counters, mirrors and exterior shower glass each day. This keeps it dust free and you are less likely to have clutter because you are physically sweeping the area regularly. This is one of the daily tasks in my FREE weekly cleaning schedule.
Invest in a Tote
I keep all of my cleaning supplies in a caddy like this one. This makes it easy to carry from room to room. Plus, it all goes back on the shelf together so that I don’t have to keep looking for anything.
In it, I keep glass cleaner, shower cleaner, toilet cleaner, gloves, scrub brushes, a toothbrush for those hard to reach areas, a squeegee, a pumice stone, disinfectant wipes, and microfiber towels. You may keep different supplies, and that is totally fine, this is just what works for my family!
Use Tools That Help You
I have an 84 pound black lab and white doors and walls in my house. You can see the fur clearly. I swear by my robot vacuum. It runs twice a day (during nap and after bed) and it makes me feel so much better about the state of my house.
My husband did a lot of research on what would work best for our family (it even has a mopping feature!) while not being crazy expensive. If there is a gadget that saves you time and your sanity, use it!
Dust With an Old Sock
We all have socks that have lost their mate along the way. Put it to good use as a duster! Slip it on your hand and wipe down dusty areas. This works especially well for things with a lot of nooks and crannies, like an intricate lamp or house plants.
Don’t Put it Down, Put it Away
I am certainly guilty of dropping stuff on the kitchen table as I pass by, thinking I’ll come back right away to deal with it. Spoiler alert: I won’t. If you have something that you know needs to go back to your office, do not stop and set it down. Take it straight to the office. Your future self will thank you.
Degrease Exhaust Fans
The metal filters above your stove get greasy from all of the steam and heat from the food you are cooking. Clean them easily by placing them in a shallow bowl (or plugging your sink) and cover with white vinegar. Once fully submerged, pour baking soda on top and let the chemical reaction do the work for you. Leave for thirty minutes and then rinse with hot water. You shouldn’t even need to scrub!
Take Your Shoes Off in the House
This can be difficult if you have always worn shoes in your house, but believe me, you are tracking a lot of stuff on those shoes. Think about it: your shoes touch the ground, which has its own germs, it touches parking lots and sidewalks with car runoff, bits of food, bird poop, etc… The bottoms of your shoes are covered in germs. Don’t track those germs all over your house!
If you really like wearing shoes, invest in some house shoes that never go outside. That way your feet can stay warm and you avoid the yuckiness.
Clean Ceiling Fans With a Pillow Case
This cleaning hack is genius! Simply Put your open pillowcase over a fan blade, and wipe the case along the blade. The dust will get trapped inside the pillow case instead of falling down onto everything. When you are done, empty the dust into a trash can and turn the pillow case inside out before putting it in the washer.
Clean While You Cook
If you are waiting for a sauce to reduce, you have time to put away the ingredients you are done with. Waiting on a roast? Empty the dishwasher. This will save you from a big mess to clean up right when dinner is ready.
Clean Your Coffee Maker
If you have one of those single-cup coffee makers, this is extremely helpful! Don’t put a coffee pod in, but rather fill a mug with vinegar and pour it through. Let it brew. It is going to smell weird, but just go with it.
Repeat this process at least twice with water instead of vinegar to make sure your morning coffee doesn’t have a weird aftertaste. This will keep your machine from having build up and running well for longer.
Don’t Waste a Trip
If you are going from your kitchen to your bedroom (for any reason) take something from the kitchen that needs putting away with you. When you leave your bedroom, take something out of place there and put it back where it belongs in the garage. And so on and so on. Instead of waiting for things to pile up, put stuff back immediately.
Use Lemons to Clean the Microwave
Using lemons in a recipe? Save the lemon halves and put them in a microwave-safe bowl. Cover with hot water and microwave for a minute. The inside of the microwave should be warm and slightly steamy. Use the lemon halves to scrub the walls of the microwave and then wipe down with a clean towel.
The steam helps lift off stuck on food and the lemon is antibacterial.
Use a Pumice Stone
If you have hard water build up/calcification, you can use a pumice stone to scrub the toilet without damaging the porcelain. I got a pack for pretty cheap and they last quite a while. No more gross stains to look at in the bathroom!
Use Dryer Sheets on Your Baseboards
This will not only clean them, but keep them dust-free longer because they are anti-static. Dryer sheets also come in a wide variety of smells, which is nice for those that like it.
Don’t Forget to Clean the Dishwasher
The dishwasher is a star player in most homes these days, but don’t forget that it needs servicing too. Take the filter parts out of the bottom of the dishwasher and clean thoroughly. Run a hot water cycle with a cup of vinegar and baking soda to clear away build up. This will keep your dishes from fogging up over time, as well as lessen the chance that you will need to rewash dishes.
Pack Your Dishwasher Correctly
Another dishwasher tip is to make sure you are putting dishes in correctly. I once went down a rabbit hole of watching appliance repair videos and learned that your forks, spoons and other utensils are supposed to be pointing upward to ensure the best clean.
If you face them downward, the water has to compete with the utensil basket to get everything clean. Keep your knives pointing downward though, you don’t want to reach in and get stabbed!
Clean Your Shower Head
I’ll be honest, until a few years ago, I had never even thought about cleaning our shower head. But now that I know how, I cringe at the idea that I let them go uncleaned for so long! Simply take a ziplock bag and fill it with vinegar. You can add baking soda if you like, but I prefer just vinegar.
Fit the baggie over the shower head until it is fully immersed and secure in place with a rubber band. Let it soak overnight and then remove and discard. Your showerhead will be squeaky clean.
Clean Your Wooden Cutting Boards
I don’t put any wooden utensils in the dishwasher and I used to get frustrated that there were always stains on my cutting board. I’ve since learned that you can clean it with just salt and half a lemon. Sprinkle a decent amount of salt over your cutting board and use a cut lemon to scrub the board. Rinse and repeat as needed.
Need to Give the Dog a Bath?
We usually wash our dog outside, but when the weather gets cold, we move the circus indoors. After his bath, the tub is covered in wet dog hair, which is a pain to clean. Instead of trying to wipe it all up, wait a few hours, or even overnight. When the hair and tub have dried, simply use a hand broom to sweep the hair up and dispose of it! You can wash the tub like normal afterward without dealing with all that fur!
Wash All of Your Towels Together
1: It makes that single load of laundry super quick to fold and put away.
2: Towels make any load of laundry much bulkier, and can make a regular load seem like too much work (which leads to it not getting put away), so remove them from the equation.
Clean the Kitchen Sink Before Bed
I mentioned earlier that this allows you to wake up to a calm environment, but it also means that your dishes are either already in the dishwasher, waiting to run when it is full, or are already clean and waiting to be put away. Having a dirty sink immediately makes me frustrated at the start of the day, so doing this makes me feel like I can already check something off my list each day.
Dust With Dirty Clothes
Hear me out on this one. I’m not talking about muddy, greasy, or super dirty clothes. But if you have a t-shirt that is about to go in the washer anyways, use it to dust a room as you pass through. This keeps dust to a minimum, and your shirt can go straight into the washer after. Instead of setting aside time to dust the entire house, you can do it bit by bit.
Use a Squeegee After Each Shower
If you have hard water stains, a quick way to curb the buildup is to squeegee the glass after your shower. The steam will have made everything more easy to manage, and doing it regularly makes actually cleaning the shower much easier.
Wipe Down Counters After Doing Dishes
If you are hand washing dishes, use the towel you used to dry them to wipe down the kitchen counters when you are all done. It takes less than a minute and will help maintain cleanliness in the kitchen.
By implementing these small changes to your cleaning style, you can hack the system and get back your precious time. Drop a comment below and let me know your favorite cleaning hacks for busy moms!
