Some posts here on ARoseTintedWorld may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click a link and buy a product or register, then I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. I may also use products from the companies mentioned in these posts. Thank you for supporting my blog!
Some people really love cleaning house and tidying up and will happily spend the whole day doing it. Other would much rather be doing something else but still want to live in organised and tidy surroundings. If you’re mostly in the second camp, we’ve rounded up some great ideas you can put into practice today, whizzing through the housework in a fraction of the time. Here are some fast tidy up tips.
*This post on tidy up tips is a collaborative post – for more details please see my Disclosure Policy
Fast Tidy Up Tips You Can Use Today
Do a Deeper Clean and Sort Out
This isn’t as quick a task as the following ones. But once done it will make daily tidy ups go a lot faster.
Start with the sort out. Get rid of everything that’s broken or just rubbish. Go from room to room armed with a big bin bag and gather up all the stuff that lurks in drawers, closets and cupboards. We’ve all got our share of random elastic bands and old receipts.
When you’ve dealt with the rubbish, tackle dividing the family’s possessions according to when they’re used during the year. It might be sports kit or seasonal clothing, garden items, DIY or vehicle maintenance products. Instead of letting those take up valuable cupboard space, consider renting a self storage room so you can get them out of the house until they’re needed.
With storage facilities mostly being in handy locations, if you need something back unexpectedly it’s no big deal to go and fetch it.
Involve the Family
If the house always looks great, with socks picked up, toys tidied away, shoes in neat rows and coats on their pegs, other family members might think it happens without effort.
Without making a big deal of it, have a family discussion about how much work is involved in keeping the place neat. And then ask for their help. Even very young toddlers can learn to place toys in a basket when they’re finished.
If everyone agrees to do just a bit by picking up after themselves, the annoying small things won’t get on top of you so much. If you’ve always been the one to tidy up, be prepared to do a bit of reminding. Old habits are hard to break, so you might need to call on your patience reserves in the short term. There are some good strategies here.
Create a Place for Everything
It’s an old adage, but it works. From a hook or dish for keys by the door, to somewhere to temporarily stack junk mail or a shoe rack in the hallway, when things have a designated place it’s easier to be specific when it’s time for a reminder. ‘Please put your shoes on the rack’ is much more direct than ‘Tidy up your shoes, please’.
Tubs, baskets and boxes around the house can help control all the little things. From makeup to bathroom toiletries, small toys or hobby items. Choose ones that match your decor, and they look nice too.
Do Regular, Short Blitzes
It’s much easier to focus on cleaning for 10 or 15 minutes than it is to contemplate setting aside a whole morning or day.
If you give yourself 10 minutes in the morning and another 10 in the evening when the kids are in bed, you’ll prevent small tasks building into big ones.
Quick tidy-ups might include scrubbing the bathroom sink, emptying the dishwasher, picking up toys, carrying laundry upstairs or just plumping cushions and emptying bins. Small things can make a big difference and individually take little effort. It’s only when they mount up that it feels like mess is everywhere you look.
Work in a Logical Order
Clear the clutter on surfaces before dusting and dust before vacuuming. That way you don’t sprinkle fresh dust on a newly vacuumed carpet. Before you start, decide whether to focus on one room and finish it, or do individual tasks in multiple rooms.
Make a Cleaning Caddy
You could buy trays and carts especially for the job. Or just use an old ice cream tub or similar to keep cleaning tools together.
You don’t need a shop full of products, either. Include your favourite polish or multi-surface cleaner, your bathroom cleaning product, maybe a glass cleaner, and a duster or cloth or two. Keeping the caddy light makes it easier to move around, and stuff won’t fall out.
Make a Tidy-up Plan
Make lists of jobs that need doing regularly, such as vacuuming, dusting, washing dishes, mopping, fridge cleaning, pantry organising… whatever your personal task list is.
This isn’t necessarily something you’ll use all the time. But it’s a good way of getting going or devising a routine. Once you’ve run through the list a few times it’ll become automatic. It may help to earmark certain jobs for certain days, so you rotate and get a bit of variety.
From clearing space to work with the help of a self storage unit to having short, sharp cleaning blasts, there are lots of quick and easy ways to spend less time cleaning using these tidy up tips.
And despite the minimal effort, you’ll keep your home looking great.