15 Steps to Keeping an Impeccably Clean House — All You Need is 15 Minutes

Create a monthly schedule, with one specific cleaning task (separate from everyday tidying and decluttering) each day, for a period of 15 minutes each day. Instead of devoting the bulk of a Saturday, say, to cleaning your home from top to bottom, instead outline specific tasks to be done each day. This will result in your home being in a perpetual state of cleanliness, while you can embrace the ease of doing a little regularly instead of doing a lot once in awhile.

Break down your home, room by room, and task by task, and then allocate one specific task for each day of the month, be it dusting in bedrooms and living room or giving the entire home a vacuum. Seriously, it really is that simple!

Each morning, spend a few minutes to review the specific cleaning goals you’ll be setting for the day. In addition, allow yourself a bit of time each morning to do any tidying that didn’t get done the night before, make beds, etc. Your daily cleaning task will go down a lot quicker if you don’t have to first deal with general tidying that could have been done in the morning.

One of the best habits you can adopt is to clean as you move around your home. Once tidying and cleaning becomes second nature, prepare to be amazed at how much you manage to accomplish without even realizing it. For example, once you get the hang of cleaning up while cooking a meal, the cleanup becomes so much easier – and the same holds true for other areas of the home as well.

Think of your home’s entrance as a filter to trap all the clutter that can be brought in from outside. That’s because the entry area can easily become cluttered depository for all the stuff brought inside – backpacks, shoes, keys, etc. – that risks undoing all your uncluttering efforts every time somebody walks through the door. That’s why it’s a great idea to create a “landing strip,” which doesn’t need to be big but should be functional by having a spot for keys (a small bowl or wall-mounted hooks), a bowl or container for your wallet and change, and an area where mail can be sorted when it arrives.

It’s so tempting to clear the dinner dishes and tell yourself you’ll get to those dishes later. This is a temptation that should be resisted. Putting things off just leaves you with more work to do later; spend a few minutes to take care of the dinner dishes immediately and you’ll have more time to devote to other cleaning efforts.

Don’t wait for “laundry day” to deal with the mountainous piles of dirty clothes that have built up; instead, try to do a load of laundry each day: wash, dry, fold, put it away. You’ll notice the difference by doing what seems to be a small job daily instead of a huge chore once or twice a week.

When setting aside time to clean, set a timer and then focus. It’s easy to get distracted by children, emails, phone calls and the like, so it’s important to stay on track. Even if you give yourself five or 10 minutes to accomplish a specific cleaning task, by powering through it for an uninterrupted period of time you’ll accomplish some seriously efficient cleaning.

When setting goals, be realistic when estimating what you can effectively accomplish in 15 minutes. Setting the bar too high could lead to discouragement if you’re unable to get a task done in the allocated time. To start, it can be wise to attempt a specific cleaning task while timing yourself to see how long it takes, in order to get a gauge of how much can be reasonably accomplished in 15 minutes.

When taking on a task, it’s important to specify what exactly you plan to do, whether it’s “light” or “heavy” cleaning. It’s your call whether you feel like doing heavy scrubbing or light tidying or vacuuming. Some rooms – bathrooms and kitchens, for example – will probably require both light and heavy cleaning day, and you can leave it to your discretion whether you want to swap them depending on how you’re feeling.

Some people keep all the home’s cleaning supplies in one place, say in the garage or under the kitchen sink. Others will keep various cleaning items spread throughout the house, which theoretically makes it easier for some spontaneous cleaning on the go. An even better solution, however, is to create a cleaning kit, complete with all the cleansers, sponges and products you’ll need to tackle any job throughout the home, packed in a basket. Take it with you when you clean and you won’t spend all your time running back and forth to find the right cleaning stuff.

Another great habit to get into is to embrace the war against clutter, and vigilance is the key. By becoming a constant clutter-buster – by clearing surfaces, putting things in their proper places and general tidying – you’ll clear the decks, as it were, to allow you to easily jump into those bigger cleaning jobs without having to “clean up” first.

If possible, try to tackle one “big” job each day, whether it’s cleaning floors in one room, scrubbing down a bathroom or whatever you choose. The deep-cleaning tasks will pay big dividends in the long run toward keeping your house spotless on an ongoing basis.

It’s important to keep a positive attitude toward your cleaning endeavours. Don’t think of your 15-minute clean as a chore, think of how much you’ll enjoy your home’s cleanliness. Attitude can make a huge difference, so make sure yours is adjusted accordingly.

As the old adage has a lot of sense behind it. If you ensure there’s area in which all your stuff can be put away when not in use, this cuts down on household clutter significantly.