5 Low-Effort Cleaning Hacks That Will Save You So Much Time
As a naturally disorganized person, cleaning my home used to feel like a gargantuan task. By the time I’d willed myself to face my dusty shelves or laundry pile, it would take several grueling hours to remedy the situation. My space started to get tidier when I figured out how to break my cleaning routine into smaller, more manageable pieces—simple tasks that I could sneak into my busy daily schedule and finish quickly. Instead of waiting until the mess overwhelmed me, I got ahead of it. And in the process, I barely realized I was cleaning at all.
“Keeping a home clean is a never-ending battle,” says Michael Rubino, indoor air quality and cleaning expert. “Quick and easy tasks aren’t just beneficial for those who struggle to stay motivated—they’re also great for those who live busy lives, have kids or pets who constantly introduce more messes, aren’t feeling well, and young adults just figuring out a cleaning routine.” Read on for Rubino’s favorite low-effort cleaning hacks.
Dedicate a Day of the Week to a Given Chore
One surprisingly easy way to stay organized: Every week, plan to execute your must-do cleaning tasks on a specific day. Maybe you wash your sheets on Mondays, clean out your fridge on Wednesdays, and wipe down windows on Fridays. This method is highly customizable, so it’s easy to fold into your schedule. And, as Rubino says, it “takes the guesswork out of the process.”
Dust One Room Every Day
Dust presents a legitimate health risk—but because it can be trickier to spot, it’s a more forgettable cleaning task. To make sure you’re effectively managing dust in hard-to-reach areas of your home, Rubino suggests making dusting a daily habit. “Choose one out-of-sight area to dust a day, and then repeat the cycle once you get through your list,” he says. That way, you’ll keep surfaces like baseboards, ceiling fan blades, and light fixtures clean—a little bit at a time.
Wipe Down Surfaces After Every Use
This hack might seem daunting, but once you start disinfecting your home’s surfaces this way, you’ll find that it doesn’t take as much effort as you feared—and certainly much less time than a major deep-clean. Wiping down kitchen and bathroom counters regularly can ward off sticky, stuck-on messes. And squeegeeing your shower after every use is a great way to prevent mold, according to Rubino.
Split Tasks Into Pieces
If you’re super busy—or just hate cleaning altogether—consider dividing certain chores into distinct parts; that way, each task will feel less daunting. This method, of course, won’t work across the board. It’d be unsanitary to clear out your fridge in the morning and throw the food waste out at night, for example. But, for instance, if you “run the dishwasher before bed, put it away in the morning, and then leave the door cracked to let it completely dry,” as Rubino suggests, you can easily introduce some more flexibility—and much-needed breaks—into your cleaning schedule.
Vacuum Daily—You Decide When
Vacuuming has always been one of my least favorite chores, probably because I’ve historically waited until the debris in my space is visible. But blocking out five minutes in my routine to clean a little every day helps me stay on top of buildup—and it’s almost muscle memory, once you get into the swing of it. It’s important to vacuum rugs and high-traffic areas daily, according to Rubino, but there’s no shame in knocking the task out “at whatever time is easiest to schedule, whether that’s in the morning after kids go to school, after dinner, or right before bed.”
