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Cleaning the house seems to take forever, and I’m speaking from experience here. This can be especially tricky if you’re a busy person or if you have kids. So, when someone calls you to say they’re coming over, you’ll need to form a plan to clean your place quickly.
To help you out, I’ve put together this guide on how to clean your house in 2 hours. So, let’s dive in!
Tips on Cleaning Your House in 2 Hours or Less
At a first glance, it may seem impossible to be able to clear all the mess in under two hours. However, with some smart planning, you can increase your cleaning speed a great deal.
Step 1: Start with the End in Mind
Looking at everything that you need to do at once can give you anxiety. So, the first thing you have to do is organize your tasks and know your priorities.
For instance, cleaning the house in under two hours will require you to leave more serious tasks for later. If you’re having people over, then the areas where they’ll stay should be your top priority. In this case, you can leave cleaning the bedrooms for another time.
If no one is visiting your house but you still need to clean it in two hours, then you’ll have to only go through tasks such as:
- Clearing messes
- Dusting surfaces
- Vacuuming and mopping floors
- Doing the laundry
- Cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms
Of course, you don’t need to limit yourself to these chores. Rather, it’s a matter of finding out how many tasks you’ll be able to do in a timeframe of two hours. These will change from one person to another, so you have to think all of this over before creating a cleaning plan.
Step 2: Write Down Your List of Tasks
Once you have an idea about what exactly you’ll be doing, it’s time to write it all down. There are many ways you can create a to-do list for cleaning your house.
For example, you can write your to-do list room-by-room and highlight the main tasks that you need to do in each room. If you’re a more spontaneous person, you might prefer to go from one room to another to finish similar tasks.
I like to do the latter. I usually clear up any messes in all rooms, dust off and wipe down all the surfaces, then clean all the floors of my house. Of course, I’m including the simplest tasks here, but you can always include things like:
- Cleaning windows and mirrors
- Cleaning doors
- Organizing bookshelves
Again, there’s no strict rule on what you can do. It’s all based on your energy, speed, how large your house is, and what matters to you the most.
So, once you’ve created your to-do list, it’s time to get to work.
Step 3: Start Cleaning
Even though your tasks might be slightly different from the ones I’m including, here’s a quick guide to speed-cleaning your house in two hours.
1. Strip the Bedsheets and Do Your Laundry (10 minutes)
It’s always a great idea to multitask as long as you don’t distract yourself. So, begin by removing all the bedsheets and taking your dirty laundry to the washing machine.
Although your laundry might not be a priority now, doing it can take some load off your back later.
Also, this could be the best time to put dishes in the dishwasher. Remember, these tiny details can save you plenty of time eventually.
2. Clear Any Messes (10-15 minutes)
3. Dust (10-15 minutes)
Once you’ve put away any messes, things will start getting a bit easier. You’ll have more space to dust all the surfaces.
You can start by dusting shelves, furniture, then window sills. You should also include home accessories such as picture frames, decoration sets, and lampshades.
4. Wipe Down All the Surfaces (10 minutes)
Now that all the surfaces are dust-free, it’s time to wipe them all down. Your best bet is to use an all-purpose cleaner to get the job done as efficiently as possible.
As you know, using the right cleaning items can save you so much time and trouble. For instance, a wood dusting spray will quickly clean all the wooden surfaces. On the other hand, a window cleaning spray is perfect for mirrors and glass surfaces.
Dusting and wiping are both easier if you do it across all rooms before moving to the next steps. It will keep you from getting distracted by other tasks and will get you into speed mode.
5. Clean the Kitchen (15 minutes)
Even though there might not be any messes in your kitchen, you’ll still need to do some things. You’ve already loaded the dishwasher, so that’s a relief!
Now, you can focus on other things such as wiping down the cabinets, counters, and quickly cleaning the backsplash. Keep it simple. Focus on what is immediately visible and makes it look dirty.
Next, wipe down all your kitchen appliances until they’re back to their original shine. If anything resists, make a note leave it for later attack with stronger cleaning products or methods.
A really cool tip that can help you clean your microwave is to put a small glass or cup of water inside and let it heat up a bit. For better results, put half a lemon in this water cup.
6. Clean the Bathrooms (15 minutes)
Use an all-purpose cleaner to clean the mirrors, countertops, cabinets, and faucets.
Then, scrub the toilet seats and the floors surrounding them. If you have enough time, you can also scrub the bathtub and take its load off your back.
Next, close the shower curtain, make sure there’s enough toilet paper, and put a new hand towel on the rack. Also, check if the hand soap container needs to be refilled.
7. Make Sure That the Walls Are Clean (10 minutes)
Go from room to room and wipe down any marks or handprints on the walls. This may take even less than ten minutes to do if there aren’t any obvious marks on the walls.
8. Vacuum (15 minutes)
Once you get to the vacuuming part, you can be more at ease. Of course, the best way to approach this is to vacuum the entire house in one go since you don’t have much left to do.
Don’t forget to vacuum upholstered furniture, lamp shades, curtains, and tight floor corners.
9. Mop All the Floors (10 minutes)
Finally, it’s time that you mop all the floors of your entire house. Then, leave them to dry while you finish up.
10. Finalize Your Work (15 minutes)
While the floors are drying up, make the beds and take your clean laundry out of the washing machine. If you have enough time, quickly fold these clothes and put them where they belong.
Then, unload the dishwasher and place the dishes in their designated places.
Step 4: Enjoy Your Clean House
Now that it’s all finally over, you can make a nice cup of coffee or tea and lie in front of the TV while waiting for your guests and the floors to dry up. To add a level of coziness to your home, you can light a scented candle and play some jazz if you’re into it.
How to Make Cleaning Your House Easier in the Future
Yes, knowing how to clean your house in two hours can be exceptionally handy. Yet, there are a few things that you can do to save yourself a lot of time once you intend to clean your house.
In this section, I’ll introduce some hacks that will make each future cleaning session more simple. After all, it’s about playing smart, isn’t it?
Invest in Reliable Cleaning Products
Taking your time to pick a convenient cleaning product will pay off. Having options shouldn’t be a problem given the number of new products coming to the market every day.
For example, buying a cordless vacuum can save you a lot of time. It’s easier to move around and much more lightweight than a corded vacuum cleaner.
Yes, one of its downsides is that it needs recharging every now and then. However, vacuuming your entire house will only take about 15-20 minutes, so it’s unlikely that the battery will die during use.
Another helpful machine is a window vacuum. Because it can be one of the most annoying chores it may be a great idea to invest in it.
Based on your budget, you can pick a few useful products to make life much easier. If you’re busy, you’ll probably appreciate this.
Look for Better Storage Solutions
Ever wondered why your place gets so messy all of a sudden? Having children and a full schedule may be the main culprits, but sometimes, it may be the lack of convenient storage.
When you have so many items in your house and so few storage spaces, things can get out of hand in a heartbeat. Therefore, my advice is to invest in storage solutions to have a place for everything in your home.
You can purchase baskets, containers, convertible storage furniture, and more. Baskets and containers don’t cost much, so they’re the most budget-friendly options out there. Alternatively, you can go for convertible furniture if you’re looking for more premium solutions.
Once you’ve ensured that every item at your house has its designated storage space, cleaning should be more simple later on.
Make a Cleaning Routine
Having a cleaning routine is great. You can create daily, weekly, monthly, and seasonal to-do lists to stay organized. So, once you have all the tasks figured out, cleaning won’t be as tiresome as it might have been.
What makes this tip especially helpful is that it should keep you from wasting time or distracting yourself. By prioritizing your tasks and making a seamless schedule, you won’t have that nagging feeling that you are forgetting something important.
Don’t Buy Too Many Supplies
With so many cleaning supplies on the market, you might be tempted to buy them all. Personally, I think that doing this can be the opposite of helpful, wasting much-needed time and energy.
Instead, you may want to focus on 2-3 products that’ll get the job done anywhere in the house. This will probably require some digging on your part, but it should be worth it.
Paired with the right cleaning machines, a few supplies should help you keep your house in perfect condition with minimum effort.
Focus on Cleaning
It’s easy to get wrapped up in your daily life, especially if you have multiple jobs, children, or both. To keep your cleaning tasks from piling up, you should make some room for house cleaning every now and then.
I know it’s hard to lose focus on cleaning with many things distracting you. So, I’ve decided to include a few tips on how to stay focused in the following section.
Effective Tips to Help You Stay Focused While Cleaning
Without further ado, here are a few things you could do to keep your head in the game!
Eliminate Any Distractions
The wisest thing to do before you begin cleaning the house is to keep distractions to the minimum. If you have kids, that might be an impossible task, but believe me, you can get your way around this.
You can start cleaning while your kids aren’t home. Also, cleaning while your kids are asleep is a good option, especially if they are deep sleepers and aren’t bothered by the noise.
Next, turn off the TV and put your phone on silent. Some people shut their phones off entirely, but I don’t think that’s necessary. A middle ground would be to put it on vibration and turn off the WiFi so that you’ll only get important call alerts.
Play Your Favorite Music
Create a playlist of your favorite songs and sing along while you go about your chores. This way, you’ll be having some fun while doing your tasks, and time will fly without you realizing it.
Putting music on will make the atmosphere inside your house more lively and vibrant. So, you’ll be able to focus on each task without feeling bored or burdened.
Organize Your Cleaning Supplies
Put every cleaning item where you need it so that you’ll prevent yourself from going around in circles. Not only will this help you not get distracted, but it’ll also keep you from becoming overwhelmed.
Try to Get Some Help
Having someone help you, even with small tasks, could make you feel more committed to your cleaning it also makes it more social. Even better, this should save you plenty of time and energy!
Dividing up your chores with a family member or roommate will give you time to catch up. Just like listening to music, this healthy distraction can make cleaning your house more enjoyable.
Use a Checklist
On a psychological level, ticking off every task that you accomplish can feel satisfying. Take it from someone who creates plenty of lists for this mere purpose!
Therefore, the next time you feel like there are endless tasks to do, make a to-do list of them, even if some of these things seem insignificant. When you start checking each thing you’ve done, you should have better spirits to go through the entire list.
Consider Using a Timer
If you tend to become easily distracted while cleaning, then setting a timer can solve this problem. Simply, start by estimating how long each task will take you. You can use this article as a reference if you’d prefer.
Then, set a timer for the amount of time that you’ve determined. When it goes off, just switch to the next task. At first, you might be skeptical of how effective this method is. Yet, I’m pretty positive that it should keep you from being distracted the more you do it.
To Wrap It Up
A lot of factors can influence your ability to finish each task quickly. These include your speed, the condition of your house, if you need more cleaning supplies, etc.
That’s why you should plan in advance. Have the cleaning products ready, time in your calendar blocked, distractions removed and your plan of attack ready to go.
That way, next time your in-laws announce a visit on short notice you will be ready to have everything looking great before they arrive!
Further Reading
