9 Ways You're Making House Cleaning Harder

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There’s not a week that goes by I don’t get a question or two from a reader or three about how to make house cleaning easier, faster, or more enjoyable.

It reminds me of Saturday mornings when my daughter would fight with me about cleaning her room or helping me tidy up the house.

She would whine and complain how cleaning took too much time and how she longed to be outside or at the mall with her friends.

If she wasn’t complaining about how long it took, then she was lamenting about how hard it was and why we didn’t have a housecleaner like a lot of her friends.

What always made me laugh was how much effort it took for her to express her displeasure in house work. If I had only shared with her what I’m about to reveal to you now!

Table of Contents

9 Ways You’re Making House Cleaning Harder Than It Has To Be

You Spend Too Much Time Complaining About It

In the time it takes you to complain about house cleaning you could actually be cleaning your house.

Complaining is such a waste of energy and time. All that complaining just drags you down and makes the task at hand more difficult than it has to be. It also saps your energy level making house cleaning feel harder.

If you can’t afford to hire someone to clean your house for you, guess what? You’ll have to do it yourself. So stop the whining and pick up a vacuum and get to work!

You Don’t Clean As You Go

I’ve witnessed this first hand with my daughter and son-in-law. Instead of cleaning as they go, they make a huge mess and then feel less than motivated when it comes to cleaning it all up.

If you’re cooking for example, and you clean as you go, in the end, you won’t be left with an undesirable mess to clean but just a few dishes to wash. When you undress at night if you hurl your clothes on the floor instead of putting them away, you later have to bend over to pick them up and bring them to the laundry basket or hang them on a hanger.

Learn to apply the one touch rule and you’ll find cleaning takes less time.

You Use The Wrong Cleaning Solutions

I’ve tried almost every single product out there and believe me when I tell you if you’re using the wrong cleaning concoctions it will make cleaning feel like torture.

I remember when I first started doing apartment turnovers for an enormous apartment complex. They had these laminate cabinets that were always really filthy. I hadn’t yet discovered the Mr. Clean Sponges, and so cleaning these cabinets took a lot of time and effort to make them look good.

Once I started using the Mr. Clean Sponges it was like magic – voila! The cabinets took a third of the time to clean, and I barely had to scrub to make them look awesome.

Use the right solutions for the job!

You Use the Wrong Tools or Don’t Use Them Correctly

First, make sure you invest in sturdy, well-made cleaning tools. Next, buy tools that fit your cleaning style. For example, I love to vacuum but hate to sweep (it hurts my lower back). So, I invested in a high-end vacuum that is super user friendly, but I have a ho-hum broom.

Third, you wouldn’t clean a toilet with a toothbrush, right? No, you’d use a toilet brush or other system made for the job.

By keeping in mind these three points, you’ll be sure to be cleaning correctly and with the right equipment.

You Don’t Keep Dirt Out of The House

I remember the day I had an epiphany about dusting and pollen. It was like the light dawning on Marblehead! Keep the darn windows closed during the height of pollen season and you won’t have to dust every hour!

The same goes for removing shoes before entering the house and closing windows when construction is going on nearby.

Be conscientious about how to minimize dirt from coming into your home and you’ll spend less time cleaning.

You Waste Time Because You’re Not Efficient

Do you find yourself going up and down the stairs looking for cleaning supplies and tools? If you do, it’s the number one reason why you’re not efficient.

First, create a cleaning bucket so you can carry all your supplies around with you. Fill it with your favorite products and tools and you’ll always have what you need at your fingertips.

Second, learn how to clean properly. Move up and down and left to right. Start by cleaning the highest points of the room and move left to right until the entire room is clean. By using these two simple methods, you’ll see your cleaning time cut in half.

Eat In the Kitchen, Sleep In the Bedroom, Play In the Playroom

Anytime you eat in the bedroom, play in the kitchen or sleep on the couch you inadvertently bring items into a room where they don’t belong. And then you’ve got to bring those things back to where they do belong. If not, your house looks like a red hot mess.

It might not seem like a big deal, but keeping items close to where they’re meant to be used means it’s easier to put them back again.

You Don’t Keep A Cleaning Schedule

I don’t clean my home anymore, but when I did, I always cleaned on Friday night or Saturday morning. I liked a clean house over the weekends, and it ensured the house was always ready for company. Ultimately you need to decide what kind of schedule works for you and your family.

Resistant to a schedule? Remember this – you know what makes cleaning harder than it has to be? Waiting so long in between cleaning that you have to spend more time just to get the house back to a reasonable state of cleanliness.

Find a schedule that works for you and stick with it even if it means scheduling it into your appointment calendar.

And, I don’t recommend 30 day cleaning challenges! You can learn why here, but in a nutshell, do you really want to wait 30 days until your entire house is clean and tidy?

Not Enlisting Your Families Help

Nowhere does it state that you are the sole person responsible for the cleanliness and upkeep of your home? Get your family on board and get them helping around the house!

Don’t know where to start?

Sign up for my Rescue Your Messy Home Challenge and learn the strategies that so many families have implemented to get the whole family on board and cleaning!