Minimum effort for maximum impact
Are you feeling overwhelmed by the never-ending mess at home? You’re not alone! As a mom, juggling kids, my online business, and the endless to-do list can leave you feeling like there’s just not enough time in the day. The truth is, keeping a clean home doesn’t have to mean hours of scrubbing and organizing. By focusing on a few key tasks daily, you can maintain a sense of order without spending your whole day cleaning. In this post, I’m sharing the five non-negotiable daily tasks that will help you keep your home tidy, even on the busiest days. These small actions require minimal effort but have a big impact, leaving you with more time for what really matters. Let’s dive in!
These are the five things I do daily, 4 out of the 5, 90% of the time before I leave home to drop off the kids and start my day. I used to do these when I was a full-time working corporate mom who used only to be able to deep clean my home during the weekends. I kept the routine when I became a stay-at-home mom.
When I wake up on time, I can get all of the five things done before we walk out the door, but some days aren’t always the same as it comes with kids.
Make your beds
Making your bed in the morning is a quick win that starts that feeling of checking things off the list. It also instantly makes your bedroom feel tidier and more peaceful. This is one of the first habit stacks I use inside my daily cleaning routine, and I have taught my kids to do it every morning, starting when they transition to their toddler beds.
It is a simple routine to help them learn tidy habits and use the habit stacking system. I didn’t expect perfection, and I still don’t, but they try to make it look presentable, and I guide them along the way.
Do a load of laundry
If you have laundry capabilities inside your home, I recommend starting a load of laundry each day. You can use the delay start option and have it start early in the morning, or do what I do and bring a load down to begin when I come down to the kitchen.
Since I know a typical load can take about forty minutes to wash, I drop a load of laundry in before I do anything else, like cooking breakfast. By the time breakfast is done, it will be time to switch it to the dryer, and it should be dry before we leave the house.
Check out my laundry post here for more tips on cutting down your laundry time.
Wash the dishes/wipe the counters
Yes, I said it! Wiping the counters is a part of cleaning the dishes. You have to wipe up the water mess and food debris. Once breakfast is done, the kids will go upstairs to get dressed, and I can start either washing dishes by hand or loading the dishwasher.
I can then wipe the counters and reset the kitchen with anything that may be on them, with just a quick spray of my DIY Dawn powerwash spray or my favorite cleaner, Force of Nature.
Do a whole house 15-minute reset
A whole-house reset implies putting all those used items back into their homes. Ideally, you would want to put them back immediately into their homes, but you can use the basket system if you are short on time.
This implies having a bin/basket where you can place all those items around the home inside the bin to put away later. If you have multiple levels in the home, you can put them on each level.
Later, you can tackle the task of putting things away.
However, I have found that even fifteen minutes of picking things up and putting them away instantly transforms the feel of a home.
And when you return home, say, from a long day of work or after taking the kids out if you are a stay-at-home mom. You can get right to what needs to be done, and your kitchen is ready for the next meal.
Sweep/Vaccum the kitchen floor
The kitchen takes a beating each day from prepping dinners for our family and preparing a quick breakfast so we can get out the door on time. So, the crumbs on the floor are always present. This is a non-negotiable task because who wants to step on day-old cherrios or sticky stuff from last night’s dinner?
Investing in a vacuum mop machine like Tineco can truly help speed up the process. I don’t own one because it is an investment, but it is definitely a must-have for busy people.
I typically sweep or put my Shark Robot vacuum on to tackle that daily mess.