You probably think I’m crazy just from reading the headline, or you think this is some sort of click bait. Who on earth could clean the house in 20 minutes? And okay, I’ll admit, my house is only like 1,000 sq ft. It’s definitely on the smaller end. So if you are living in a 4,000 sq ft house, you’re gonna have to modify this. But I promise you, you can still get the main areas of your house straightened up way faster than you think. This is the method I use at least once a day to straighten up our living room, kitchen and bathroom. And it’s perfect if you need a little cleaning motivation.
Like I mentioned above, I do this at least once a day. I started a few years ago after my second baby was born. I function better with less clutter around, but I had zero motivation to actually clean. So I figured out a way to get things cleaned up during naptimes and after the kids went to bed each night that was quick, painless and effective.
I love this method because it really does make a difference, and it works amazing if you have zero cleaning motivation. All you need to do to start is to commit to 3 minutes. Once you get starting, keeping yourself going is a lot easier.
So let’s get started! Grab your cleaning supplies and timer, and get ready to work!
Choose What Needs To Be Cleaned
First you need to decide what needs to be cleaned. Only pick 5-6 areas of the home. Here are some examples:
- Kitchen
- Dishes (I separate dishes from the kitchen clean up because dishes are kind of a big job at our house).
- Bathroom
- Living Room
- Laundry (folding it, switching it to the dryer, starting it or just getting it all gathered up)
- Bedrooms
- Decluttering
For our house, I typically choose living room, kitchen, dishes, bathroom, and laundry.
If you don’t want to choose rooms, or you want to be extra focused on one area, choose 5-6 tasks. Such as dishes, garbage, toys, cleaning counters, sorting laundry, etc. Or just choose one place to start, and choose the next areas as you go.
Set A Timer
Now that you’ve decided what needs to be cleaned, start a timer for 3 minutes and start working on the first area you picked. You aren’t going to be able to make it spotless, but go fast and try to race your timer. If I have a little extra time and I want to get more done, I will set my timer for 4 or 5 minutes instead.
Once your timer goes off, restart it and head to the next area you picked. Keep repeating until you have spent 3 minutes in each area you chose. So for example, if I chose living room, kitchen, dishes, bathroom and laundry as my areas, I would spend 3 minutes speed cleaning the living room, then 3 minutes cleaning the kitchen, 3 minutes doing dishes, 3 minutes straightening up the bathroom, and lastly 3 minutes switching and starting a load of laundry. So in total, I would spend just about 15 minutes cleaning up.
I usually use the timer on my smart watch or microwave. But another thing I have done if I need something a bit more upbeat is a playlist. Make a playlist on spotify, youtube or whatever you use. Choose a bunch of songs that you love that are around 3-4 minutes long. Start your playlist and clean your first area until the first song ends. When your playlist moves to the next song, you will move to the next area. Keep going until you’ve covered each area. Having music just makes things way more fun. I do prefer YouTube for this method because YouTube is VERY ad heavy. So there is usually an ad in between each song. Which I normally hate, but when I’m cleaning, I like the extra time to transition to the next task.
Prioritize
You’re going to realize quickly that you can’t clean everything in 3 minutes no matter how fast you move. So you are going to need to decide what is a priority for you. If you aren’t sure where to start with choosing your priorities, I recommend always starting with the biggest item in the room. This is because it will make the biggest impact on how the room looks and feels. For example, in the living room I start with cleaning up the couch. In the bedrooms, I start with making the bed. In the bathroom, the countertop is cleaned up first. With dishes, I clean the big bowls and plates first.
My sister actually taught me this trick when I was young (and if my sister is reading this, she’s probably laughing at this because we shared a room for years growing up and I was always the control freak organizer and she knows how to go with the flow). But she always told me that if cleaning the room feels overwhelming, always start with the biggest item in the room. And I still do this 20 years later.
OR you could follow this list of priorities for each room (or make your own depending on your home):
- Throw away all trash
- Gather all dirty dishes and place in sink
- Put away toys
- Gather all laundry
- Everything else
Again, you aren’t going to make it very far in 3 minutes. you are going to have to hussle and clean what is most important to you.
The above collage is an example of what I can get done in the 3 minutes. It’s not perfect. I still had some dishes in the sink, and there were a few more tasks I would have done if I had a couple more minutes. But that quick clean up helped my kitchen feel 10x better.
But What If It Doesn’t Even Make A Dent?
Okay, I have had many times when my 3 minutes doesn’t even seem to make a dent. Sometimes it’s because I’m just tired and I’m moving slowly. Or I was interrupted by kids multiple times. Sometimes it’s because we had a wild day and the house is just extra messy. But first things first, I have just learned to be happy with the work that I’ve put in and recognize how much I was able to accomplish. I’m kind of
But if it’s becoming a regular thing, I usually take that as a hint that it’s time to do a declutter of the room. For me, I value the ability to straighten up quickly. I’ll choose what took me the longest time within that room to clean, and start my declutter there.
A few years ago, this was the toys in our living room. It was a big giant disaster. And took so long to clean everything up. Once I did a big declutter of toys, doing a 3 minute clean was way more doable. I actually shared last week how I decluttered our toys, so be sure to check that out! The system I used to declutter toys, and keep them decluttered is so easy and doable.
But also, I would encourage you to really think about how your house feels after a quick clean like this. It’s not spotless, but does it feel better? Do you feel like you can breathe a little easier? I have found that even when it doesn’t make a dent on the mess, it helps me to feel a little more calm.
You could also modify your timer to have more time. Instead of cleaning 5 areas for 3 minutes each, try 3 areas for 5 minutes each. Or try 2 areas for 8 minutes each. I often switch up the timer times to match what I want done that day.
That’s All!
This method has helped me straighten up when I’m short on time and energy, and I hope it can be helpful for you too! It is perfect when you have no motivation because all you need to do is commit to 3 minutes to start. Once you get started, it’s so much easier to keep going.
If you have any other cleaning tips, drop them in the comments below! What do you do when you have a house to clean and no motivation?
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