16 Ways to Clean Your Messy House (When You Have No Time to Clean)

Got a messy house? So Do I. This is what I do when my house is a disaster!

“My house is a disaster!”

How many times have you said that to yourself or out loud when you’ve walked through the door? Personally, I’ve lost count.

You would think that as a work-from-home mom I’d have time to keep my home spotless and clean.

With twins, however, the idea of an immaculate home quickly became a pipedream.

The truth is, sometimes my house is a disaster and I don’t know where to start.

But I’ve come to terms with the fact that, as a mom, this is normal.

Does that mean we should accept our messy homes and let things fall apart?

Of course not!

The key to finding the time to tackle chores is knowing where to start cleaning a messy house.

With a plan and some handy hacks and products, keeping your home tidy and clean doesn’t have to be a monstrous undertaking or stressful affair.

Let’s look at how you can clean your messy house when you have no time to clean.

How to Start Cleaning a Messy House

Diving headfirst into cleaning your house is going to make the ordeal feel like a mission impossible.

Instead, take some time to get your house in order so that cleaning it is not a multi-hour stress-fest:

1. Stop Trying to Be Perfect

Do you know who has a perfectly Pinterest-worthy clean house on a daily basis? No one, that’s who – especially moms.

The more you focus on having a “perfect” home, the more frustrated you will become in trying to keep it immaculately clean.

Instead, accept “good enough”! The most important thing about running a household when you have kids is that it is safe and healthy.

And if that means there’s a pile of laundry thrown on a chair but your children can play on a clean floor, then that’s good enough.

2. Declutter Your Home

The more stuff you have, the more you have to clean up, right? Giving your home a good purge is the first step in making it easier when you have no time to clean.

Come up with a simple plan for how to clean a cluttered house – where you want to start and what you want to do with the items you decide to purge – and start today!

Even five minutes a day will make a huge difference when it comes to the clutter in your home. An easy method of decluttering involves using four boxes – trash, give away, keep and relocate. Go room to room and place one item in each box.

Don’t expect your house to be decluttered in a day! Keep picking at it every day and you’ll soon begin to notice a huge difference.

3. Get Organized

Once your home is decluttered, start organizing what you have left. When everything has a place, it’s easier to pick up and tidy throughout the day.

Think about getting things like dividers to organize drawers, lazy susans for your cupboards and fridge, and baskets or boxes to store your kiddo’s toys.

Now that I think about it, you can start your purge with organizing. If something doesn’t have a place, and you really don’t need it, you can easily make the choice to get rid of it.

4. Eat the Frog

It’s a gross-sounding concept, I know, but Eating the Frog is actually a very helpful tool when it comes to time management and cleaning your house.

The term comes from a Mark Twain quote about how, if you need to eat a frog every day, you should eat it as soon as you wake up and get it out of the way.

So the premise is this: If you have to do one thing during the day that you really don’t want to do, like folding and putting away the laundry, do it right away.

That way it’s done and it doesn’t continually sit there eyeing you and getting on your nerves.

5. Get the Kids Involved

You’re not the only one in your home with two hands and a heartbeat, so it’s time to get the kiddos involved in cleaning your messy house!

That’s not to say that your little ones need to tackle adult-sized chores but, if they can complete tasks that are age-appropriate, it will definitely help lighten your load.

Whether you choose to pay them an allowance or not is up to you but you can help them keep track of their chores by using chore charts.

These don’t have to be complicated – just a visual way of showing your kids what needs to be done and what they’ve already finished.

Quick Cleaning Hacks for a Messy House

Just because your home is now in order doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of some time-saving housecleaning hacks.

Check out these tips for quickly cleaning your messy house:

6. Always Take Something With You

A good habit to get into in order to keep your house clean is to always take something with you when you leave a room.

This means grabbing something that doesn’t belong there and taking it to the room where it does.

Leaving the couch? Take your plate to the kitchen. Heading out of the bathroom? Grab the dirty clothes that go in your hamper.

By getting into this habit, and teaching your family members to do the same, you’ll cut down on the clutter and always have a tidy home!

7. Have a Plan of Attack

They say to clean room-by-room but this can make the task of cleaning your messy house overwhelming.

Instead, tidy one room at a time but do big cleaning chores like sweeping, mopping, and dusting all in one go.

When you tidy, bring a basket along with you and pick up items in each room that don’t belong there. As you move around the house, you can put these things back in the rooms where they belong.

8. Use Natural Cleaners

Did you know that you can clean your dishwasher with just baking soda and vinegar? There are so many things you can clean around your home with natural cleaners!

While using natural products may not save you a whole lot of time (except they do cut down on the number of cleaning products and, consequently, clutter), they do provide many benefits to the health of your home and your family.

Natural cleaners improve indoor air quality, reduces the number of toxins in your home, and make every surface safe for your little one.

9. Set a Timer

Even though you don’t have a lot of time in your busy mom life to clean, it can be easy to fall into a black hole when you get started and lose track of time.

Likewise, you may look around and say, “My house is a disaster and I don’t know where to start,” and then never start because you don’t think you have the time.

Set yourself a timer throughout the day for 5-10 minutes at a time. You’d be surprised how much you can get done in that timeframe!

Also, try to give yourself at least 10 minutes before bed to get something done. This way, you’ll wake up in the morning with one less chore to tackle.

10. Take Advantage of Multitasking

When you put your clothes in the washing machine, do you sit there and watch for the entire cycle? Of course not! You move on to something else.

This is multitasking!

There are so many household chores you can double up on to save time:

• Scrub the tub while you’re taking a shower.
• Wash dishes while supper cooks.
• Dance while you sweep and mop (workout!).
• Fold laundry while you watch your favorite show.

Just make sure you’re not trying to double up on big chores like dusting the shelves while you vacuum the floors. Keep it simple so you don’t lose focus and get overwhelmed.

11. Keep Your Cleaning Supplies Organized

When you don’t have a lot of time to clean your messy home, the last thing you want is to waste precious moments on the hunt for your cleaning supplies.

Take advantage of the real estate under your kitchen sink, or any other convenient place in your home, to organize your cleaning supplies and keep them all in one spot.

That way, when you need a duster, floor cleaner, or a spray bottle, they are all where you expect them to be.

Awesome Products for Quick Cleaning

There’s no shame in seeking help when it comes to cleaning your home – especially when it comes to cleaning products!

Here are some really cool cleaning products you can grab up to make the job much easier:

11. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser

The Mr. Clean Magic Eraser is definitely a must-have for cleaning all of the surfaces in your home! You can use it on surfaces, the bathtub, oven doors, and even crayon art on the walls!

Imagine having one cleaning product that will take care of soap scum, dirt, grease and scuffs. It’s definitely a time-saver!

12. Bissell Spinwave Hard Floor Mop

The Bissell Spinwave Mop cuts the time and effort it takes to mop your floors – no filling buckets, scrubbing, emptying buckets, cleaning buckets…

This mop has power spin pads that do all the work for you as well as soft pads for hardwood floors and scrubbing pads for bigger messes.

13. Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaners

Who here loves scrubbing the toilet? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

To make the job quick and easy, use a disposable toilet brush like this one from Scrubbing Bubbles. It comes with a removable scrubber all ready with the cleaning product. Just scrub, pop it up and flush (yes, it’s septic system safe!).

You can also stick a Scrubbing Bubbles Gel Stamp to the inside of your toilet bowl to keep it clean and fresh for a couple of weeks – cutting down on the number of times you have to give your toilet a scrub.

14. Drill Brush Cleaning Accessories

If you have a drill sitting around your home, you can turn it into the ultimate cleaning tool!

With the right cleaning attachments, you can use your drill to give your grout, tile, and tub a good and quick deep clean. You can even use it to clean your car!

15. Angry Mama Microwave Cleaner

Okay, so this product is as cute as it is useful! Instead of wasting time scrubbing the inside of your microwave, just pop in an Angry Mama Microwave Cleaner and let the steam do the work.

You can achieve the same effect by microwaving a bowl of water and lemon slices, but this creates more concentrated steam for easier cleaning.

16. Robot Vacuum Cleaner

Remember when the iRobot vacuum cleaner came out and it was so exciting but you had to be a millionaire to own one?

Now you can get very affordable models that do the same job of roaming around your home and cleaning your floors as it goes. Imagine the time you’ll save from sweeping and vacuuming!

Ready to Get Rid of a Messy House for Good?

With the right tips and tools – like these Fabuloso hacks you gotta see – cleaning your messy house doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cause you any stress!

Even as a busy mama, you might not have a Pinterest-perfect home but you can have one that you and your family can feel comfortable, healthy, and safe in.

Did I miss any tips on this list? Do you have any helpful hints you want to add? Drop them in the comments!