4 Ways to Clean Without Trying

It’s Spring! Along with the sunny weather, spring conjurers up an overwhelming desire for spring cleaning! While I am extremely fond of huge spring clean up projects (such as a good garage clean out session); I also like to think about new ways to organize tasks. Especially how to organize our days and weeks to make cleaning not feel like such a chore. Yes, it is possible!

We have all heard the motto, “clean as you go”, but what does that actually look like in practice? How do we clean as we go without every task taking twice as long.

If you are familiar with the Flylady, you have surely heard her recommend keeping a dish towel next to your sink for a quick wipe down whenever possible. Although wiping down counters after every use is ideal, realistically even if you do it only now and then you can still reap the benefits of keeping your sink nice and tidy. Sounds simple enough! Here are 4 more tips to keep up with housekeeping without spending your whole day cleaning.

Throwing in the Towel

As you are throwing a load of towels in the wash, grab one of the rags and dip it in the washer as it is filling up with water. Take the damp towel and do a quick wipe down of the washing machine and dryer. In less time than it takes the washer to fill up, all the dust and lint from the machine is cleaned away. The rag goes right in with the rest of the load.

After completing my laundry makeover, I have added the rolling cart to the quick wipe down so it never returns to the sad state it was in before.

Fill ‘er Up

My parents told me time and again, if you fill up the sink with hot sudsy water during meal prep it would make clean up a cinch. Too bad it took me so long to try it. Who knew that it would be such a huge help?

Now I’ve adopted this tip every time I am making a meal. Before, I would practically have to scrub my dishes before putting them into the dishwasher (our’s is an older model that can’t handle much stuck on food). No matter how much I heard the tip to put your dishes straight into the dishwasher, it just wasn’t happening. Now the dishes hang out in the water and during clean up I can put them straight into the dishwasher, I don’t even have to rinse them. Lunch dishes tend to hang out in the hot water until I start dinner (since naptime has gotten shorter around these parts, I don’t like to spend that time doing dishes).

No more feeling like I am doing the dishes all day! And no more feeling guilt that I am lagging on getting those dishes into the dishwater! Thanks Mom and Dad, it only took me until my thirties to start to listen to you!

Splish, Splash, a Clean Bath

I’m sure this idea dates back decades ago, but it took until my sister filled me in on her trick to clean the bathroom while the kids are bathing to really get the idea to sink in. I thought it was brilliant and wondered, of course as we all do when we hear some thing so brilliantly simple, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

The sink, toilet and mirror are now taken care of during bath playtime. Then as soon as the kiddos are out, the wet tub just needs a quick wipe down.

I haven’t quite mastered the art of cleaning a shower while I am in the shower, like Andrea at Simple Organized Living has, but I’m happy this new tip has helped me to make progress.

Clean n’ Play

With very young kiddos, laundry is folded during coos and smiles. A few months later, toys are cleaned with (kid-safe) disinfectant while sitting and playing. (You know that stage when everything is examined with the in the mouth test.) Keeping the cleaning happening can help cut down on shared germs and help “sop up” the mess.

Many new moms discover the art of cleaning while playing. There are even some who do it without thinking (it wasn’t automatic for me, so that’s why I’m spelling it out here). And adding in a quick clean up here and there doesn’t mean you aren’t getting quality time with your little ones. If anything, it will free you up for even more quality time later!

As the kids get older, and need less hands on supervision, the cleaning can advance too. For example, clean out the project drawer while kids are doing crafts (It only takes 10 minutes!)

Straighten the garage as they ride bikes, make a donate pile as you pick out toys to play with…the list could go on and on.

Four ideas to get you started moving in the right direction of less mess and less stress. Cleaning up is a necessary to do, but try out some tricks to get quick cleaning done without it using up more precious hours in your day. What simple things do you do to clean as you go? Chime in below in the comments to keep our idea list growing!