How to Keep a Clean House With Minimal Effort

Do you ever wish you could keep an organized and clean house without spending hours on it every day? Today I’m sharing 10 simple little habits that will help you keep your house clean with almost no extra effort on your part! 

I have a confession: I’m a bit of a neat freak.

I am a tiny bit obsessive about having a clean house, and I tend to get a little stressed when things aren’t in order at home. Of course, between work, parenting, and life it can be more than a little bit challenging to find time to actually keep my home clean. However, I’ve gotten more and more efficient over the years at keeping a clean house without a ton of extra effort – it just takes a little bit of practice!

Here are my best tips for keeping a tidy home with minimal effort.

10 Easy Habits for a Clean House Every Day

1. Set a Timer. 

This is my most frequently-used strategy for keeping my house clean when I’m not in the mood to actually clean. I’ll set a timer for a short amount of time (usually 10 or 15 minutes) and force myself to do nothing but clean until the time is up. When I’m in a good habit of doing this every single day, my house stays so much cleaner. And, it only takes a few minutes out of my evenings. I’m always amazed by how much can be accomplished in 10 minutes!

A bonus tip, here? Involve the whole family. We have a routine of setting a 15 minute timer after dinner and everyone in the family goes around and picks up. We make it a game to try to beat the timer and most of the time we do! Kids of all ages can participate in this and it’s a great way to instill some good habits in them now.

2. Baskets, Baskets, Baskets. 

Baskets are my secret weapon for keeping my home looking clean and tidy. They’re especially helpful when you have younger kids – they were such a life-saver in the toddler years! I’ve been known to stash baskets of toys on shelves, on consoles, and just sitting on the floor next to the couch. It makes clean up really quick and easy, and it’s such a simple way to contain clutter.

I recommend baskets for closets, inside drawers, on shelves, and basically anywhere you can think of. We’ve got one on the sofa table behind our couch that holds cords. There’s a lidded basket on the entry table that contains random clutter the kids leave out. I have a big basket for our throw blankets. Genuinely, you cannot have too many baskets in your home!

3. Utilize the Two-Minute Rule. 

This one takes a little rewiring of your brain, but if you can make this a habit it’s an absolute life-changer. Here’s the rule: if you can accomplish a task in two minutes or less, do it now rather than waiting until later. If you have this mindset, you’re a lot more likely to stay on top of the little things around the house and those annoying tasks won’t pile up. I’ve also heard of it as the “one-touch” rule – try to only touch things in your home once before they’re put away. Meaning, don’t move clutter from one room to another before finally putting it away – put it exactly where it belongs the very first time.

Simple? Yes. But also, it just might make your day-to-day a lot easier.

4. Focus On the Major Traffic Areas. 

Not every space in your home needs to be perfectly clean at all times. I find that my brain feels a lot quieter as long as the places where I spend the most time look tidy. Reminding myself of this is a great way to ease some of the stress when we’re having people over. And, it helps my home feel cleaner overall! When I need to get things looking nice in a hurry, I tackle the living room, dining room, and kitchen and forget about the rest. Focus on the sinks, toilets, counters, and dishes and forget the rest for now. If the main pathways of your home look good, it’ll give off the impression that your whole home is clean! Check out this post if you need ideas on how to get your home clean in a hurry! 

5. Do a Pick-Up Before Bed. 

Every night before we head to sleep, I try to do a quick sweep of the house and make sure things are at least slightly in order before I turn in. Then, when I come down the next morning I don’t feel like I’m walking into chaos – having everything put away makes my whole home feel more peaceful. Sometimes it feels like a lot of effort to do this, but then I remind myself that it takes 5 minutes or less to actually get it done, so there’s absolutely no reason not to!

My general cleaning routine is to make sure that I have clean counters, the dishwasher is loaded, and all of the clutter is picked up. As long as those things are taken care of, my morning will be way easier.

6. Tackle One Room At a Time. 

When I’m actually cleaning, I find that I’m so much more efficient if I only allow myself to focus on a single room at a time. So, if I find something that belongs in the living room while I’m cleaning the kitchen, I’ll just set it in the right room and go back to the room I’m cleaning. When I don’t do this, I end up wandering from room to room intending to put things away but actually getting distracted by other little tasks that need to be done. So while I feel like I’m cleaning, I’m usually doing more puttering around than actual work. When I focus on just one room at a time, I’m more likely to stay focused and get everything done.

7. Have a Routine for Deep Cleaning Tasks

Most of what we’ve talked about here is general daily pick-up. Personally, I do a weekly cleaning day to do things like vacuum, mop, and dust. But, what about the deep cleaning tasks like cleaning the baseboards, decluttering, deep cleaning bathrooms, and disinfection of all the gross things (you know, switch plates and remote controls and stair banisters)?

I recommend having a deep cleaning schedule for this. There are a ton of different ways you can tackle this, but I recommend using something like my Spring Cleaning Checklist to help keep you organized! The bottom line is, play around to figure out what kind of routine works best for you and stick to it!

8. Make Your Bed. Every Day!

If you want to make your house feel cleaner on a day-to-day basis, one of the best things you can do is make your bed. I know it sounds silly but so many studies have shown that it can make a big difference in a lot of different areas of your life. There’s just something about a bed that’s made that makes a whole room feel clean!

It takes about 2 minutes for me to make my bed each morning, and it makes me so much happier to have it done. Quick tip: Do you have a hard time getting the duvet cover back on your duvet after you wash it? Here’s my super fast method for putting it on that will make your life SO MUCH EASIER! 

9. Know What Matters to You. 

I’ve learned that in order for my home to truly feel clean to me, my kitchen has to be clean. It doesn’t matter if the rest of the house is absolutely spotless, if the kitchen isn’t clean I feel like the whole house is a mess. I’m also very picky about our floor – I walk around barefoot 99% of the time, so if I can feel dirt under my feet when I’m going from room to room, I start to feel the urge to do some cleaning. So, when I just have a few minutes to tackle a cleaning task or two I know that I need to start with the kitchen or the floors. Just taking care of those two things will make my home feel a million times cleaner to me!

Maybe your thing is making sure your stainless steel appliances are clean. Or, that you always have fresh clean towels. Maybe dusty fans and light fixtures make your eye twitch or you can’t stand it when there are stray items sitting on all of the hard surfaces in your home. Basically – know thyself. If you focus on the specific things that drive you up the wall, your house will automatically feel cleaner!

10. Give Yourself Grace. 

Above all, this is probably the most important habit to adopt. It’s also the hardest for me. Your home will not be clean all the time. No one’s home is. Sometimes the mess just means you’re having lots of extra fun! The less you stress about having a clean home, the easier it will be to actually find time for what matters – and I’ve also found that the more grace I give myself in this area, the more likely I am to find time to get cleaning done!

Other Cleaning Tips & Tricks

• 20 of the Best Cleaning Hacks
• My Favorite Cleaning Products
• Get Your Home Decluttered in 30 Days
• My Favorite Bathroom Cleaning Hacks
• How to Clean an Area Rug
• How to Clean Vinyl Plank Floors
• How to Clean a Front-Load Washer
• 15-Minute Daily Cleaning Routine