Does your bedroom feel more like a messy war zone than a peaceful sanctuary? Between piles of laundry, dust bunnies under the bed, and grimy windows, keeping a bedroom clean can feel like an impossible task. But with the right bedroom cleaning tips and techniques, you can whip your bedroom into shape for a fresh, clutter-free space that promotes restful sleep.
The Magic of Baking Soda
Baking soda is cheap, natural, and incredibly versatile for cleaning. Sprinkle some on a clean cloth and use it to scrub away stubborn stains and soap scum buildup. The slightly abrasive texture helps lift grime without harsh chemicals. Most cleaning services use this magic trick to clean off surfaces without worrying about harmful fumes.
Baking soda is a cleaning workhorse for tile walls, floors, bathtubs, sinks – you name it. Make a paste with baking soda and water to tackle really crusted stains and stains and let it sit overnight for easier scrubbing. It will become your new best friend for saving time on cleaning.
The Power of a Damp Cloth
Forget the fancy equipment – sometimes all you need is a good old damp cloth. A lightly dampened microfiber cloth can pick up dust, hair, and light dirt from surfaces with a few quick wipes. Run it over countertops wipe surfaces, tables, window sills, and even walls to trap the dust instead of moving it around.
Take it to the next level by putting a few drops of an all-purpose cleaner or lemon juice on the cloth for extra cleaning power. The damp cloth method is fast, effective, and cost-free – perfect for busywork saving time while cleaning.
Save Time Between Deep Cleans
Let’s get one thing straight – a full deep clean takes time and elbow grease no matter what tips you use. But with some quick daily habits, you can stretch out the time needed between those hardcore sessions.
Take 5 minutes every morning to do a speed clean in the bathroom sink daily. Use a paper towel and all-purpose spray to quickly wipe down the bathroom sink, toilet, and counters. It keeps grime from building up so you don’t have to spend hours scrubbing later.
While you’re in there, use a toilet brush to swish the bowl and dump a little toilet cleaner in. Let it work its magic while you move to the next room to wash up. The daily 5-minute wipedown will save you so much time versus letting it all build up.
Get Pet Hair Under Control Fast
Pet hair tumbleweed situation out of control? Save yourself the hassle of endless vacuuming with a few time-saving tricks. First, do a quick vacuuming with just the beater bar running to grab surface hair. Then go over floors and furniture with a dry rubber glove or cloth to lift stubborn embedded strands.
Finish up by using a hair dryer on surfaces to blow the remaining hair into a nice little pile you can vacuum up quickly. It takes under 15 minutes versus waiting forever with the vacuum alone. Your cat will judge you, but your time is precious. If you need help on this part, hiring a furniture cleaning service would be best.
Cleaning Hacks for Bathrooms
For sinks and tubs, keep a spray bottle filled with equal parts warm water and white vinegar. Spray it on and let it work for 15-20 minutes before wiping it with a cloth or paper towel. The acetic acid eats through rust and discoloration with minimal scrubbing required.
For super stuck-on grime in the tub or shower, bring out the big guns – a paste made from cream of tartar and lemon juice. Spread it on, let sit overnight, then scrub it in the morning. It takes elbow grease, but way less than if you’d attacked it right away.
Hit tile walls with hot water and club soda solution in a spray bottle. Club soda is a miracle cleaner for getting rid of hard water stains on tiles and fixtures. Save your back and time from aggressive scrubbing.
Tackling Wine Stains & Cooking Messes
Cooking is great, but cleaning up greasy pots and pans – not so much. Here’s how to spend way less time getting them spotless.
For wine stains on carpet or upholstery, rinse and blot up what you can then cover the area with a thick layer of salt or baking soda. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes to absorb and lift the stain before vacuuming up. The longer the better! You’ll be amazed how much less scrubbing is needed.
On pots and pans, soak the crusty mess with warm water and a big squirt of dish soap as soon as you’re done cooking. Let it work while you enjoy your meal, then scrape off the loosened gunk with a hard bristle brush or sponge. It’s so much easier than attacking it once it’s caked on hard!
Multitask While You Clean
Why do one thing when you can multitask and clean better, and faster? Easy ways to multitask while cleaning:
Bring the whole vacuum upstairs and clean each bedroom in one sweep instead of running up and down.
Squirt toilet cleaner in each toilet, then keep moving while it works its magic.
Load and run the dishwasher while wiping counters.
Fill the sink with hot soapy water, then work on another task while it soaks dishes.
Look for little pockets of idle time and knock out an extra cleaning job. You’ll fly through your list without feeling crazy rushed.
Weekly Cleaning Instead of Panic Cleaning
We’ve all been there – the house is a pit and you blitz clean like a maniac for 8 hours straight before company comes over. Save your back (and sanity) by developing a weekly cleaning routine.
Pick 1-2 rooms per day that you focus on for a quick 20-minute straighten and clean. Do things like make beds, dust surfaces, vacuum or mop, clean bathrooms, etc. Rotate through all rooms in the house clean by the end of the week.
Not only does this avoid overwhelming deep clean sessions, but it also prevents buildup from ever reaching crisis levels. A little bit of cleaning each day keeps your home feeling cleaner with way less time invested.
Use the Right Tools to Save Time
Proper tools can shave tons of time off cleaning tasks. Invest in a few key time savers:
Extendable dusters for cleaning ceiling fans and high spots without dragging a ladder around
A cordless vacuum for zipping around quickly
Microfiber mops – the pads lift and trap dirt instead of pushing it around
A good all-purpose cleaner that disinfects as it cleans
Rubber gloves to protect your hands from harsh cleaners
Having exactly what you need for each cleaning job means no stopping to hunt for supplies or rinsing and switching them out constantly. You’ll speed through your cleaning routine.
Declutter Once for Easier Cleaning
A cluttered home with knick-knacks and excess stuff covering every surface in one room is a nightmare to clean around and under. Do a major decluttering pass to minimize belongings and instantly make cleaning easier and faster.
Get rid of anything you don’t use or love. Donate, trash, or sell off decor pieces, old magazines, and junk drawers full of useless stuff. With less around to clean, dusting and vacuuming will take no time at all.
Let Machines Do the Work
Cleaning can be so much simpler by just letting machines and cleaners do the heavy lifting for you.
Start the dishwasher before bed with degreasing detergent, and wake up to sparkling clean dishes and pans with zero scrubbing required. Toss the paper towels, and aprons in overnight to deal with cooked-on food splatters.
Use a washing machine’s automatic soaker cycle with an oxygen cleaner like OxiClean to remove set-in stains from clothes and linens before the normal cycle. You don’t have to spend ages pretreating and rubbing stains.
Steam cleaners make sanitizing tile, grout, showers, and sealed floors a breeze without hard scrubbing. Be lazy and let the machines (and chemistry) do the grunt work for you.
Clean As You Go For Less Mess Buildup
One of the best time-saving cleaning strategies is to simply clean as you go throughout your day. Don’t let messes linger and build up into bigger cleaning jobs down the road.
In the kitchen:
Wipe down counters and the stove top after cooking
Deal with any spills or splatters immediately before they set
Keep a damp microfiber cloth hanging on the oven door handle for easy access
When doing laundry:
Smooth out wrinkles and treat stains right away before washing
Keep a stain stick or spray bottle of stain remover in the laundry room
Other clean-as-you-go tips:
Make your bed each morning
Keep cleaning wipes in bathrooms for quick wipe downs after use
Cleaning as you go prevents surfaces, fabrics, and mess from getting overly dirty and crusty. It takes way less effort and time to do a quick wipe-down versus tackling built-up layers of grime later on. Make it a daily habit and cut way down on deep cleaning time.
Purge Excess Items For Faster Surface Cleaning
One of the most time-consuming parts of cleaning surfaces can simply be having to clear away and move around a ton of clutter sitting on every flat space first. Take a weekend and do a huge purge:
Donate items you don’t use or enjoy
Throw away or sell excess decor pieces, knick-knacks, and junk
Go room by room and be ruthless in getting rid of excess. Every item you remove is one less thing to pick up, dust under, and put back again during cleaning sessions.
The less stuff you have cluttering up your space, the faster cleaning goes. Clutter is a huge time drain when cleaning – purging it streamlines the whole process.
Clean Entryways More Frequently
Pay extra close cleaning attention to high-traffic entry areas, and the rest of the house will stay cleaner longer with way less effort.
High-traffic zones to clean frequently:
Front and back doors
Mudrooms and hallways
Entry mats and rugs (shake out weekly)
Stairs and stair treads
Make sweeping, vacuuming, and mopping these zones a 2-3 times per week routine. This prevents dirt from getting tracked throughout the rest of the house.
Don’t neglect stair treads or floor, either – vacuum them weekly. Skipping them leads to a time-consuming deep cleaning project later.
Clean the dirtiest areas most frequently to keep the rest of the home cleaner with less overall effort required.
Clean Smarter, Not Harder With Tools & Hacks
There’s no need to take a brute-force scrubbing approach to cleaning everything if you learn some easier, smarter techniques.
Invest in these key helper tools:
Extendable dusters and vacuum attachments
A lightweight, cordless stick vacuum
Microfiber cleaning cloths
Quality cleaning gloves
A sturdy plastic basket for carrying supplies
Utilize cleaning hacks like:
Making reusable cleaning wipes from old T-shirts
Using a toilet brush on floors to scrub corners and edges
Wrapping old towels around Swiffer pads for reusable dusters
Be strategic in your approach:
Clean a room from top to bottom
Close doors to finished rooms to avoid recirculating dust
Hit the home’s dirtiest areas first
Working smarter saves time versus working harder work faster than needed. Use the right tools, take advantage of shortcuts, and have a logical approach to maximize efficiency.
Maintain a Cleaning Checklist & Routine
According to HomeAdvisor‘s guide on house cleaning tips, making a cleaning checklist and routine is crucial for efficiency. They state, that having a set cleaning schedule and checklist ensures you don’t overlook areas of your home.
Aimlessly wandering while cleaning wastes time and causes you to overlook areas. Maintain a set cleaning checklist and routine when cleaning windows to streamline efforts.
Bottomline
At the end of the day, it’s about being proactive, working consistently, and optimizing your gear and approach. With some solid cleaning habits and the right tools in your arsenal, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you can get quality clean surfaces, floors, cast iron pans, windows, and even ceiling fans sparkling without living at the mercy of your mop and bucket. Cleaning doesn’t have to be a soul-crushing time-suck – just work smarter and you’re golden!
