5 cleaning hacks for moms with busy schedules.
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Being a mom means a constant stream of picking up toys, wiping up spills, and keeping up with a constant stream of dirty clothes. Studies show that women clean an average of two hours more a day than men, which means a lot of the housework may fall to you. Keep up with your household chores and stay sane with these cleaning hacks that can save the day.
Make a cleaning schedule
A basic cleaning schedule that has daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly tasks can help you stay organized as you tackle your house. Many people report that they tend to get distracted while cleaning. For example, you may start cleaning a closet and discover an item that needs to be put away in another room. When putting it away, you may be distracted by cleaning that room. Unfortunately, this is an inefficient use of your time, and it can be discouraging as chores never seem to get done.
Sit down and decide what absolutely must be done every day. List these items and include one weekly item to do each day. For example, you may choose to scrub your bathtub once a week or vacuum your curtains once a month. Write these down on a cleaning calendar and stick to the schedule so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Put laundry away as soon as it is washed
Nothing is more discouraging than having baskets of clean clothes that are sitting around waiting to be folded and put away. Having so much to do can make laundry seem impossible. Only washing one load at a time and putting it away as soon as it is done drying can prevent too much from piling up.
If you have no time to fold your laundry, stop. Many moms report that they stopped folding their clothes to save precious time. Place clothing items in the drawers un-folded and walk away. When it’s time to wear the clothes, you can simply use the steam setting on the dryer to de-wrinkle the clothes.
Try using a vacuum instead of a broom
Sweeping up the endless crumbs that gather under the table takes a lot of time. Cleaning the floor in a room can take 10 to 15 minutes to sweep everything into a pile and get it into a dustpan. Instead of wasting precious time sweeping, try using a vacuum.
Simply set the setting to hardwood or bare floor and vacuum all of your tile, linoleum, ceramic, or hardwood floors in your home. Miele vacuums can be especially helpful in keeping floors clean. The hard floor vacuums are designed to clean a variety of different types of flooring, saving you time and preventing dust and crumbs from piling up.
Stay on top of clutter
Having kids means toys, baseball bats, backpacks, and sneakers galore. No matter how simple you may try to keep things in your household, there’s no denying that kids have a lot of stuff. All of these things can quickly clutter a house, which makes it difficult to clean and frustrating to look at.
Stay on top of clutter by regularly going through your children’s clothes, books, and toys. If they don’t love it or it doesn’t fit, either donate it to a local charity, pass it on to a friend, or get rid of it. Having a miscellaneous basket can also help. Instead of running up-and-down the stairs to put items away, put an attractive basket at the foot of the stairs. Place random items in it and take the basket up in one trip to save time and energy.
Use the one-hand system when cooking
When you are cooking, try to use the one-hand system. This means that you put the ingredient items away immediately as they are used. For example, if you grab a spice out of the cupboard to season a dish, use it and then put it away without every setting it on the counter. This can make cooking and dinner clean-up easier.
Don’t be dismayed if your house looks like a tornado blew through it. Try these simple cleaning hacks to stay on top of your housework and enjoy spending the extra time with the people you love the most.