https://youtu.be/u4VS1L9fHII

 

Our lives are always rushed and we can’t seem to keep the house clean as we wished to. Kids are throwing things all over the place, spouse keeps leaving things around the house and it seems like the only thing we’re doing in the house is cleaning. Why is it that our houses are one big mess every single day? I got news for all of you minimalists out there! It’s not hard at all using these simple techniques.

Keep counters empty

Let’s start off with the kitchen, since it’s one of the most used areas in the house. We’re always preparing food to feed our bodies. Marie Kondo, the tidy expert, recommends keeping the kitchen counters empty. She recommends putting everything away into cabinets and drawers for a clean kitchen. I’ve found this to be an amazing transformation in my kitchen. I seemed to have items out like any other typical kitchen. Items like tea containers, cooking oils, fruit rack, tea press and other “essential items” that I thought needed to be out in the open for ease of access.

Once I put all those items in the cabinets I noticed that I quickly transformed my kitchen to an open and clear kitchen. Marie Kondo explains that keeping your counters empty will essentially be easy to clean your kitchen when you cook. Imagine this, it will take a quick swipe of your empty counters to wipe them clean instead of pushing things aside, wiping that area and putting the items back to place. In most cases, those areas with stuff on the counters don’t get cleaned regularly. It will collect water spots, dust, and splatters around those items that are left out.

Keeping the fridge sparkling

I would always get frustrated when I deep clean the fridge and then a week later it’s back to where it was. I would do this over and over again. I wouldn’t see an end to this cycle, and I thought this was the way of life… to deep clean the fridge a few times a month.

The key here is to dry off everything wet before putting items in the fridge. Glass jars, dishes, pots, anything in a container should be quickly dried off with a towel before placing it in the fridge. The main reason why the fridge gets really nasty fast is because of the water spots that are shown when we put wet items in the fridge. Take this extra step and you’ll have a sparkling, clean fridge every day!

Make your bed

Did you know it takes a whole minute to make your bed? It is quite soothing to the soul when you come home to a nice looking bed, instead of a bed that looks like a hurricane just came through.

If it takes less than a minute to do something – do it

This goes to everything from putting something away, wiping the counter top, dusting off the TV, putting your shoes away, putting your dish away after you’re done eating, etc. The house gets messy pretty fast when things don’t get put back to its’ place. When you come home and you change out of your work attire to your home attire, and you know it takes maybe a minute to put your clothes in the laundry hamper or hang them back up, then do it right away! After you’re done doing your makeup in the morning, it takes less than a minute to put your makeup, hair dryer, comb back into drawers. Even if you’re rushed, don’t dismiss this step because it will save you from having a huge mess at the end of the week.

Under 15 minutes a day

A lot of us go throughout our busy lives thinking that it’s a hassle and it takes too much time to do chores throughout the week. We tend to dismiss the clutter that piles up and wait till the weekend to do chores. Our house is roughly 1,300 sq. ft., and has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.  It’s only my husband and I living at our house.

I wanted to put my chores to the test and see how long it usually takes to do chores around the house. Here’s a breakdown of how many minutes each chore took me.

So, putting some chores together like sweeping and mopping the kitchen floors will only take me 9:05 minutes! That means I can squeeze one more chore in there like sweeping the living room and it will put me at a 14:43 minutes.

The houses vary in sizes, so it might even take you even less time to do chores than it took me. If you have kiddos running around and destroying everything you clean, it might take you a little more time. However, this gives you a general sense that typically chores take up less time than you think! So, don’t put it off for the weekend, because it doesn’t take that much time to clean throughout the week.

I believe you can do accomplish a lot in 15 minutes. When you do 15 minutes a day, your house will be sparkling for any unexpected guest to arrive and be presentable.

Free printable

This is why I created an easy, free printable for you guys to enjoy. Print it out, time your chores and see how long it’ll take you to do the chores. Cross it off, personalize it and make it your own. Slap it on the fridge so it will be a friendly reminder to do those “time consuming” chores that we all dread doing throughout the week.

Download it here!

Make it fun!

Don’t make chores boring and strenuous. Make them fun, joyful and enjoy them with your favorite upbeat music. Dance around during your chores and you’ll be all done with your chores with a happy and joyful attitude.

Happy living, world!