The Top Cleaning Hacks For Busy Parents

As a busy parent trying to juggle work, kids, and running a household, keeping your home clean can feel like an impossible task. Between school drop-offs and pickups, after school activities, making dinner, and trying to squeeze in some family time, when do you actually have time to clean?

The truth is, you have to make time, but that doesn’t mean it has to take up your entire weekend. There are lots of little cleaning hacks and tips that can help you keep your home looking neat and tidy without spending all day doing chores. Here are my top 10 cleaning hacks for busy parents!

1. Have a Place For Everything

Clutter is one of the biggest contributors to a messy looking home. When you have kids, it’s easy for backpacks, shoes, toys, art supplies, etc. to end up strewn everywhere. Set up designated homes for your kids items - use baskets, shelves, cubbies, hooks and bins to corral the clutter so things have a spot to go at the end of the day.

Make sure your systems are easy to use and located conveniently - like near the front door where they come in and out each day. Getting into the habit of always putting things straight into their home cuts way down on mess.

2. Take 5 Minutes Per Room Each Night

One of the best cleaning tips for busy households is to spend just 5 minutes tidying each room before you go to bed. Set a timer and put away any clutter, do a quick tidy of sofa cushions and play areas, straighten items on shelves and table tops, wipe down counters and spot treat any grubby marks on the floor.

It takes just half an hour but makes a huge difference to how neat your home looks in the morning without cutting into family time in the evenings. Plus, you won’t waste precious weekend time dealing with huge overwhelming messy rooms.

3. Clean As You Go

This is one of those cleaning secrets that makes such a big difference! Get into the habit of quickly wiping up kitchen messes straight after cooking meals. Load dishes straight into the dishwasher as you use them rather than leaving them in the sink. Put away toys when done playing. Deal with spills and accidents right after they happen.

Cleaning up little messes takes just seconds but leaving them can turn your home chaotic very quickly. Post reminder notes around your home to help train everyone to clean as they go until it becomes a habit.

4. Embrace Routines

Having set routines makes keeping a tidy home so much easier, especially if you involve the kids. Always put PJs on, brush teeth and pack backpacks the night before so morning rush hour is smoother. Assign chores like tidying play areas or emptying lunch boxes/backpacks when kids get home from school.

Have a quick family tidy up 20 minutes before bed where you set a timer and all pick up everything that’s been left lying around during the day. It teaches responsibility while ensuring you don’t go to bed with a disastrous mess waiting for you.

5. Schedule Deep Cleans

For those household chores that only need doing once a week or once a month like dusting fans, cleaning baseboards, wiping out the fridge or oven etc., make sure they don’t get forgotten by putting them in your calendar.

Schedule reminders so when it’s time to mop floors, clean bathrooms or wipe down light fixtures you don’t put it off because you’re busy. Spread bigger cleaning tasks throughout the month rather than letting them pile up.

6. Make Your Own Cleaning Products

You can make powerful DIY cleaners from simple pantry staples that will save you time and money without exposing your family to nasty chemicals. Make all purpose cleaners from vinegar, lemon juice or baking soda.

Magic homemade bathroom cleaner recipes like spray bottles filled with Dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide and water make scrubbing soap scum and grime from tile, glass and porcelain super fast and easy.

There are also easy “cleaning paste” recipes made from baking soda and essential oils that lift incredible dirt from ovens, microwaves and stainless steel while leaving a fresh lemony scent behind in your kitchen.

7. Speed Clean The Bathroom

The bathroom often gets put off because who wants to spend their precious free time scrubbing toilets and tile floors? Make it faster by mixing up this homemade bathroom cleaning solution: to a 32 oz spray bottle add 1⁄2 cup each of Dawn dish soap, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and white vinegar then fill with warm water.

Spray it over surfaces, wait 5 minutes for the powerful fizzing cleaner action to lift soap scum and grime the scrub with a cloth, grout brush or old toothbrush. It cuts scrub time 75%!

8. Stay On Top Of Laundry

Never ending piles of dirty clothes are depressing and time consuming to tackle. Make laundry faster and avoid facing a literal mountain by just doing one load per day. Throw in a load before you leave in the morning and switch it to the dryer when you get home.

Folding and putting away a single load takes 15 minutes but you avoid wasting half a day catching up on a weeks worth. If you have more laundry than fits in one load, recruit your kids help folding to speed it up.

9. Outsource Deep Cleans

Some cleaning tasks simply require more time, effort and expertise than we busy parents have. Instead of letting these get completely neglected and turning into much bigger problems down the line, consider outsourcing a professional deep cleaning service once or twice a year.

A cleaning crew can thoroughly scrub ovens, mop tile floors on their hands and knees, dust ceiling fans, pressure wash outdoor space, extract deeply embedded dirt from carpets and upholstery etc in a fraction of the time it would take you DIY. Worth it!

10. Let The Kids Help

Giving children age appropriate chores and responsibilities helps them gain important life skills while keeping your home cleaner in the process. Have little ones help pick up their toys into baskets, put dirty clothes in the laundry hamper and wipe down bathroom counters.

Bigger kids can handle sweeping floors, using the vacuum, cleaning mirrors and emptying small garbage cans. Offer an allowance or star chart rewards to motivate them. Assigning daily and weekly chores teaches both responsibility and makes maintaining a neat home easier.

In Conclusion

The reality of being a busy parent trying to juggle a million balls means cleaning often slides down the priority list. But letting your home turn disastrously messy leads to added stress and cutting into family time trying to catch up.

Hopefully implementing even just a few of these effective cleaning hacks and home organization ideas can help you stay on top of chores without becoming a full time housekeeper. Little daily habits like cleaning as you go and doing quick tidy ups makes a big difference long term. The key is staying consistent!