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Keeping my house in order is essential for my sanity. Clutter makes me feel really anxious and I can’t relax with a mess around me.

3 SIMPLE SECRETS FOR CLEANING LESS

Thankfully, I’ve discovered some simple ways to keep my house in a clean-enough state without spending all of my time picking up messes.

1. Declutter

The number one way to spend less time cleaning and my favorite. The less stuff you have, the less you have to clean. You may  be nodding your head in enthusiastic agreement, and if you are, proceed to number 2.

If not, maybe it’s time to get rid of some stuff. Like the toys the kids never play with or your second set of dishes or the clothes in your closet that you never wear.

If you want some help with this task, check out my post, How to Declutter Your Home.

2. Get laser-focused

If I know that I need to get something done and I only have a certain amount of time to do it in, I zoom through it with laser focus. And then I wonder why I don’t do that everyday…

This is great when it comes to cleaning (especially if you’ve done the decluttering part). Some people call this White Hurricane as a fun way to motivate the kids to clean up before Daddy gets home.

This works best for us after dinner.

Pick a certain amount of time (thirty minutes is more than enough time for our house and I find a time crunch is a good motivator) and get to work. Upbeat music helps a lot, too, and makes it more fun.

When time is up, the dishes have been done, floors and counters cleaned and the rest of the house has been straightened. Then there’s plenty of time to hang out, watch a movie and read stories before bed.

3. Get help

Our “school” focus for the last few weeks has been on teaching the kids how to help us around the house. And we’ve found something interesting: when we let them do the chores they like to do, they’re much more willing to help out.

So rather than trying to force them to do everything, we’re letting them work in their strengths, which is working out really well for us.

It took a few training sessions, but we have helpers who actually like folding and putting away laundry (most of it), cleaning the toilets (oh thank goodness) and washing the dishes (especially Isaiah who usually ends up soaked).

While the initial “job training” takes time, it is so worth it. You just have to learn to breathe through the water spilling on the floor…

Simply Clean Home. An eguide to help you clean less and live more.Simply Clean Home

For the last few years, I’ve been asked a few questions over and over again. When that happens, I usually write a blog post to address it. But for this question, a post wouldn’t suffice – I needed a whole book. What’s the question?

“How can I declutter my home so I don’t have to clean so much?!”

I can so empathize. When my dream of staying home with my kids was finally realized, I thought it would be all snuggles and play dates. Ha! We snuggled, alright. But only after I’d spent the better part of the day cleaning. And was my house spotless? No.

There was just so much stuff, it required constant care to keep me from going crazy (turns out clutter stresses me out – a lot). As for play dates, those only happened if I had time in my schedule to leave the dreaded housework and go somewhere else.

There was no way I was inviting people over – that would just mean more cleaning!

Thankfully, that’s no longer my reality. Now, it takes me about 30 minutes to do my major chores and 30-45 minutes of daily tasks to keep the house tidy and peaceful (as peaceful as it can get with four kids, anyway).

I’ve learned a lot about keeping a my home clean simply in the last few years and I’m sharing them now in my latest ebook.

And so, I give you Simply Clean Home. It’s an easy-to-follow guide designed to help people clean less and live more. It’s broken down into three sections:

  • Decluttering
  • Cleaning
  • Now what?

Because some of us need ideas for what to do with ourselves once we don’t have to clean all the time anymore.

Click here to learn more.