If your home is a mess but you really don’t know where to start, it’s time to set a daily cleaning schedule. It's been well established that working in short bursts can help keep you motivated when you’re feeling overwhelmed, and cleaning in 15-minute increments can do the trick. First, commit to spending 15 minutes a day cleaning. It can be in the morning, afternoon, or evening — whenever you want and whatever works with your daily schedule. Each day, pick a new spot to clean and focus only on that area. You might even divide up the rooms into groups, so for a few days you tackle spots in the bathroom, then move to spots in the kitchen for a few days, and so on. If you’re stuck on what to clean, here are some areas that take 15 minutes or less. Don’t limit yourself to the list, though. Go through your home and pick small areas, and then take on whatever makes sense in your situation.
• Junk drawer
• Silverware drawer
• Pantry
• Spice Cabinet
• Vanity
• Medicine cabinet
• Refrigerator
• Entertainment center
• Desk
• Linen closet
• Place where you store cleaning supplies
The goal is not to clean entire rooms in a day, but to break down the task to manageable chunks. Take, for example, the bathroom — first you clean out the medicine cabinet, the next day you tackle the linen closet, and so on. A little bit of work each day adds up and you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment at the end of each 15-minute bout. That will propel you into the next day’s effort. By the end of a few weeks, you’ll have a noticeably cleaner space, all without having to dedicate a whole weekend to tidying up.
