Five Step Quick Cleaning Routine

I always do better when I have a plan, so I thought I'd embrace the idea of spring cleaning this year by coming up with a simple game plan that I can use throughout the year to whip the house into shape quickly. 

We pay to have our house cleaned every other week, which has been one of the best investments we've ever made! It forces us to put everything away on a regular basis and gives us a fresh start twice a month. As a result, the house never gets too bad in between. But two weeks is still plenty of time for clutter to pile up, dust to accumulate, and of course, there are the daily messes, spills, finger prints {and nose prints} of two kids and a dog.

When it comes to giving the house a quick clean, I feel like I waste a lot of time running around trying to figure out what needs to be done. That's why I decided to come up with a game plan so I can make the biggest impact in the shortest amount of time.

With young kids and a new puppy in the house, I'm always in search of green cleaning products that are safe for our home and family, so I've partnered with Safeway and Open Nature™ to share my new Quick Clean Routine.

A little organization goes a long way, so in addition to creating a quick cleaning plan, I also wanted to take the time to spring clean my cleaning supplies - both literally and figuratively. I pulled all my old cleaning supplies out of the linen closet and under the kitchen sink. 

Over time, we've become a lot more conscious of the products we use in our home - opting for safer and greener ingredients. I purged everything that was expired, not frequently used, or simply not in line with our new, greener standards. {Be sure to do your research on the right way to dispose of old cleaning supplies.}

I'm replacing our old cleaners with products that are safer for our home and family without sacrificing on the cleaning power we need for our toughest messes.

As a mom, it can be a challenge trying to figure out which products are really the best for our home, so I appreciate that the Open Nature cleaners are certified Safer Choice by the U.S. EPA.

The products are dye free, contain biodegradable ingredients, are made with 100% recycled paper, and come in fragrance and perfume free options.

After gathering up all of my new, greener cleaning products, I realized it would be much easier to keep most of the supplies together in a container that I can easily carry from room to room as I work through my new cleaning routine. And you know my motto - everything is better with a pretty label!

I picked up a galvanized tub and added a bright green "Quick Clean" label to match the green in my laundry room and linen closet, where I plan to store it between uses. I filled the tub with the glass & window cleaner, the all purpose cleaner, a roll of paper towels, and my feather duster.

With all my cleaning supplies together in my new, cute container, I'm ready to share my new 5 step quick cleaning routine.

When guests arrive, our living room is the first space they see, and likely where we'll spend most of our time. Dust accumulates quickly on flat surfaces like our coffee table and piano, so a quick pass with a feather duster refreshes the room in a hurry.

When you're doing a quick clean up before guests arrive, you won't have time to clean every bathroom in the house, so focus five minutes or so on the bathroom guests are most likely to use. Run a toilet brush quickly around the toilet bowl and use all purpose cleaner and a paper towel to wipe down the faucet, sink, counter top, and outside of the toilet bowl. The Open Nature all purpose cleaning spray is perfect for the bathroom because it kills 99.99% of viruses, bacteria, and germs.

I also make sure there's a clean hand towel and plenty of soap, and I like to sit out an extra roll of toilet paper if it's getting low. I love the water lily and jasmine scent of the Open Nature hand soap, and also that it contains no artificial colors.

I've gotten into a pretty good routine of loading dirty dishes straight into the dishwasher, but the items I prefer to hand wash, like pots, pans, and our good knives, sometimes end up piled in our sink until I get around to them. A sink of dishes not only looks messy, but can also leave unwanted smells in the kitchen, so it's worth spending a few minutes to catch up on the hand washing before guests arrive. 

After putting the dishes away, I quickly wipe down the faucet and the inside of the sink to leave it looking shiny and clean.

When guests are on their way, there's probably no time to mop the kitchen floor, but a quick pass with a broom cleans up the crumbs, and then I again use the all purpose cleaning spray and a paper towel to spot clean any dirt or spills on the floor. I always make this last on my kitchen cleaning list because other clean up steps may result in crumbs hitting the floor.

If I finish the first four steps and still have a few extra minutes to tidy up before guests arrive, I'll take out the trash and then tackle the kiddo hand prints {and puppy nose prints} that always adorn the windows in our living room and kitchen.

Now that I've come up with my new quick cleaning routine, what I really should do is tackle each of these tasks first thing every morning after the kids are off to school so that I never have to scramble before guests arrive. That feels like a good goal, but I know that many days life will get in the way, so for now I'm just happy to have a solid game plan to clean up the house in a hurry any time I need to. Hey, at least I'm being realistic, right?!