The 22 Minute House Cleaning Method for Work at Home Moms
Posted in Time Management, Work at Home
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By Holly Reisem Hanna
I’m one of those Type A individuals who has to have everything all clean and tidy. Every week I spend a good amount of time cleaning and organizing – which I don’t mind, I actually find it therapeutic. The only problem is that keeping the house spic-and-span takes up a huge chunk of my valuable time; time that I could be use to grow my business or spend with my loved ones.
Well, a few weeks ago I read this article on Simple Mom, The Case for Once a Month Cleaning. The article highlighted some really good points about batching your duties. I’ve actually been intrigued with the idea of batching since I read Tim Ferriss’ The Four Hour Work Week. In this book Tim talks about doing chores on a month basis, instead of a week basis – thus saving you time.
So I decided to try out a similar plan and see how much extra time I could save myself each week.
Here’s how the 22 minute house cleaning plan works…
For the first 3 weeks you do a quick 22 minute spot clean. On week 4 you do a deep clean which will take longer, but you’ll gain extra time weeks 1-3.
Kitchen Area: Wipe counter tops down, spot clean and rise the sink, and spot sweep the floor – 6 minutes.
Living Area (Main Traffic Areas): Vacuum the floor – 8 minutes.
Bathrooms: Wipe off counter tops, Wipe down sinks, clean the toilet and spot clean the mirrors – 8 minutes (2 bathrooms).
During the rest of the week, just use the clean as you go method, meaning, immediately pick up your dishes and put them in the dishwasher and spot wiping/cleaning visibly soiled areas. Then on week 4 do a deep clean where you dust, mop and scrub the entire house. By doing this I was able to give myself 6 – 9 additional hours during the month – not bad.
Lessons this work at home mom learned…
Just Let Go: For myself I learned that I needed to let go of some of my Type A tendencies. Even though I wasn’t scrubbing the entire house each week, it still looked just as clean when I did the 22 minute quick clean. Apply this mantra to different areas of your life and you’ll soon find that you have more time than you thought.
Learn to Prioritize: Often when I would be cleaning my daughter would ask me to play with her, and I’d say, “In a minute” – I can’t tell you how many times a day I would catch myself saying this. Cleaning isn’t a priority, my daughter is.
Get Rid of the Judgment and Guilt: Stop beating yourself up because your house isn’t spotless. As moms we tend to put too much pressure on ourselves to be prefect in every way, and it’s just not possible. Let go of the judgment and guilt and hold on to those activities that make you feel empowered and strong.
How do you manage household duties as a work at home mom?
Love this post, Holly! In my case, I also delegate the duties to other members of the household (aka my husband and kids). That involved some “letting go,” too, because maybe I didn’t exactly LOVE the way they did something. But I’ve taught myself to stop re-cleaning something they had cleaned and either live with it, or if it was unacceptable, nicely ask them to try again. I get some time, and they contribute to the household duties. And in the end, if we all pitch in, the house is cleaner faster and we get to spend time together when it is all done. Woot woot!!
Hi Christy, I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Once my daughter gets a little older, I’ll delegate some chores to her. My husband is great with helping out too, in fact he’s in charge of scrubbing the tubs, my least favorite chore.
Wow!! Loved it!! It’s very useful. I’m going to put these tips on practice right away. ;) God bless!!
Hi Selina, Glad you enjoyed the tips. Let me know how they work out for you =)
Working from home and working a full time job does make cleaning TIME very challenging. Luckily my husband and boys help out a ton, but I often find myself feeling the guilt of shudda, woulda, coulda. Glad to know I’m not alone.
Thanks for the tips!
Suzanne
Radically reducing the use of chemicals in personal care and cleaning.
Hi Suzanne, I think the majority of women feel some sort of guilt. Just have to remember what’s really important and it’s not cleaning =) Thanks for stopping by.
Great point Holly!
It’s important to know when going deep really matters (like in investing time in our most important personal and professional priorities) and when taking care of the surface is more than enough.
All the best,
Elizabeth
http://www.ScheduleMakeover.com
Thanks Elizabeth. I like for things to be clean, but in the grand scheme of everything, cleaning is not a priority. I always try yo remember, don’t sweat the small stuff.
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