5 Minute Cleaning Jobs: Cleaning Hacks for Cleaning Fast

Hey, Clean My Space community! Raise your hand if you want to spend all your time cleaning. Now, I’m just going to assume no one raised their hand, and guess what, I didn’t either. That’s why I’m always trying to think of ways to maximize cleaning efficiency while minimizing cleaning time. I’m all about cleaning hacks and how to clean fast, and that’s what we’re talking about today. 

For this article, I want to share some five-minute cleaning jobs you can do while you wait for your coffee to brew or for your Zoom meeting to start. When we utilize our time well and sneak in little cleaning jobs throughout the day, we save time in the long run. Plus, it doesn’t really feel like we cleaned, but our spaces look so much better. So let’s not waste any more time; here are my top five-minute cleaning jobs to get your homes clean in a jiffy. 

Organize Front Hall Shoes

I don’t know about you, but my family kicks off their shoes as soon as they come into the house and leaves them lying where they land. So many of us have this habit, and it makes our front hall look so messy! In a perfect world, we would all just line our shoes up neatly when we came in. But hey, that’s life. 

While you’re waiting for your coffee to brew or your popcorn to pop, take a few minutes to organize your shoes and line them up neatly. When you do this, you’ll probably notice dirt and dust have accumulated under your pile of shoes. Make a mental note of this and come back to it when you have more time. 

Now that you’re in your front closet, you’ll probably notice it needs more than shoes lined up. Check out my article Clean and Organize a Front Closet for all your front hall closet cleaning needs. 

Wipe Down Counters

Are your counters a little grubby like… all the time. Coffee ground spills, sticky juice spots, and toast crumbs plague us all. Use your five minutes to wipe down the kitchen counters. 

For a quick clean of the counters, I like to use one of my famous DIY cleaning recipes: one cup of water and one cup of white vinegar in a spray bottle. Give your counter a good spritz and wipe with your favorite sponge. 

Do you have ten minutes instead of five? Then, check out my article, 10 Minute Kitchen Cleaning Routine.  

Load the Dishwasher

Dishes, everybody’s least favorite thing. It is rivaled only by laundry. So if you have a few minutes before a Zoom meeting, take the time to load dirty dishes in the dishwasher. 

When you use little moments during the day to clean, it feels like less of a chore. So basically you’ll never have to do dishes again! OK, that’s a lie, but they won’t feel as bad. 

And to make your dishwashing routine even easier, I just put together a list of my absolute favorite dishwashing products. So take a look at my 12 Essential Products to Perfect Your Dishwashing Routine to find out what I use to cut my dishwashing time in half. 

Take Out the Garbage

OK, you just told your kids they could watch five more minutes of TV before bedtime. You can stand and scroll on your phone, or you can run and take the garbage out. What do you choose?

Or, if your kids are too little to leave alone inside the house, empty little bathroom, office, and bedroom garbages into your larger garbage. Whatever you can do to get a little bit more cleaning done in those free minutes leaves you with more time to relax with a glass of wine (or two) after the little ones are in bed. 

And if you have a little more time, consider cleaning your actual garbage can. This prevents stinky odors from lingering. I have a whole article on How to Clean Your Garbage Can (Inside and Out). 

Make Your Bed

I always say you should make your bed when you get up in the morning. But I know it doesn’t always happen. Even in my house! But once you’ve gotten up and started making coffee or tea, you might want to revisit that messy bed. And not to sleep. 

I don’t always make my bed the moment I get up, but when I put the water on for my morning tea, I’ll run back upstairs and get that bed made! It pulls my whole bedroom together, and it’s a nice task to get out of the way earlier in the day. 

Need more motivation to make your bed? I’ve got an article for you on 5 Great Reasons to Make Your Bed. 

Spot Mop the Floor

I know that five minutes is not enough time to mop your entire floor. But maybe your kid spilled some milk, and you just wiped it with a paper towel in a hurry to get to school. Or somebody ran into the house with dirty boots, and now there’s mud on the floor. 

A few minutes is absolutely enough time to do a spot mop if you have an easy-to-use mop at your disposal. Luckily, there is no easier-to-use mop than the Maker’s Mop! Yes, It’s my product, and yes, I love it!

Learn more about the Maker’s Mop in my article on The New Maker’s Mop, and grab yours today. 

Organize Bathroom Toiletries

Bathroom counters and shelves are always one of those overlooked cleaning duties. It’s true they aren’t “as important” as vacuuming or doing laundry, but a quick clean of your bathroom spaces will make your whole bathroom look so much better. 

This might be as simple as lining up your toiletries nicely. Give them a good wipe to get any shampoo or soap gunk off the bottom. Then arrange them neatly on your counter or in your shower. 

I just published a brand new article on Bathroom Cleaning Secrets, so be sure to give that a read when it comes time to do a thorough bathroom cleaning. 

Go Through the Mail 

Is there anything that shows up in our mailbox these days that isn’t junk mail, takeout menus, or bills? Other than an annual holiday card from grandma, probably not. While you’re waiting for your pasta to boil, grab that pile of mail that’s been sitting in your front hall for a month. 

Immediately recycle anything you don’t want, then organize important letters like bills and bank statements. It’s nice to have a designated place to put these, so they don’t get lost and so they don’t look messy. 

If your mail is already organized, give yourself a pat on the back and consider cleaning up your digital life with my article, Digital Clutter: 6 Tips to Manage Too Many Emails.

Dust Ceiling Fans and Light Fixtures

A great cleaning task to tackle if you have a few minutes is something that is often overlooked in regular cleaning. We usually forget to dust ceiling fans and light fixtures but trust me; they accumulate a lot of dust. 

Grab your duster and go to town for five minutes! I like to use a bendable duster for this because it’s easier to get on top of and around ceiling fan blades. My favorite is this bendable duster from Amazon, but any one will do. 

If you need more dusting advice, read my article, 10 Handy Dusting Tips.

Cleaning Hacks to Clean Fast

All these quick cleaning jobs are fast, easy, and pain-free. So next time you have a spare minute, use it to complete one of these tasks. You’ll be amazed what a difference a few spare minutes of cleaning here and there make in the long run. 

Do you have any more small cleaning jobs you like to complete during a busy day? Leave a comment below and tell us all about it.