Speed Cleaning: What Can You Do in Under an Hour

In an ideal world, cleaning your house would be akin to Snow White’s experience in her cozy cottage. Birds would sing, and you’d dance around your house with a smile on your face as you clean.

In the real world, however, cleaning is unfortunately one of those things you have to do in a crunch. You might have just learned that your in-laws are dropping by in an hour, or you only have a short time to clean before running out the door.

Speed cleaning has gotten a lot of attention recently, and for good reason. After all, most people don’t have hours of free time to clean. So, what exactly can you do in under an hour? More than you might think…

What Speed Cleaning Is and Why It Works

Speed cleaning allows you to declutter and clean in a fraction of the time. However, it’s about more than zipping through your home at a record pace with a duster, mop, and vacuum. The secret to this cleaning method is to allocate your time intentionally.

In the process, cleaning becomes less of a hassle, so you’ll be more motivated to clean next time. You’ll hit the high-visibility areas first because these make the biggest impact. Think about areas like your foyer, living room, kitchen, and bathrooms. Here’s what to do.

What You Can Realistically Achieve in Under an Hour

Timing is everything when you’re cleaning in a crunch. Proper time management gives you the results you need, so starting with a smart game plan is key.

0–10 Minutes: Declutter First

Grab an empty laundry basket and walk through those high-impact areas we mentioned. Toss everything that’s out of place into the basket.

Unless you have a very large house, a very large mess, or both, you’ll likely be able to deposit those items back to their rightful places within the first 10 minutes as well. If not, allocate another 10 minutes in your schedule tomorrow to empty the basket.

10–25 Minutes: Tackle High-Traffic Areas

Grab your cleaning supplies and clean the high-traffic areas. These areas vary from home to home, but they often include the entryway, stairway landing, family room, and game room. If you run out of time, you’ll be happy you started cleaning here.

Do all of the essential chores in these rooms first, including straightening, dusting, and cleaning the floors. Remember, it’s always best to clean your house from the top down. This is because dust and dirt will fall to the floor as you clean areas higher up.

25–40 Minutes: Bathroom Quick Clean

Prioritize the bathrooms that see the most action in your home. This might be the kids’ bathroom and the master bathroom. If you plan to host guests soon, hit the powder bathroom first.

It only takes a few minutes to clean the grime out of the toilet. Follow this up by wiping down the sink, counter, and mirror. Toss used towels in the hamper and replace them with fresh towels.

40–55 Minutes: Floors and Dusting

After tackling these essential areas, turn your attention to the floors and furniture that you haven’t already cleaned. Prioritize your attention to the rooms that you and your family use most often.

If you’ll have guests over, prioritize the areas where they will spend time in. For example, you don’t necessarily need to clean the guest room floor unless you’re planning to have overnight guests.

55–60 Minutes: Final Touches

Using a timer app is the perfect way to ensure that you don’t spend too much time on any one task. You might even think it’s fun to race against the clock. If you’ve stayed on schedule, you have about five minutes left to do a few final touches. Take out the trash in every room. Make the beds and consider fluffing pillows if time permits.

What You Should Skip When You’re in a Hurry

It’s easy to get distracted by side tasks when you’re cleaning, but these tasks will eat valuable time. Focus only on the tasks that need your attention.

These are some of the chores you should skip when you’re in a hurry:

• Wiping down baseboards
• Scrubbing tile grout
• Cleaning inside drawers and cabinets
• Organizing closets and the pantry
• Cleaning underneath and behind big pieces of furniture
• Dusting every knick-knack
• Cleaning inside appliances

How Often You Should Speed Clean

You can see that speed cleaning covers a lot of ground, but there will still be some chores on your to-do list. If you have another hour available, use that time to do your regular weekly cleaning.

If you only speed clean every week, the dirt in those areas you skip over will build up. Speed cleaning is a great way to go longer between weekly regular cleanings and deep cleanings, but it doesn’t replace them.

Speed cleaning is the quickest way to get your home back in shape, but it doesn’t cover every area of your home that needs to be cleaned. If you’re struggling to find time or energy to give housecleaning the attention that it deserves, it’s time to book Boston maid service for your home. Schedule your first service with the trusted Cleanzen housecleaners today.