How to Simplify Household Chores & Spend Less Time Cleaning

Today’s post is all about how to simplify household chores. So you can spend less time cleaning, and more time living and enjoying your home!

It can be frustrating when you feel like you spend more time cleaning, tidying up and taking care of your house and the stuff you own than you do enjoying it. Having a never-ending to-do list and feeling like you can never catch up on household chores is exhausting and defeating.

Cleaning and taking care of your home and the stuff you own is something we all have to do. And while most of us enjoy having a clean and tidy home, not many people actually enjoy cleaning.

How to simplify household chores & spend less time cleaning

Today’s post is all about small changes you can make to simplify household chores. Letting you do them in less time and with less effort.

Use these tips to simplify household chores so you can enjoy a clean home without spending all your time cleaning. And have more time and energy to do things you enjoy and actually enjoy your home instead.

1. Embrace good enough

The first tip to simplify household chores is shifting your mindset and learning to embrace good enough when it comes to household chores.

There will likely always be some household chore you could be doing in your home. But if you try to do it all, you’ll likely be stuck with a never-ending to-do list that you’re never able to catch up on.

Instead, figure out what is good enough for you when it comes to household chores. Then aim for and accept that standard as good enough.

What is “good enough” will vary from person to person and depend on your own personal preferences. Decide what is important to you and what you are willing to let go of. Or what standards you are willing to relax to accept things as good enough.

The goal is to get the household chores that matter to you done, to a standard you can live comfortably with. And in an amount of time you are ok devoting to chores.

An example of “good enough”

Here’s an example of good enough in my own life. We have mirrored closet doors on almost every closet in our house. We also have young kids who love to put their hands (and faces!) on those mirrored doors.

It never fails that as soon as I clean the mirrors, the shiny, smudge-free surfaces seem to call my kids to them like moths to a flame!

The fingerprints, smudges and face prints (why?!) used to drive me crazy. But I decided it simply wasn’t worth the time, energy or frustration to clean the mirrors constantly, only to see them marked up again soon after.

Now, I clean the mirrors every week or two. And let the fingerprints go in between and call it good enough!

2. Have less stuff

Beyond embracing a good enough mindset when it comes to household chores, the most impactful way to simplify cleaning and chores is by having less stuff.

When you have less stuff, you not only have less stuff to clean. But you also have less stuff to clean around.

Everything you own requires some of your time. You have to clean it, maintain it, put it away, pick it up, look for it, organize it, take care of it, etc. The less stuff you own, the less stuff you have to take care of.

It also means less stuff to maneuver and clean around when you’re doing household chores as well. You have less stuff to catch and gather dust, less stuff to move to clean under, less stuff to clean around, etc. Making cleaning faster and easier too.

Having less stuff to simplify household chores applies to the big stuff, like furniture, small stuff, like décor and knick-knacks, and everything in between.

Not only does less stuff mean less to clean and clean around. But removing the clutter and excess stuff from your home removes some of the visual clutter from your space too. Helping your home appear cleaner and tidier too!

3. Keep flat surfaces clear

As you’re working to have less stuff to help simplify household chores, a great place to start is clearing the flat surfaces in your home.

Flat surfaces can quickly and easily become clutter catchers where clutter and “stuff” tend to pile up and accumulate. And clutter seems to attract clutter. So, the more you have on flat surfaces, the more stuff tends to accumulate.

Keeping flat surfaces clear means less stuff to clean, less stuff to clean around, and less clutter to attract more clutter!

How clear you choose to keep the flat surfaces in your home is a matter of personal preference. But clearing off (completely or partially) the flat surfaces in your home will help simplify household chores right away.

For example, a clear bathroom counter means you can quickly and easily wipe the counters and sink. Instead of having to spend time clearing off the surface and putting things away just to be able to wipe the counter and sink.

4. Keep floors clear

Along the same line, is keeping floors clear as well. Not only do clear floors make it easier to vacuum, sweep and mop, and keep up with those chores regularly. But it also gives dirt and dust fewer places to hide.

The goal I aim for is to only have furniture legs touching the floor. Everything else has a place to keep it off the floor so cleaning is faster and easier.

5. A place for everything and everything in its place

The key to keeping floors and surfaces clear is having easy-to-access spots to keep everything in your home.

When everything has a spot and it’s easy to put things away in their spot, it’s easy to pick up and tidy up your house. And keep it tidy on a regular basis. Then when you’re doing household chores, you need to spend less time picking stuff up. And can get the chores done faster and easier instead.

6. Keep up with chores regularly

Keeping up with and staying on top of household chores is an easy way to make sure cleaning and household chores take less time and effort.

When you don’t keep up with chores regularly, it takes more time and effort to clean your house. Simply because more mess, dirt, dust, grime, etc. has had a chance to build up. And returning your space to your good enough standard will take more time and effort.

For example, if you give your bathroom counters a quick wipe every day or two it’ll only take a minute or two each time. And mess won’t have a chance to really build up in the meantime.

But if you go a long time between wiping your counters, when you do clean the bathroom it’ll likely be a bigger job that takes more time and effort.

7. Do a little cleaning everyday

Doing some cleaning every day might seem counterintuitive if you’re trying to simplify household chores. But doing a little bit of cleaning each day means you’ll never have to spend hours at a time doing chores. Or spend your whole weekend cleaning.

Not only that but doing a little cleaning at a time can feel less overwhelming and exhausting. And be easier to fit into a busy life.

8. Use a cleaning schedule

A cleaning schedule is a great tool to help simplify household chores.

A cleaning schedule lets you put your cleaning tasks on autopilot. You don’t have to figure out what chores need to be done and when. Instead, you can dive in and get to work when it’s cleaning time.

There are many different ways to set up a cleaning schedule. Try different options until you find one that works best for you, your schedule, your lifestyle and your preferences.

You can aim to clean one room each day, do one chore each day, designate one day a week for chores, or even have lists of daily, weekly and monthly chores and choose what to do as you go.

9. Clean messes when they happen

Just like keeping up with chores regularly can help simplify household chores overall, so can cleaning up messes when they happen instead of leaving them to deal with later.

If you notice a mess or something to clean, especially if it’s a small job, try tackling it right then. Your future self will thank you for cleaning it up. Especially if it only takes a minute or two, instead of leaving it and having to clean it up later.

Wipe up spills when they happen, put things away when you see them out, clean as you cook, spot clean messes when you see them, etc.

Instead of having a huge list of little chores to deal with later, tackle them one at a time when they happen to help you stay on top of chores.

10. Reset your house often

Resetting your house often, at least once or twice a day, is a great way to stay on top of and simplify household chores.

A reset is taking a few minutes to tidy, pick up and quickly clean a space, returning it to its baseline or your preferred level of tidiness. It’s not a deep clean, just a few minutes spent returning a space to how you like to keep it.

Making resets part of your daily rhythm helps any messes from getting completely out of control. Which can really help keep your home tidy. And the best part is, the more consistent you are with your resets, the quicker and easier they’ll usually be.

11. Have a daily rhythm for essential tasks

Another great way to simplify household chores is by having daily rhythms for the essential tasks you want to get done each day to keep your home functioning smoothly.

Keeping up with these few tasks helps keep your home feeling functional, comfortable and under control. Even if no other chores get done in the day.

For example, my daily essential tasks include making the beds, quickly wiping the bathroom counters, starting a load of laundry and unloading the dishwasher in the morning.

Then folding and putting away the laundry, starting the dishwasher, wiping down the kitchen and doing a quick reset of the whole house each evening.

Even if nothing else gets done during the day, these few tasks keep our home functioning at a level I’m comfortable with.

12. Keep your cleaning supplies where you need them

Another easy way to simplify household chores is by keeping your cleaning supplies where you use and need them.

For example, keep a small basket of the cleaning supplies in each bathroom. Then, you can easily pull out what you need and use it quickly.

For general cleaning items, like your vacuum and dusting supplies, keep them in a centralized place in your house where they are easy to access and put away. Even stocking a cleaning supply basket, you can quickly grab and go can help simplify household chores.

Again, anything you can do to remove obstacles making it harder to get chores done quickly, easily and regularly, the better.

13. Simplify your laundry routine

Keeping up with the laundry can be a big pain point for many households. If you feel like you’re always buried under piles of laundry, try a different laundry routine to see if it makes life easier.

Keep trying different routines until you find what works for you, your preferences, your lifestyle, your family, your schedule, etc.

For example, you could do one load of laundry a day, designate one day a week for laundry, run a load when the laundry basket gets full, do one type of laundry load each day of the week, etc.

There are many options. You’ll know you’ve found what works for you when you can keep up with laundry relatively easily. And no longer feel constantly behind or overwhelmed by laundry.

14. Have fewer dishes

Another common pain point in many homes is keeping up with dirty dishes. An easy way to simplify dish duty is by having fewer dishes in your kitchen.

When you have lots of dishes, it’s easy for you and your family to grab a clean dish or glass each time. Instead of rinsing, washing or reusing the dish or glass, you’re already using.

But when you have fewer dishes, you and your family will need to find, rinse and reuse glasses and dishes throughout the day. Leaving fewer dirty dishes to deal with at the end of each day.

15. Divide and conquer

If you live with other people, whether a spouse, a family, a roommate, etc. split up chores and have everyone pitch in. Even young kids can help by picking up their toys, making their beds, putting clothes in the laundry basket, etc.

Just remember that done is better than perfect. Even if your family doesn’t do the chores exactly how you usually do them, they are still working to help maintain the household and simplify chores for you!

16. Outsource household chores

Outsourcing household chores or hiring a house cleaning service is not always an option. But if it is, it’s a great way to simplify household chores.

Nothing simplifies household chores like having someone else do them for you!

17. Find ways to make household chores more enjoyable

Cleaning the bathroom is probably never going to be anyone’s idea of fun. But if outsourcing isn’t an option, and it needs to be done, you might as well find ways to make it a little more enjoyable!

Turn on your favourite playlist, podcast or show for a nice distraction while you clean. Reward yourself with a little treat when you’re done. Or aim to get the household chores all done during the week so you can spend time relaxing or doing something you love on the weekend.

Cleaning might never be something you love doing. But if it has to be done, look for simple ways to make it a little more pleasant!

How to simplify household chores and spend less time cleaning

I hope these tips will help you learn how to simplify household chores and spend less time and energy cleaning your house, so you have more time and energy to enjoy it!

Start by adding one or two of these ideas into your routine and see how it goes. Add a couple of more when you feel ready.

What is your favourite way to simplify household tasks or make house cleaning quicker and easier? Leave a comment and let me know!