How to Keep a Room Clean in 10 Minutes

We know a thing or two about messes. When life gets overwhelming, there are usually two responses to housekeeping:

If I clean like crazy, maybe my whole life will feel cleaner.  

OR

My life is a mess; therefore, my home is a mess.

This is a game-changer for the latter. With 5 simple steps, you can keep your room tidy in 10 minutes. Add 5 more minutes if you want it to go an extra mile on certain days. To enjoy yourself more, turn on your favorite music. Life is just better with a soundtrack behind it.

Determine the Greatest Offender.

Time spent: 30 seconds.

Take a step back and look at your room. Ask yourself, “What is the biggest offender to the disorganization or chaos? Here are a few of the usual suspects:

• Piles of shoes

• Clothing not put away

• Dirty dishes on the nightstand

• Overflowing trash cans (or trash that never made it to the bin)

• Kids’ toys left on the floor

Can’t determine the greatest offender?  Where do your eyes go first?

That’s the one!

1. Arrest the Greatest Offender First.

Time spent: 2 minutes.

Time to arrest the most guilty culprit. Here are some quick tips:

If it’s clothing all over the floor, just get the laundry basket and pile everything into it. Set the basket against a wall and out of the way. (You can get to the laundry soon, though!)

Is trash the biggest issue? Grab a garbage bag and gather all of it. Resist picking up anything else for now.

Or pick up every single book and sheet of paper — regardless of what they are — and put them all in two tidy piles on a desk or on the floor by your bed.

Grab the dishpan from the kitchen and gather all the dirty dishes. Take them to the sink where they belong. (You can wash them in a bit, once the bedroom is tidy)

Throw all the toys into one box or basket. It’s ok if they aren’t organized. Someone will probably play with them again soon.

2. Open the Curtains.

Time spent: 30 Seconds

Having light shining into your room will boost your spirits and instantly transforms a room from dim and depressing to bright and cheerful. 

3. Quickly Make the Bed.

Time spent: 1 minute.

The bed is the biggest thing in your room. Making it will immediately give the impression that the room is a lot tidier. Don’t spend too long on this, just neatly pull the sheets up and drag the coverlet over the top. Fluff the pillows and place them neatly where they belong. 

4. Clear the Surfaces.

Time spent: 3 minutes.

Since you’ve taken care of the biggest offender, hopefully, this will go quickly. Remove anything that shouldn’t be in your room. See #2 for ways to do this as quickly as possible.

5. Grab Two Clean Socks.

Time spent: 2 minutes.

Yep. You heard us right.

With the sunlight now shining through your window, you may see dust and messes you didn’t notice before. No problem!

You have to do some laundry anyway, so grab two socks. Make one sock a little damp and keep the other one dry. Now put one on each hand. You now have a scrubber and a duster. Use the wet one on anything sticky, like a ring on the dresser from your child’s juice glass. Run the dry one over all surfaces that show dust.

When you’re done, toss them in the laundry basket you just put against the wall.

…stand back and enjoy!

If you do these 7 steps every day, your room will stay tidy with very little effort. Add in vacuuming carpet or dry mopping hardwood or tile floors and you’ll be done in 15 minutes or less.

When your room is tidy, you just feel a little bit better inside.

What are some cleaning tips that were game-changers for you? Leave them in the comments for others.