Keeping a home clean is not always an easy task, especially when you have a busy schedule. When even just the day to day cleaning tasks can feel overwhelming, spring cleaning can feel nearly impossible. However, it doesn’t have to feel that way. Follow these 10 tips to get spring cleaning done as easily as possible.

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Every year, I have the best intentions to spring clean my home, but my schedule often gets in the way. By time I’ve worked a full work week and checked off all my other tasks on my to do list, deep cleaning my home felt exhausting and overwhelming. I’m sure I am not the only one who has felt this way when it comes to any sort of deep cleaning.

Even as overwhelming as it may feel, I always get such a feeling of joy and peace after I’ve done either spring cleaning or deep cleaning for my home. Everything is sparkling and looks orderly. You feel accomplished and calm, no matter how hectic things might be in your life at the time.

Over the years, I’ve been tried out various tips myself to help spring cleaning not feel quite so overwhelming. These tips include ways to make the process go faster and make spring cleaning feel easier, no matter what size of home you’re tackling. I’ve included the top 10 tips to make spring cleaning easier for those who have busy schedules or have felt overwhelmed with spring cleaning in the past.

1. Prepare Supplies Beforehand

Nothing will interrupt your spring cleaning quite like realizing you are missing one of your cleaning supplies. Whether you decide to make a trip to the closest store or order your missing products on Amazon, getting your new supplies will absolutely slow down the process. Here is a personal example: One weekend, I planned on doing a lot of spring cleaning and realized I was out of furniture polish. I had to interrupt my cleaning in order to purchase new furniture polish, which slowed me down tremendously.

To make spring cleaning go as smoothly and quickly as possible, I highly recommend preparing your supplies beforehand. Before you set out to clean a specific area of your home, go through each of the cleaning supplies you’ll need for that area. To ensure that you won’t run into any road blocks, check each of the bottles to make sure that there is enough cleaner in the bottle to complete the tasks you want to complete. Just because you see the cleaner doesn’t mean there’s enough cleaner in the bottle for your spring cleaning.

To make cleaning continue to go smoothly in the future, make a note of what products are running low (even if there’s enough cleaner left for this particular time). By ordering new cleaning products ahead of time, you’ll make the cleaning process continue to go smoothly for your regular day to day cleaning.

2. Start with a Plan

Similar to preparing your supplies beforehand, starting with a plan will make the spring cleaning process go so much quicker. Since we’re human and have busy lives, we aren’t going to get all of our spring cleaning done in one day. I mean, I’m lucky if I even deep clean my home in one single day. It just doesn’t happen. By having a plan, you can focus on certain areas of your home. You can also know what you are going to clean when.

For me, creating a plan also helps me stay motivated. If I have a set list of tasks I plan on getting done on a certain day, I’m a lot more motivated to get them done. However, if I set out to get as much deep cleaning done as I can in one day, I end up feeling overwhelmed and barely getting anything done. Make your plan realistic! Adding too much to one day will feel exhausting. If you’re similar to me, it feels good to check things off. Use a to do list app on your phone to create your plan or write it down on paper. Then you can check off each task once you’ve completed it.

3. Have Cleaning Supplies All in One Place

Before I started following this tip myself, I ended up wasting so much time walking back and forth in my home to get cleaning supplies. I’d be cleaning the bathroom upstairs and then have to walk downstairs to get a supply I missed. My mom’s cleaning business has used a cleaning caddy for as long as I can remember, but it’s not only for professional cleaning businesses. Having a cleaning caddy for your home will help you get cleaning done so much faster.

It also helps you keep track of your cleaning supplies because they’re all in one place. If you purchase one like the one pictured above, you can easily carry it around your home with you while you’re spring cleaning. Your supplies are also easy to see. Cleaning caddy’s are relatively inexpensive on Amazon.

4. Use Products That Work

This tip may seem simple, but it can save you loads of time. I’m the type of person that absolutely loves trying out new cleaning products. However, if I’m deep cleaning and short not time (or lack the energy to be deep cleaning), I use the products I know that work. Save testing out new products for day to day cleaning, when you don’t have as many tasks on your list (like you do when you’re spring cleaning).

5. Declutter Before You Clean

Cleaning takes a lot longer when you have a bunch of stuff lying around. Typically, the more stuff you have means the longer it will take to clean. To make the spring cleaning process go smoother, declutter before you start cleaning. This will ensure there is less to clean and allow you to focus purely on cleaning the items that will be staying after any decluttering.

The amount of decluttering you do will largely depend on the amount of time you have to dedicate to the spring cleaning process. If you are limited on time and energy, declutter the basics and then move on to your cleaning. Making it a habit to declutter a little every week will also largely help you save on time overall.

For basic decluttering, I recommend going through the loose items around the home first. This would include any random paper or mail that’s been laying around. If you keep magazines, toss the older editions that you won’t be going through any longer. Toss any broken items that you may still have around your home, like any small broken kitchen appliances. If you have more time, I recommend going through clothes. You can make a pile for the items you want to donate and a pile for the items to toss that have holes.

When it comes to decluttering, focus on how decluttering will make the spring cleaning process easier. Decluttering can be time consuming and feel overwhelming. However, if you focus on the benefits and remind yourself that it will make cleaning go quicker, decluttering doesn’t seem quite so bad.

6. Focus on One Room at a Time

I mentioned this previously when it comes to creating a plan, but it’s so critical that it needs to be its own separate tip. When you’re spring cleaning or deep cleaning, focus on one room at a time. This is especially important for spring cleaning because you’re likely doing a thorough job and cleaning items you don’t normally clean (I’m guessing most of us don’t clean our baseboards on a regular basis).

By focusing on one room at a time, you’re less likely to get overwhelmed and end up stopping. You are also a lot more likely to do a better job on the one room you’re focusing on. If you start two rooms at once, you will likely miss things that you would’t have missed if you gave one room your full attention. For your sanity and happiness, add one room at a time to your plan.

7. Clean When You Have the Most Energy

This may be the most important spring cleaning tip for myself. To get the most out of your spring cleaning, pick the time that you have the most energy. For me, that’s not first thing in the morning. It’s usually later in the morning or early afternoon. By cleaning when you have the most energy, you’ll be a lot more efficient. You’ll have more focus and attention to put towards cleaning. If you clean when you’re out of energy, you won’t be paying as much attention and may have to go over things multiple times. I know for myself, I just enjoy cleaning a lot more when I have the most energy.

8. Let Certain Areas Soak

When you’re done eating dinner and putting the dishes in the sink, many of us will let certain pans or dishes soak in soapy water before we clean it. Spring cleaning is very similar. Some tasks will get done much quicker if you let them soak in cleaner first. Some examples are ovens, showers, toilets and microwaves. Before I clean any of those listed, I let them soak in cleaner first. This is especially true if the oven or microwave has a lot of food stuck to the sides. It helps the food come off a lot easier and saves me a large amount of time in the long run.

9. Begin with Toughest Jobs First

We have all certain areas of our home that we hate cleaning the most. For me, it’s the shower and tub. Maybe yours is the oven. When it comes to spring cleaning, I recommend starting with the toughest jobs or the tasks you dislike the most first. This helps you get it out of the way and then continue on with the tasks that you don’t dread as much. It also means you aren’t spending all day dreading doing the task you hate the most. Get it out of the way and move on to the stuff you like more.

10. Start Top to Bottom

With any type of cleaning, I always recommend starting top to bottom. If you don’t do this, you’ll end up getting things on the floor you just cleaned. For example: When I professionally cleaned and was in the kitchen, I would start by wiping off the top cupboards and cleaning the microwave. Then I’d do the counters, stove and lower cupboards. By time I got to the bottom cupboards, everything that might have got knocked to the floor was already there by time I cleaned the floor. The same can go for dusting. You want to dust all surfaces before you clean the floor to make sure nothing will fall on it later.

I hope you enjoyed my top 10 spring cleaning tips for anyone with a busy schedule or just anyone who isn’t a big fan of cleaning. Share your favorite tip in the comments below!