Quick and Dirty House and Floor Cleaning Tips

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So, house and floor cleaning.  Not the most fun topic perhaps.  But I felt like it was time to share about about how things really are around here.

The other day when I was at someone’s house, they mentioned how their house is a wreck and my house always looks so perfect.  In the pictures I share online that is.  In reality, my house is far from perfect.

And sometimes, it is a downright disaster.

Last week I shared our Christmas home tour full of lots of beautiful pictures of all of our Christmas décor.  What I didn’t show was the complete chaos that preceded those beautiful photos.  Pulling out all the Christmas décor, packing away the regular décor, ignoring the dishes while I happily decorate.  And did I mention the two year old?

Yeah.  This is how things looked about an hour before I took the photographs for the home tour.

Our house is not normally this messy.  But it also doesn’t normally look like the pictures I share here on the blog.  As much as I would love for things to be beautiful and clean and calm everyday, it just doesn’t usually happen.  I just don’t usually show the mess because who really wants to looks at pictures of a dirty house?

So I’ve become a bit of a master at going from a horrible mess to a beautiful room in as little time as possible. This is my process.

• Gather any decorating/crafting debris that is hanging around and put it away.
• If anything is waiting to be taken to the basement (or another floor), take it there.  (There always seems to be something waiting around).
• Gather up all the clothes, shoes, jackets, etc. and drop them off in the bedrooms.
• Put all the toys back on the shelves.
• Throw away any trash.  Put all the dishes in the sink.
• Load up the dishwasher.
• Wipe off the counters – I just brush everything into the floor to save time.
• Sweep up all the debris.  (With a toddler, there is a LOT of debris).
• Mop everything with my O-Cedar Pro Mist.
• While the floor is drying, fold the throw blankets and fluff the pillows.

If this takes place during naptime, I can get a huge disaster like this all cleaned up in well under an hour.  If my two year old is up and about, making messes as I go, the time definitely increases!

The part that used to be a huge hassle was the floor cleaning.  I could never find a mop that I liked for my hardwood floors and a lot of times I ended up using a spray bottle of vinegar and water and an old rag.  As in Cinderella-style, on my hands and knees.  Very effective for thoroughly cleaning.  Terrible for getting the job done quickly.

I recently picked up the O-Cedar Pro Mist spray mop at Walmart when I was looking for a solution to my floor woes.

I love that it has a refillable bottle so you can add any type of cleaning solution you want.  Which means I can keep on using my trusty, cost-effective vinegar/water mixture.  Plus you can use washable or disposable cleaning pads.  I love that I’m not going to have to buy a bunch of refills to keep it working.  Especially because inevitably you don’t realize you are out of refills until you are in a time crunch, running around cleaning madly before someone comes over.

So now you know the truth – our house is just as much a wreck as anybody else’s.  And probably way more than some.  And while I’m not exactly happy about that, I’m not ashamed of it either.  That’s just where we are in life.  Some days there are just more important things to do than cleaning.  And some days we can’t take the mess for one. more. minute.  And that’s when I get busy cleaning!

What about you?  Do you run a pretty tight ship or do you sometimes let things go?  What are your favorite speedy cleaning tips?