[Cleaning checklist] Transform your home with 5-minute tasks

Are you overwhelmed at the thought of deep cleaning your home? If you dread hours of cleaning, then you’ll love this cleaning checklist: It’s filled with 80 tasks you can do in 5 minutes or less. Simply use a few minutes during the day and transform your home without much effort! In this post, I’ll show you how.

You’re probably familiar with the scenario: You’re waiting for your food to finish cooking and start scrolling through Facebook in the meantime. It’s almost an automatic response for me because I hate waiting around:

I can’t use a short time to relax, really. But 5 minutes also feel long if you’re just standing there watching water boil. It’s too short for any meaningful tasks. Or is it?

5-Minute cleaning checklist

As it turns out, these little gaps throughout the day are rather perfect for little chores: Your youngest child is taking ages in the bathroom? Clean the sink in the meantime. Waiting for the microwave? Wipe a few cabinet doors clean.

Of course, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t just let your mind wander while waiting. But if this isn’t as relaxing for you as it sounds, then use the time to clean. And have more time to wind down later on.

After all, anything that’s done means less time spent on your weekly cleaning plan. And if you can’t even manage to follow a proper cleaning schedule (like me), then this is perfect for you:

You can be spontaneous and flexible. It’s nowhere near as overwhelming. And you can even follow your mood and energy levels.

Weekly cleaning can even become unnecessary, depending on how many little tasks you manage to squeeze in during the week. Or over the course of two weeks. The key is simply having a cleaning checklist to keep track.

Cleaning with 5-minute mini-tasks

Print my free 5-minute cleaning checklist so you can keep track of what you’ve already done. Also, I am always more motivated to do small mini-tasks. And I love checking boxes, don’t you? They always make me more productive!

With this potent combination, I often end up completing two or more mini-tasks. All it took was for me to get started. And 5-minute tasks are an easy way to get in.

It’s just much easier to get started when a manageable 5-minute mini-task increases your motivation.

[Cleaning checklist] Transform your home with 5-minute tasks 3

Use your cleaning checklist for children

My cleaning checklist highlighted one important aspect that I hadn’t noticed before: There are plenty of small tasks that I can delegate to my kids. The oldest one cleans the sinks, the middle one empties the dishwasher and the small one polishes the door handles.

If you show them what to do, there’s not much that can go wrong. But taking responsibility will strengthen their self-confidence, and prepares them for life.

Speaking of children: A number of 5-minute cleaning tasks can be done carrying a baby with one arm. Just sayin’…

Cleaning tips and tricks

With these tips, using my free checklist will work even better:

Place a cleaning cloth in every room – I prefer cleaning cloths made of bamboo or microfiber, because they don’t necessarily require cleaner.

Have a spray bottle with all-purpose cleaner on each floor.

Get a streak-free cloth for windows and reflective surfaces to make cleaning ultra quick and low effort.

Keep the respective chore lists in each room so you are ready to tackle a mini-task quickly.

Laminate your check list and use a dry erase pen to mark it.

Use a timer to prevent a mini-task from turning into a giant operation when you’ve actually set other priorities.

First show your kids how to do a task before they do it on their own.

You’ll find 80 tasks on my free checklist, but here are 10 more that I didn’t think off.

5-Minute cleaning

This method is certainly not suitable for everyone. Some people prefer to clean in one go, so they don’t have to think about it all week. I’ll show you my favorite way to do this in one of my next articles.

But if you lack the time – or the motivation – for a big cleaning effort, then try mini-tasks. Download my free cleaning checklist and start using those little chunks of time.

You’ll feel less overwhelmed. Your house will be sparkling.

And you’ll have more time to enjoy life.