When you’re keeping full-time work and doing all the household stuff at home, keeping a clean house almost seems impossible. You’re busy, we know. With the current pandemic and working from home setup, many can relate to how you feel about trying to clean and make the house organized while still working.

How about some cleaning hacks? If you want to get things done quickly and easily, take note of these six clever house cleaning tips for every busy mom.

1. Create a cleaning schedule.

Cleaning the whole house will take so much of your time. And you need extra minutes for that client’s request waiting for you, right? Try to make a cleaning schedule. When you know what you’re doing and what should be next, you can get things done quicker. You will also learn how to spend time efficiently.

To schedule, take note of what should be done for each day. In this way, you won’t panic if you are not able to do all. You won’t wait to smell something awful in the kitchen before putting the garbage away because it’s on the list of the day.

When you clean up at the same time every day or every week, it becomes a routine and, more importantly, a habit. Even your kids may become used to the schedule and voluntarily join you in cleaning, and that will be awesome.

2. Prioritize cleaning tasks.

Organize the things you need to do. Decide which is more important and urgent, and which would be great to do but wouldn’t cause a problem if you wouldn’t do it now. Identify also which of your chores should be done every day, and which can wait until the weekend.

When you already have a cleaning schedule or chore system at home, prioritizing is easier. This will save you a lot of time, especially when you have a busy schedule. Remember, you’re still human. You can let a non-urgent task wait until you have more time.

3. Include your family.

Do you have kids? Do they love playing around? You can take advantage of it, especially if your kids are old enough to help out. Delegate tasks to them. If you’re trying to vacuum, you can ask them to pick up small things that may have been out of place and put them where they should be. If you’re waxing the floor, maybe they can dust your furniture. They can certainly do these small cleaning tasks. Not only that they are helping you clean the house, but you are also teaching them to be more responsible and self-reliant. To make them more engaged, try giving them rewards with every task they do. They will love it.

4. Outsource when you can.

Nothing is wrong with asking for help. Even if you put on your favourite melody while working, a major cleanup can still be tiresome and time-consuming. These household tasks will not always be easy, and they may even pose a hazard to you and the family.

Hiring a professional house cleaning service won’t hurt. If you are very much distracted by the grime and dirt you’re seeing on your windows, call for a window cleaner. You won’t want to risk falling down the ladder while reaching for the window top while cleaning. Ask for professional help and let them do the cleaning. These experts know exactly how to do things safely. They can even clean better than you. They know their stuff.

5. Automate tasks.

You’re not splurge spending when you decided to buy that automatic vacuum. That’s a wise decision actually. Why spend 25 minutes sweeping the floor when you can have it done in 10 minutes with a vacuum? How about having a frost-free freezer? You won’t need to spend so much time waiting for it to defrost and cooking or eating everything in the freezer so they won’t spoil. And a dishwasher; you can now clean the bathroom while waiting for it to be done.

Automating your household chores will reduce the number of things you need to do and give you some time for yourself.

6. Don’t aim for perfection.

Having a task done is always better than making it perfect. If your goal is to perfect every household chore, you won’t finish anything. Your house doesn’t need to look spotless and perfect.

What’s important is you get simple cleaning tasks done, even if they are not flawless. Who cares if your floor isn’t shiny as that of your neighbour? Don’t worry if you don’t haven’t styled the living area like that in your friend’s Instagram post. As long as your floors are swept and the sofa set is dusted, you’re doing good. Sometimes you can’t get all things done, and that’s totally fine. Stop the guilt. You’re still human.