Easy 10 minute Cleaning Routine

Try out my easy 10 minute cleaning routine after every meal.

My easy cleaning routine helps keep the kitchen clean-ish. I say clean-ish because kitchens can get messy fast. So I think a quick 10 minute clean for a clean-ish kitchen is better than not cleaning up at all.

Why I prefer a routine to a schedule?

In the past I have tried and failed to stick to a strict cleaning schedule. Forcing myself to mopping the floor on Monday or dusting the furniture on Tuesday never worked for me.

A cleaning schedule always felt super restrictive. If having a schedule works for you then awesome! I wish my brain worked that way. But it doesn’t and that’s alright too.

10 Minute Cleaning Routine

In order for this routine to work in our house, we do this after every meal. Each family has their own goals. Make this routine work for you and you own unique family.

We eat three meals a day seven days a week in our kitchen. So you guessed it, three times a day for ten minutes means we clean up for at least thirty minutes every day.

But I prefer a little bit of cleaning compared to having to spend hours clean. I still do a more in depth cleaning at another time. But this cleaning routine keeps our kitchen clean-ish. I would much rather do a quick clean up session than one longer session.

1. Set a timer

My favorite invention has to be the timer. I love to set a timer to see how fast I can be when it comes to cleaning. This way I am racing the timer.

I am a tad bit competitive. Can you tell? This helps make this daily task a little bit more fun.

2. Clean off surfaces

After the timer is set I will work on cleaning off all of the surfaces in the dining room and kitchen. This usually takes around three minutes. That includes a quick wipe down the dining room table, chairs and sweeping the floor.

Ever since having children our floors perpetually have food particles on them. I’ve come to embrace the little bits on the ground. Why? It means my children as still little and I am treasure this time.

For cleaning I use a sponge, soap and water and a bit of elbow grease. After the surfaces are clean I wipe off the surfaces with a dry towel. I love using soup and water so our young children can help. Want to learn more about our children’s chores? Go to Simple Daily Chore for Kids.

How am I able to clean all surfaces in only three minutes? I have help from our sweet son. He is only three but absolutely loves to place the dishes on the counter by the sink. It is so much to have some help.

3. Put food away

The second step is to put food away. I like to do this step before washing the dishes so I can get all of the dishes into the sink. This step takes around two to three minutes.

I love using these Pyrex glass dishes. We have had them since 2013 and they are still going strong!

4. Wash dishes (or put in dish washer)

The last step is to wash the dishes (or place the dishes in the dish washer).

I hand wash all of the dishes. We do have a dish washing machine but our one year old loves to climb onto the door. I don’t want her to break it. So I hand wash.

You might like to use the dishwasher. If so then do that instead. This step usually takes anywhere from five to eight minutes.

What’s the secret to washing dishes so quickly? I would like to say that I have a fairy god mother that does the dishes for me. But no matter how often I search, I still can’t seem to find one.

So what is the real secret? I minimized the amount of dishes we have.

I felt like I was drowning in dishes. We used to have so many dishes and they would pile up on all surfaces in the kitchen. I then would dread doing the dishes because we would have three or four meals worth.

Because of the stress, I have paired down to one place setting per person. All the rest of the dishes are in storage in the garage. When we have company over, I am able to pull out the extras.

5. Clean something else

If there is some time left I will do a quick clean of something else in the kitchen. Usually that is the stove or microwave.

Is this the only time you clean the kitchen?

No, I usually deep clean the kitchen and dining room as needed. This is usually about once a month or so.

Does this 10 minute cleaning routine take longer?

Sometimes cleaning up from our meal takes longer than 10 minutes. But usually not much more than that. When I am cooking I tend to clean as I go. So there aren’t too many dishes to deal with after a meal.

What happens if you miss your 10 minute cleaning routine session?

If I miss a cleaning session that means twice the amount of dishes and twice the amount of work. So I really try hard to clean up after every meal.

Do you have any other tips to add? How much time do you want to spend tidying up from a meal?

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Thanks so much for stopping by! I write posts every week about simple routine that we do to help make life easier. Discover more about my family and I, go HERE.