It is hard to juggle a 9-5 office job with regular workout while keeping a house clean. Because regular workout got on my priority list, I have to admit that many times I left the house in mess. Workout was more important to me than having a clean house in a mint condition.

How I substituted workout for a clean house

Recently it started to bother me that I’m looking at dirt and mess all week, and spend the weekend I’m supposed to chill out cleaning. I had to come up with a solution on how to keep the house clean.

What I did was: I took a break from working out for a week in order to do a big spring house clean. Had a big house clean marathon: everyday I cleaned for 2 hours or more. I managed to clean everything in a week.

What I need to do is keep it up, by cleaning once weekly for a few hours.

How to cut down time on housework and cleaning

So how did I manage to cut down time on housework and cleaning? It took a lot of planning and preparation, but I’m going to share the secret.

1. Get rid of things you don’t use or need

De-cluttering your home is essential. Getting rid of things that don’t need to be in the living room, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen is important. By de-cluttering I mean literally throwing things out (or donating them as I am a fan of helping others out). Go from item to item and decide if you really need it there or you could live without it. If it does not belong there, find it a more suitable place. Do this for kitchen appliances, bathroom toiletries, cut down on clutter in the living room. It takes a lot of time to do this, but you can do it slowly by de-cluttering every day for 15 minutes or so.

You’ll find that keeping everything clean with less clutter is way more easy and it takes less time than with all that clutter. Needing less time to clean is the main point of this de-cluttering phase. Plus it feels kinda deliberating to throw things out that take up space (and your mind).

2. Build a capsule wardrobe to cut down on washing and ironing time

When I built my first capsule wardrobe it was because after losing significant weight I had nothing to wear. All my clothes were hanging loose on me. So I figured if I already have to buy new clothes, then I should develop a wardrobe that will fit my lifestyle and needs. I also wanted to discover what my style is. With building a capsule wardrobe something unexpected happened: suddenly I somehow ended up spending less time washing and ironing clothes! I have no idea how this happens. I even figured that if I own less clothes then I will have to wash and iron more ofter, but no. Exactly the opposite happened: I am spending less time with washing and ironing my clothes than ever before. So if you feel like washing and ironing is overwhelming, then it’s time to try out building a capsule wardrobe. Check out my spring capsule wardrobe!

3. Clean effectively

Start with dusting. Complete that action in the whole house, and then start the next task. You will have to do more walking – yey, more exercise for you! But you will finish faster. Trust me, I’ve experimented with cleaning room by room or by doing the same task in the whole house. Cleaning room by room is way slower than completing one task everywhere and then moving on to the next.

Remake beds, straighten fabrics, pillows. Clean mirrors and glass. Wipe down surfaces, door knobs, switches, counter tops, cabinets. Clean the bathroom: tub, sink, toilet. Vacuum everywhere. Mop floors, tiles. And you’re done!

4. Make cleaning your workout

I substituted my Tuesday workout session with a house cleaning session. So instead of working out 5 times a week I workout 4 times. But the house is in mint condition! I chose Tuesday because I like to spend the week looking at a clean house when I come home from my office job. But you can choose any other day in the week that fits you. Cleaning 2-3 hours instead of working out on Tuesday is my secret that worked for me.

5. The 5 minute rule of cleaning up

I clean the house weekly once, but this means that in between I have to insert mini cleaning sessions. This means having a rule that if I see something that needs to be taken care of (piles of clothes, messy bed, dirty dishes, filthy sink, dirty mirror, etc.) and it takes less than 5 minutes to take care of it, then I’ll do it immediately. This simple rule keeps the house clean until the next big cleaning session.

Good luck balancing a 9-5 office job with regular workout and being the perfect housewife!

Start by building a capsule wardrobe for yourself! Check out my guide on how>>>

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