Simple Home Cleaning Hacks for Burnt Out Mums: Keep Your Home Tidy Without the Stress
Welcome to part 2 of my Self-care Made Easy blog series! Each week, I’ll be diving deep into self-care strategies you can implement into your life to help prioritise YOU, without adding more to your plate. These strategies are an extension from my Self-Care Made Easy Workbook, a workbook packed with simple, actionable steps and printables to support your journey - subscribe now to grab your copy and take that first step toward reclaiming your energy and joy! ✨Self-care doesn’t have to be overwhelming, mumma ❤️.
Let’s be real for a second - keeping a home “together” while juggling kids, stress, and pure exhaustion feels like a mission impossible some days, right? 😩
You’re not alone.
I can’t even remember the last time I cleaned my oven, and it got repaired last week. Whoops. Sorry oven man!
Whether you’re overwhelmed by the never-ending mess or just don’t have the energy to clean every corner, I feel you.
The good news? Your home doesn’t have to be spotless to feel calm and functional. It’s all about working smarter, not harder. 💡
In this post, I’ll share simple, practical tips you can fit into your crazy schedule. Think 5-minute tasks, guilt-free shortcuts, and routines that actually work - because who has time for a deep clean every week? (Not us, that’s for sure!🤚)
Let’s ditch the overwhelm and take control of your space with minimal effort, so you can focus on what truly matters - yourself and your family. 💖✨
Ready to reclaim your sanity? Let’s go!💪
Create Your Unique Morning Routine 📋
Mornings are tough in my house, but the last thing I want to do is still be cleaning up the house after midday. I want to be able to get my OWN stuff done and have a bit of time for self-care, before I get the kids home from school in the arvo.
The one thing that helped this for me personally was creating a set morning routine of “the main stuff” that needed to be done each day.
This includes -
packing the kid’s lunches before they wake (so I don’t have any “but I don’t want that”’s)
emptying the dishwasher of last night’s dishes and stacking in the breakfast dishes.
putting a load of washing on.
cleaning the kitties poop tray.
folding and packing away washing from the day before (IF I feel like it).
straightening up my bedroom and making sure the kids do theirs too.
This morning routine may look different for you, depending on what season of life you’re in, how old your kiddos are and what routines you currently have for their own morning routines.
I’m lucky enough (or crazy enough 🤪) that my kids (6 and 10 yrs) will mostly clean up their own rooms each morning, including making their beds, drawing the curtains and putting their dirty clothes baskets down in the laundry for me if it’s full.
Sanity Tip: If you have a dishwasher and children above 5 years old, I highly encourage you grab one of these clean/dirty magnets for your dishwasher! It stops my kids putting dirty dishes in with the clean and asking me every time they eat whether there are clean or dirty dishes in there. I grabbed mine off Shein.
Create a Master To-Do List 📝
Write a list of all your tasks (even small ones!), categorising them by type or room so you can quickly identify which activities can be grouped together, saving time and mental energy.
Doing this also reduces overwhelm trying to remember all the things, and when you have the energy to combat the big stuff (like house reno projects, or deep cleaning the oven Emily 😅, you have your list ready to go!).
Focus on the Essentials 🧺
You don’t HAVE TO do a thorough clean of your house (no matter what social media says!) each week. What’s important is keeping the regularly used and dirtied areas in your home clean, which is mainly the kitchen, bathroom and living room. Of course, this will be different for each family and how many kiddos you have (kudos to the big families!) and if you have any pets, but generally, when sticking to the essentials, you would prioritise -
The bathroom - cleaning the toilet, wiping down surfaces every few days, mopping the floor atleast 1-2 times per week, and cleaning your shower when needed (check my sanity tip for a hack that has saved me from cleaning the shower every week!)
The kitchen - wiping down benches after use and stacking the dishwasher after eating (teach your kiddos this young to save stress!), mopping the floor 1-2 times a week (unless your hubby is like mine and greases out the kitchen every time he cooks! 😂), and cleaning the sink/stove top at the end of each day.
Living areas - vacuuming the house 1-2 times per week, dusting once per week (or fortnight), and washing linen once a week (I’m lazy and only do towels once a week, other linen once a month - because ‘yolo’.
Let less critical tasks wait until you have more energy, if you can’t get to it right now.
Sanity Tip: A few years ago I stumbled across this shower cleaning hack on TikTok. You may have seen it - unfortunately I can’t credit the legend that had this idea - but what it entails is filling a dish scrubbing brush (the ones that dispense dishwashing liquid through to a sponge), with half vinegar and half dish washing liquid. Once a week, I will wet the shower screen and tiles, and one of my kiddos will go to work “painting” the shower before their own shower. It works a treat - and I can use ingredients I already have on hand from the kitchen - BONUS!
Create a 5-Minute Tidy Up Routine ⌛
At the beginning and end of the day, I will usually go through the house and “tidy up” what needs tidying. I’ll usually wait until the kids go to school (because, well… kids right!) and once again before the kids go to bed. I pick up anything that is out and belongs somewhere else, and I atleast make sure the dishes are done and the kitchen benches/coffee table are wiped down.
The kiddos also are to make sure toys are packed away before dinner (they go to bed straight up after dinner and some tv/family time). That way, once the kids are in bed, everything is done and packed away, and I can relax and do whatever I want to do before I go to bed.
This is also a handy routine to have (and share with the family) as a quick tidy up before guests arrive or before leaving the house - and that’s purely if you want to!
Understandably, you feel you have to clean up with certain guests, while others, embrace you in all your shades (which is absolutely beautiful - we need more of these people in the world!) so having a quick tidy up routine everyone knows helps.
Sanity Tip: Give grace where grace is due. Sometimes you’re just not gonna be up for it and THAT IS OK. A house is meant to be lived in - nobody can expect a house to be immaculate all the time, especially when kids are involved, so focus on the essentials, and allow yourself to have rest days. That also includes the kids. We all have days we just want to be a sloth. 😩
Create Your Unique Cleaning Schedule 📋
10 minutes a day is all you need. Yep, I said it!
I personally use a cleaning schedule similar to what the “Fly Lady” teaches ( yep, that’s her ‘name’ and she is a legend!).
She has many different parts to her cleaning schedule, but the main things I have taken away from her system is…
Having a clean sink every day (don’t let the dishes build up - a shiny sink is a nice thing to wake up to!)
One set area of your house each week, cleaning for *only* 10 minutes per day in that area - and
One larger time block to do the "essentials” (above) per week.
Having a set list of things you want to clean each week, for each room helps reduce the overwhelm of having to clean everything, and you get to choose what you clean each day depending on your own energy levels (which is great for new mummas, or other mummas like me with auto-immune diseases or illnesses affecting your energy!😥)
The one great thing I’ve found with my cleaning schedule, is by doing these small parts every day, and the essential routine in the mornings, my home NEVER needs a full spring clean because I’ve conquered all the smaller parts throughout the months to reduce the build up. That part alone, I find the biggest win! 💪
If you’d like to see my complete cleaning list I do each month, let me know below and I’ll create a printable you can use! 💪
Batch and Delegate Tasks 🧹
Ever feel like you’re on a never-ending hamster wheel of chores, bouncing between tasks but not really getting anywhere? That’s where the magic of batching tasks comes in! 🎩✨
By grouping similar activities together, like folding all the laundry in one go or prepping meals for the week - you can save both time and energy, making your life feel a little less chaotic. 🧹 Instead of constantly switching gears, focus on one type of task at a time, knock them out efficiently, and voila! You’ll be left with those precious moments to spend on yourself.
And please, remember that you are not the only one who lives in your house - your partner and children do as well. Delegate tasks and encourage healthy habits to form for your kids, by setting chores for each family member (this also allows social standards to be challenged where men do the dishes, and woman do the mowing and vice versa - it’s all about sharing the workload, no expectations!)
My eldest vacuums the house once a week, all family members clean up after themselves - both kiddos put their dirty clothes basket in the laundry when it is full (my eldest puts the washing on) and keep them rooms relatively tidy. It is NOT YOUR JOB to clean up after everybody else if they are able to do/learn it themselves - take the stress off yourself so much and delegate away lovely lady! 💪
Sanity Tip: Instead of cooking dinner every single night, try cooking two meals at once or bulk cook to create two different meals from one base recipe - Not only will you save money by buying similar ingredients in bulk (like mince!), but there is no better feeling than getting half way through a day, realising you forgot to defrost some meat, but realising your beautiful past self already made some meals in the freezer or you already cooked dinner the night before. Save your energy!
Keep Cleaning Supplies and Baskets Accessible 🧽
Store cleaning tools in usually-messy areas to handle small messes immediately without a full cleanup.
I absolutely love baby wipes for this reason, because between kids and pets, any mess is possible, and so many varieties are bio-degradable now which is a good change for the environment! 🍃Of course, you could go one step further and buy cleaning cloths you can wash and reuse - but besides using them as kitchen cloths, ain’t nobody got time for that!
Baby wipes are also really great for cleaning window tracks, just sayin’!
Keep waste baskets in a few areas of your home for easy cleaning, especially if you have a two-storey home!
Fabric baskets are great for storing certain items by category and don’t require much cleaning up all the time - just dump in there and go!
Reduce the amount of products you buy (and the money you spend!) by making your own cleaning products that are all-purpose.
I only use one all-purpose spray that I make myself, and I clean my entire house with it! The best thing is, I only have to make it maybe every 3 months. A little goes a long way, and it cleans all surfaces from mirrors to kitchen benches, stove tops and even floors.
Save this recipe on Pinterest so you can make your own solution at home!
grab some help if you need it 🙌
Assign age-appropriate chores to the kids, such as tidying toys or wiping surfaces, encouraging responsibility (that will help them as adults!) and lightening your work load.
If possible, enlist your partner, family, or even a cleaner for additional support during high-stress periods.
Use delivery services to deliver your groceries instead of going to the shop - you can order from the comfort of your own home, and have it straight to your door the next day! (This was a life saver for me for years with a hyper toddler, and a disregulated ADHD son!)
Invest in some time saving tools like robot vacuums, or air fryers and slow cookers - time is money love and so is your energy - use it wisely! Smarter, not harder, right? 🤓
It’s ok to need rest. It’s not ok to run yourself down into the ground trying to keep up with it, and other people’s expectations too!
Take care of yourself mumma! You’re not a one-woman show! It’s okay to ask for help, whether it's your partner whipping up dinner or your kids tackling some chores.
Let Go of Expectations 👑
Be aware of your expectations around keeping your house in order. It can be very easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of social media, and all the shininess, but it just isn’t realistic to uphold those standards - unless you work all day (so you’re not at home), have no kids or pets, and your husband is super duper clean too.
Let’s be honest - that’s not the world we live in.
Even in regard to ‘morning routines’, healthy habits and ‘Meal Prep Sundays’ - if you’re up for it, that’s absolutely amazing, but I know for me, it’s not doable. Every now and then I’ll bulk cook snacks for the kids or for myself, and let me tell you, the next day I’m absolutely exhausted and I lose time. I now will check over the “stock” of snacks, and when I’m feeling up to it, I’ll do ⭐one recipe⭐ in the afternoons after school, and freeze half. This saves my energy but I also have snacks on hand for the boys - win, win! 🌼
It’s up to you with how you spend your time and what resources you use - what may work for one person, may not work for another, but try to let go of perfectionism, and allow yourself to live comfortably in your home without worrying about too much mess. Aim for a functional, tidy space instead of a spotless home. A home is for living in! 💐
Take it one small step at a time and celebrate the wins, no matter how small they seem. Whether it’s clearing that one corner of clutter or simply sitting down for five minutes without guilt, every little bit counts. 🌟
Celebrate Progress Lovely 💫
This is a BIG ONE. Almost as big as letting go of expectations.
Acknowledge any effort you make, even if it’s small. On days where we just-can’t, it’s ok to let it go. There is always tomorrow.
Safeguarding your energy, especially as a mumma taking care of littlies, should be top priority, over upkeeping an unrealistic standard of cleanliness in your home.
Progress over perfection can reduce feelings of overwhelm. If you can’t do all the things - that’s ok! - just choose ONE thing - one thing of impact (probably the one thing that’s annoying you the most, that you can manage to clean today), and work on that one today.
Remember mumma, you’re home is not a reflection of who you are as a person, or whether you are a good mum or a bad mum! 🧸 You’re doing amazing - even on the days when it doesn’t feel like it, and if you can’t do all the things right now, it is ok.
Focus on you and your energy, and your babies - and leave the rest ‘til later. You got this!!
Reflection
What tasks can I delegate this week to lighten my load? 🧹
How do I feel about asking for help, and how can I get more comfortable with it?