How to Clean Your House in a Day When it’s a Disgusting Mess

Getting everything done in a day is impossible. BUT, we can use some strategy to get the *most* important things done.

This is your do-it-last-minute method for when your house is a disgusting mess, and your company’s coming tonight.

Please note that this strategy still takes a full day, or between 6 – 9 hours to complete, depending on two things: 

1.  Whether or not you have small children, because they naturally make things take longer due to breaks for diaper changes, meals, owies to be kissed, dolls with backward dresses etc. (Check out my post for tips on how to get things done with a baby).
2.  If your house REALLY IS a disgusting mess. (Like mine is, more than I’d like to admit.)

But even though 6 – 9 hours (or, really, almost an entire day) might seem like a lot, those hours really aren’t much of a sacrifice to get your entire house clean and under control again.

I think of this cleaning routine as my “reset” if I have a messy home after a trip or a crazy weekend. (It’s not really deep cleaning, but it gives you a fresh start.)

NOTE, though (and this is REALLY important), that this isn’t a method for keeping your house permanently clean as a messy person. I’m working on that. BUT, I do like using it to give me a clean slate (as I said before).

So, let’s get started.

An Overview of the One Day, Mess-Away Cleaning Method

My process for cleaning a filthy house in one day has two stages that are pretty basic: the “Gather and Pick-Up” stage, and the “Clean like a maniac” stage (yes, that’s what I’m calling them).

The purpose of the first stage is to clear all your flat surfaces and get items that are out of place into place. (At least as much as you can. Because I get it. If you’re reading this, all your stuff probably doesn’t fit into some spaces. Or any of your spaces.)

Stage 1 clears the way for stage 2, when you actually clean your home.

Oh, and trust me, you don’t want to do stage 2 without doing stage 1 first. 

I know it might be a hard pill to swallow, but trust me when I tell you this: the best way to clean your home in a day is to clear as much visual clutter in your dirty house first before you start your other cleaning tasks.

I don’t know why this works. I could tell you that clearing visual clutter makes it all look less overwhelming. I could also tell you that the quick win of picking up items boosts your morale, making cleaning the rest of the house easier.

BUT . . . I honestly don’t know if that’s why this works or not. I just know that it does work. 

And “works” always wins over “doesn’t work” in my world. 

I hope it’s that way in your world too.

Cleaning Schedule Outline

• Stage 1: Gather and Pick-Up (1 – 2 hours)
  • Prepare: Get baskets for carrying items, designate a spot for papers, and decide what 2 loads of laundry you *most* need to run.
  • Gather Categories:
    • Gather Dirty Laundry
      • When ALL laundry is gathered, start your MOST URGENT load of laundry.
    • Gather Clean laundry
    • Gather Trash
    • Gather Dirty Dishes (Optional)
    • Gather Papers (Optional)
  • Pick-up: 
    • Tidy up all other items.
    • Unload the dishwasher.
    • Make the beds.
    • While you pick up, prep things for vacuuming.
• Stage 2: Clean Like a Maniac (3 – 4 hours)
  • Prepare: Gather all of your cleaning supplies to one spot. Ad if you have a *lot* of cleaning supplies, check out my post on minimizing cleaning products.
  • Remember: You probably need to move over your load of laundry. Put your next most urgent load in.
  • Clean:
    • Dishes and counters (30 –  60 minutes)
    • Bathroom(s) (30 minutes)
    • Vacuum / Sweep (60 minutes)
    • Mop (30 – 45 minutes)
  • Papers (1 – 30 minutes) Either decide on a set time to go through your papers (like Friday afternoon at 3PM), or sort your papers now (if you have time).
  • The Final Tidy (30 minutes): Move your most recent load of laundry over to the dryer. Put away the things you moved to vacuum and mop and make the beds (if you washed your sheets and didn’t do it in stage 1).

A Couple Quick Tips Before We Start:

Don’t wash all your dirty laundry today

You may notice that in my outline I don’t have you doing laundry throughout the day. That’s because I’ve tried to run laundry all day while I work and . . . it failed. Maybe my brain is just short-circuited, but I get stressed constantly trying to clean AND remember when I next need to take my laundry out of the washing machine.

That’s why I suggest picking the most urgent 2 loads. They might *all* seem urgent, but I guarantee they aren’t. Maybe you only have one clean pair of jeans left, but you can wash your other jeans tomorrow while you wear that last pair.

And yes, I know the “I’ll do it tomorrow” mindset is probably what got you into this mess (because it’s what usually gets me behind on my laundry). Buuuut . . . you just *can’t* do it all when you’re actually trying to clean up a filthy home in a single day. 

So, opt instead for the load with all of Johnny’s underwear (because he’s wearing his last pair for, ahem, the third time.)

Don’t worry about putting away all your clean piles of laundry either

I find that most people are accepting of some clean laundry, even if it’s piled high in baskets. I, personally, would rather have clean bathrooms and floors with guests coming. You can always fold some of it at the end if you have time.

I don’t include folding laundry in this plan, though, because even though folding is important, it takes time that’s needed for cleaning *vital* things, like the bathrooms or the kitchen counters (which are gross).

Have a plan for dinner tonight. A really, really, easy plan.

As I said, cleaning your disgusting house will take a while (especially if you have kids). So make dinner easy. Like, ridiculously easy. Way easier than you think you need it to be. 

Trust me, you will thank me. Because in spite of what Martha Stewart is able to do, time will not magically multiply itself to let you make lobster and arrange a charcuterie board. You must face the facts and pick your priorities.

Once you accept that you can’t do it all, you’re on your way to getting more done.

Use this reset as a chance to start good routines (even though routines might sound horrible)

I love the feeling of having a clean house, but it’s hard to keep it that way. You too?

The key is daily habits, though I can tell you that for a long time I *hated* the idea of being “tied” to habits and routines on a regular basis. But, unfortunately, even though cleaning routines aren’t much fun, they are the best way to keep your house from becoming a filthy, disgusting mess over and over again.

(And let me tell you . . . I’ve tried a lot of other methods that didn’t work. But good habits do work. Like, actually work . . . in real life.)

You can find routines that work for you and your brain, even if you hate the idea of “daily tasks.”

If you want somewhere to start with your basic cleaning habits, feel free to jump on my email list and I’

Clean Up Your Disgusting Mess: Ready, Set, Go!

Stage 1: Gather and Pick-Up

The first step to cleaning your whole house in a single day is to take care of everything that is visually “messy.” Let me start by telling you what this step is not:

• It is not a step to organize your house. If you start organizing, you’ll never finish cleaning today.
• It is not a time to declutter your kid’s room, or anywhere else (However tempting it may be).

You must focus solely on putting all things away, big things and little things. You will also start the one load of laundry you most need to start.

Stage 1 typically takes me between 1 to 2 hours, depending on how bad my house is. And it can take even longer if you have a little guy or little gal (or more). 

1 – 2 hours (or more) of just “tidying” might seem like a lot of time, but it will be worth it. Believe me, this is the easiest way to get a grip on your very messy house.

Prepare

Before you begin, do the following:

• Designate a spot for papers
• Grab a couple of laundry baskets or bins to help you carry items.
• Decide on the *MOST* important load of laundry for you to run.

There, you’re ready to start.

Gather Categories

The first thing we’ll do is gather categories before we move on to picking up the more general “stuff.” I pick categories for items that there are generally a lot of lying around. 

(If you’re reading this, I hope you’re the kind of person who can relate and not someone who’s shocked by the idea that there’s enough dirty laundry or trash lying around my house that they can merit their own categories.)

Any category that there isn’t a lot of can be moved to the “Pick-Up” phase, so if you know you don’t have a bunch of dirty dishes scattered through your home (maybe one fork in your bedroom), don’t worry about giving dirty dishes their own category (unless you want to make that fork feel really important).

Gather Dirty Laundry

Gather dirty clothes from every room, nook, and cranny. (Don’t forget the one sock in the fridge. And don’t ask me how it got there.)  

Take it all to the laundry hamper or laundry room.

With all of your dirty laundry gathered, now is the time to put your MOST URGENT load in the washer and start it running.

Gather Clean laundry

As a still-messy-but-trying-to-be-cleaner person, I have struggled with leaving clean piles of clothes in limbo-spots all over my house. 

For example, I might have one load on a chair, two on the couch, one in a basket in my kitchen, and one in some container at the top of the stairs. 

(Because the most obvious spot to put a clean load of laundry was *clearly* where one of my family members might trip on it and break their left femur in the night).

So, for safety purposes, gather all those piles of clean laundry to one spot. 

And yes, it will also help your house look a lot less messy.

Trash

Grab a trash bag and gather all the random garbage around your house. 

How long has that diaper been on the floor? I don’t know. 

But put it in the trash now.

Gather Dirty Dishes (Optional as a category)

Remember when you ate 5 snacks in your bedroom and never took the dishes back to the kitchen? Oops. Now’s the time to end your dishes’ existence as home decor and give them a chance at being used again.

If you didn’t eat 5 snacks in your bedroom and forget about the dishes, you might not need this as a category. Only give dirty dishes their own category if there are a lot lying around the house. Otherwise, you can get them in the pick-up phase.

Papers (Optional as a category)

I think that bills and papers are the stuff of adult nightmares. You need to show them who’s boss. Take a deep breath, and gather all of your papers to your paper spot. Now isn’t the time to sort all of them. Just gather them.

Again, if you don’t have a lot of papers lying around, you can just grab your papers in the “Pick-Up” phase.

Pick-Up

With the big categories out of the way, the next step is to pick up all of the other random junk lying around your house.

This step might seem like a daunting task, but the key is to just keep moving. Keep putting things away, even if you have to do it one item at a time. 

Don’t worry about doing it perfectly or think too much about what’s most efficient.

Let me say it again: The key is to just keep moving.

You also want to get things ready for vacuuming. As you tidy, get things off the floor (For example, pick up the rocking koala bear in your child’s room and put it on the bed).

I do the whole pick-up phase room-by-room. Here’s an example walkthrough from my house:

How I Pick Up My House:

• The kitchen and laundry area: 
  • I grab a laundry basket and put anything that needs to go upstairs into the basket (sometimes I have two baskets, one for my room and one for my daughter’s room. But sometimes it’s too much for my brain to worry about separating it, so I just do one basket). 
  • I unload the dishwasher or drainer and put away all clean dishes that are sitting out. 
  • I put all the dirty dishes I can into the kitchen sink to soak. 
  • I put away other random junk like the cracker box, the cleaner on the counter, and the candle I left out two weeks ago.
• The living room, entry area, and downstairs bathroom:
  • I bring my “upstairs” basket with from the kitchen and continue to put everything that needs to go upstairs into the basket.
  • I put away all the other remaining stuff, sometimes one item at a time. But . . . it gets done, and that is *the most* important thing.
  • I put our ottoman upside down on the chair to get it off the floor for vacuuming
• Upstairs bedrooms and bathroom:
  • I take my upstairs basket upstairs and put away everything in it, generally room by room (but sometimes just item by item). Remember: Don’t think too much. Just keep moving.
  • I turn my newly emptied basket into a “for downstairs” basket and walk through the rooms, putting everything into it that needs to go downstairs.
  • I put away everything that remains in my room.
  • I put away everything that remains out in the bathroom
  • I put away everything that’s still out in my daughter’s room.
  • If I’m not washing the sheets, I make the beds.

By the time you’re done, you should feel like there’s hope for your house. You might be able to have a not-perfect-but-pretty-good tidy home by the end of the day!

And now it’s time to hit stage 2, hard.

Stage 2: Clean like a Maniac (I mean, you don’t have much time!)

Now that you can see your kitchen floor, it’s time to clean stuff. But let me tell you something important first:

it’s okay to adapt this to fit your time. Simply wipe your bathrooms down if you have company coming and you don’t have time to deep clean. Vacuum only the worst spots. Skip mopping if you have to.

Don’t get hung up on “doing this process right.” I really don’t think there is one right way to do this process.

Make this method work for you; don’t work for the method.

Prepare

Okay, here’s how you prepare for stage 2: 

• Gather all your cleaning products and supplies together.

I don’t ever have to gather mine anymore because I keep all my sprays, gloves, and scrubbies in a cleaning cubby like this one under my sink.

If you wonder how I can fit all my supplies in one cubby, you can snag my minimalist cleaning supplies checklist.

But now it’s time to get started.

Oh, and don’t forget to move your clean clothes over to the dryer and put your second must-be-done load of laundry in.

‘Kay, now it’s actually time to get started.

Dishes & Counters (30 – 60 minutes)

What is the fastest way to do dishes?

Hopefully, you got those dishes soaking earlier like I told you, but if you didn’t, start by getting lots of dishes into the sink and exposed to water now. 

And here are my other quick tips for doing the dishes:

• As you clear out dishes, continuously move new crusty ones into the sink to soften them up.
• Always use a scrubby, brush, or washcloth to help (using just your hands will take a LOT longer)
• Keep moving. Take it one dish at a time if you have to but don’t. stop.

A couple of thoughts about saving time while washing dishes:

I used to think I was saving myself a gross scrubby or a dirty brush by just using my hands to wash dishes. But . . . it takes 2 seconds to throw a brush in the dishwasher or a used scrubby/washcloth into the washing machine.

And it takes 5 times as long to wash the dishes with your hands and not a washcloth, brush, or scrubby.

So . . . why was I using my hands and “saving” the brush, scrubby, or washcloth? I don’t know. I seriously don’t know. But if you do this too, you should stop.

Like . . . right now.

Also, I used to think that certain tasks (like doing the dishes) took a really long time. Then I realized that about 50% of my time doing most tasks was time wasted thinking about . . . I’m not sure what. 

But the point is, I wasted my time thinking. And the truth is, stuff gets done when you stop thinking about it and just move your body to do it. 

Shocker, I know. I should probably frame that.

But as you scrub away in your hot water, you’ll be surprised by how quickly the pile of dirty dishes shrinks.

Counters (And your kitchen table)

Don’t take a lot of time here. If they’re bad (Like, might kill you bad), you have my permission to spray them with kitchen-safe, all-purpose cleaner or disinfectant before you wipe them down. But otherwise, just use soap and water. And focus on being fast.

Wipe them down. Get it done. I don’t care about your microwave or your fridge (harsh, I know). But you need to move on.

Bathrooms (30 minutes)

I’ll give you my bathroom cleaning routine right here:

• Spray the sink, vanity, and toilet with bathroom cleaner.
• Put toilet cleaner into your toilet bowl (if you do this).
• Wipe down the vanity and sink with a clean cloth. Or scrub the heck out of it to remove the soap scum. Then, rinse.
• Take that same rag and work down your sprayed toilet.
• Grab a clean rag and do the second “rinse” on your toilet (Or just rinse the same rag you’re already using. It’s up to you).
• Use your toilet brush to scrub out the inside of your toilet.
• Clean the mirror.

And you’re done. I vacuum my bathroom floors in the vacuum part and mop them in the mop part, so I don’t worry about them here.

By now, though, you may be wondering:

Should you clean your bath or shower?

Well, I would consider these questions:

• Will your guest(s) be using the shower?
• Can your guest(s) see the shower? Or can you use the good ole’ pull the shower curtain in front tactic?
• Do you have time to worry about the shower?

If your guests won’t see your shower, don’t worry about it.

If your guests will see (or even use) your shower, but you can get away with just wiping it down, do that. I mean, in my shower, a lot of what makes it *look* extra gross is simple dust and debris (or even mildew spots) that can be wiped away with a damp cloth.

Only clean your shower as a last resort. (And yes, that sounds bad. But cleaning time is cleaning time when you’re doing it all in a day. The clock won’t stop. You’ve gotta prioritize.)

Vacuum/Sweep (60 minutes)

Alright, it’s time to bust out your vacuum cleaner and/or broom.

Here are my quick tips for this step:

• Don’t use your hose on the edges (unless there is visible debris that you can’t get with the vacuum head)
• Don’t vacuum super slow. Just don’t. (Even though I know it gets your floor cleaner.)

And that’s pretty much it. Vacuuming isn’t rocket science. Just do it.

Mop (30 – 45 minutes)

I’m not going to waste your time writing a story about mopping right here. There’s no point. Start it, and get it done.

Papers (1 – 30 minutes)

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m all about cutting things out of this one-day cleaning schedule.

You can take time today to sort your papers. You really can.

But, with all of reality resting on my shoulders, I have to tell you that you might not have time today. This routine CAN only include so much. Your time is fixed and won’t magically expand to fit all the stuff you want to get done.

You have to pick.

So, let it wait if you can. (A smart way to do this is to set a specific time later to get it done–no excuses. That way the pile of papers doesn’t just grow forever while you wonder where your medical bills went.)

The Final Tidy (30 minutes)

This is the part where you put the sheets on the beds, your chairs around the table again, and the boxes back in the corner (Because duh. That’s where boxes go.)

I have been guilty of cleaning my house and never doing this final tidy.

Days later, I come back to vacuum again and think “Oh, I forgot to move those boxes off the couch. Oh well! Now I don’t have to move them again, since they’re already off the floor!”

But the price is that I spent a whole lot of miserable time with random stuff in my way, all because I failed to put it back after cleaning.

So don’t forget the final tidy. It’s easy to say “I’ll do it later,” but just do it now.

Seriously. You’ll enjoy your house so much more.

Oh, and don’t forget to move that second load of laundry over to the dryer.

What you should do now your house is clean (Don’t skip this section)

So, your entire home (almost) is now sparkling clean.

What are you going to do?

Well, if you’re like me, you’ll daydream about how you’ll use all this *extra time* you have now that your house is clean. 

You’re going to host amazing parties, get crazy fit, learn to play the didgeridoo, and write a book.

Except . . . 

You’re not.

Because houses don’t stay clean, they get dirty again, and it breaks your heart. And you cry buckets of tears over how you’ll never play the didgeridoo. And you wonder . . . why.

Why can’t I keep my house clean? 

Why can’t I this mess under control?

Well, I don’t know all of the answers. Honestly. But I can tell you that it probably comes down to two things:

• You have too much stuff
• You don’t have daily habits to conquer the mess a little bit at a time

I know, I know, you probably know those things already. But . . . it’s hard. Cleaning daily and decluttering stuff is just hard.

It seems to be so much easier for some people, and I don’t completely understand why that is (If you know, please tell me).

But I do think there’s hope for people like us. Some stuff works. So we have to find that stuff that works and share it.

The Stuff that Works for Messy People

So, here are the three major resources that have most helped me with my dirty home:

• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (Book)
• How to Manage Your Home Without Losing Your Mind: Dealing With Your House’s Dirty Little Secrets by Dana White (Book)
• Steps to Everyday Productivity (eCourse with a free intro class)

If you want, you can buy and read/complete them. Or, you can ponder the fact that you need less stuff and a routine. And you’re house might get dirty again.

But maybe you’ll come back, do this routine again, and figure it out from there. 

But whatever you do, good luck momma. Thanks for learning how to become a better momma bear with me 🙂

Oh, and please feel free to share the cleaning resources that have most helped you overcome messes below!