Ever feel like you are CONSTANTLY picking up? Wonder how to keep your house clean? Get ready to stop the madness!! The 10/30 Rule will have you wondering how you ever managed your household before! Grab a free printable for your fridge as well!
“I love spending all day cleaning the house,” said no one ever. Right? We have too many things to do to waste time worrying about how to keep the house spotless. (You probably do, too.) Plus, we're often asked how we manage to keep the house from looking like a toxic wasteland with such a big family. One simple hack that was shared on a recent Q&A Tuesday video is called the “10/30 Rule.” It turned out to be a real crowd-pleaser, so we're spilling ALL the details on how the rule works.
It is so easy to let things at home get out of hand with stuff everywhere and absolute chaos. Then, when it's time to clean, it can feel COMPLETELY overwhelming to make any progress quickly.
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To avoid this feeling of hot mess overwhelm, we've created a habit to use the 10/30 Rule whenever we can. This will help you tidy the house as you go instead of leaving it all for later. Plus, we created a free printable for you!
USE OUR FREE 10/30 PRINTABLE TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE CLEAN
Print this cute and free 10/30 printable out on some card stock paper and keep it handy! Hang it on your fridge or keep it in a drawer where you can easily look at it anytime you need help coming up with quick ways to keep your house clean!
HOW TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE CLEAN WITH THE 10/30 RULE
What is the 10/30 Rule? This simple idea helps you keep your house clean (we talk more about it in our Productivity Bootcamp program). Whenever you complete a task or project, take 10 extra steps – or spend 30 extra seconds – to finish and put things away.
For example, you might do a pretty good job of organizing your bedroom closet. But, it can be easy to try on a shirt and just throw it on the floor and walk away. Instead, take the 10 extra steps or spend the extra 30 seconds to put the shirt back on a hanger and hang it back up in your closet.
HOW YOU CAN CLEAN EACH ROOM IN 10 EXTRA STEPS OR 30 EXTRA SECONDS
Do you need some inspiration for ways you can put this hack to work in each area of your home? Here’s a handy list of ideas broken down by room so you can start creating your new cleaning habit today:
- Kitchen – Wipe down counters, clean the sink, rinse big stuff off dishes and put them in the dishwasher, wipe the table down, do a quick once-over of floors with an electric sweeper, do a fast inventory of the refrigerator or pantry, straighten the dining chairs or bar stools, or wipe down your cabinets
- Bathroom – Clean the sink while washing hands, wipe down the counters, give the toilet a quick wipe down with cleaning wipes, take a Swiffer over the floors, freshen up the towel rack, or throw away empty lotion or shampoo bottles
- Closet/Bedroom – Make the bed, clean clutter off the dresser/nightstand, pick up clothes off the floor, quick dusting, or use a dusting wand on your blinds (we LOVE the dusting wand from e-cloth).
- Living Room/Den – Put clutter in a basket to put away later, rearrange pillows/cushions, run a steam mop over hard floors, fold blankets, wipe fingerprints off the tv, or put books away
- Laundry Room – Clean floors, tidy the space, throw a load in the wash/change to the dryer, fold towels, or scrub a stain out of an article of clothing
EASY HOME CLEANING TIPS AND TRICKS USING THE 10/30 RULE
Here are even MORE examples of how you can put the 10/30 Rule to work for you:
- After School – When your kids get home from school, encourage them to take the 10 extra steps to a mudroom or their bedroom to put backpacks away.
- Lunchtime – Making a quick sandwich? Don't leave the dirty knife, the jars, and the bread sitting out. Instead, take an extra 30 seconds to put stuff away. Then, wipe the counter with a wet microfiber cloth (we love E-Cloth! – Use code JORDAN to save 10%).
- First Thing in the Morning – After you hop out of bed in the morning, spend 30 seconds quickly pulling the covers straight and making your bed. This has the added benefit of giving you an immediate sense of accomplishment in your day that we love!
- At the Office – At the end of your workday, don’t just shut down your computer and leave. Quickly clear off your work surface by filing paperwork, throwing away trash, and putting tools in the drawer. You will be SO MUCH MORE productive at work the next day since you'll know where your things are.
- At Bedtime – After your kids have taken their baths and showers, they may want to leave their dirty clothes on the bathroom floor. Instead, teach them how to pick them up and walk the extra 10 steps to a dirty clothes hamper or laundry chute to put them away.
- Quick Room Sweep – When leaving one room in your house to go to another, walk a few extra steps to grab anything that doesn’t belong there. Take it with you if you are headed that direction anyway and put it back in its rightful place.
MORE REALLY QUICK PICKUPS & WAYS TO KEEP YOUR HOUSE CLEAN
- Take Out the Garbage – When the trash can is near capacity, close up the bag and walk the 10 extra steps to put it in the outside garbage bin.
- Wipe Down the Microwave – After nuking something in the microwave, use a microfiber cloth or disinfecting wipe to quickly clean the inside.
- Turn Off the Lights – When leaving a room, turn off the lights to save on energy costs.
- Put Your Shoes Away – Instead of kicking off your shoes the minute you walk in the door, take the extra seconds to put them back in your closet or shoe basket.
- Clean Out Your Car – Take a few seconds after you get home to throw away the trash, round up any items that need to be taken inside, and run the car vacuum over the carpets.
- Brush Your Teeth – We’ve all fallen into bed at night feeling too exhausted to brush those pearly whites. Yes, dentists recommend brushing for 2 minutes, but wouldn’t 30 seconds be better than none? While you’re at it, work and wipe down the bathroom counter and mirror with a microfiber cloth while you brush. Look at how productive you are!
Try it out this week and see what a difference it can make in your house! Keep things clean as you go, and then you can schedule intentional 15-minute blitz cleaning sessions with the whole family a couple of times per day. This minimizes the need for LONG cleaning marathons which leave people tired and cranky.
Can anyone else relate? Here’s to helping you get back to spending time with your family and doing things you actually enjoy.
Looking for more ways to be productive in your life? Then you've gotta check out Productivity Boot Camp! It's a super fun online video program that helps you get your life in order.
Sounds so fun, right?! Use the code FCFBLOG for 10% off at checkout, just because we love ya. 😉
For more great cleaning tips and hacks to keep your house clean, check out the links below!
- See what products we use to clean our house.
- Check out our speed cleaning hacks for how to clean quickly.
- Follow our tips for creating a deep-cleaning schedule.
- Learn more about our popular Block Schedule system.
Happy cleaning!
I would like the printable, but a butler to follow us around and clean up after us would be easier….
Oh man, wouldn’t it, though?!