Cleaning my house is one of those things that I hate doing but love having done. I do my best to have my children doing their own chores to pitch in and carry their weight and remove this dreaded burden from completely resting on my shoulders.

It’s funny because my sweet Grandma Shirley absolutely adores cleaning and does it for enjoyment. Wow. Why couldn’t that gene have shot down the line to this mama? I would be one happy woman in my house!

No use whining about lack of happy cleaning genes, it’s time to figure out how to be the most effective and efficient so I don’t have to spend hours and hours doing something I don’t enjoy.

That’s where this amazing list comes in. This isn’t just any list of housecleaning tasks… it’s a list of high-reward, big bang for your buck tasks that will make you feel like a boss in just 5 minutes.

Cause sometimes five minutes is all we’ve got!

I’ve gone ahead and separated these tasks into three categories based on the highest traffic areas in a typical home. Just choose your area and your task and make your house look amazing in just 5 minutes… or at least that fantastic little corner!

House Cleaning Tasks in Your Kitchen

1 – Sweep the Floor

If your kids are like mine, you’ve got a crumb problem. I hate walking into the kitchen only to see under our dinette is a mountain of crumbs from the last several meals. I don’t understand why eating over a plate is such a lost concept!

But it’s like magic when I whip out my broom and do a quick sweep! I usually can do the entire downstairs floors in that same five minutes, if there aren’t too many obstacles (AKA toys and shoes) in my way.

2 – Wipe the Refrigerator

Even if you don’t have a stainless steel refrigerator, which is notorious for fingerprints, it’s still a really great idea to wipe down your fridge every once and a while.

It gets rid of food germs, water drops, and of course fingerprints. And it’s so fast that I can usually move to the inside of the fridge in under that five minutes. Here’s a natural fridge cleaner recipe you’ll love.

3 – Load or Unload the Dishwasher

I know this is basically the most unavoidable cleaning task in your home. But it still counts as a five-minute task! Even if you are washing your dishes by hand and using your dishwasher as a drying rack, you can unload it in five quick minutes.

It’s so much more enjoyable to find your dishes in the cabinets than living out of the dishwasher. It’s like hunting for your clean clothes in the basket instead of your drawers. That’s real life, but it could be better!

4 – Wipe Down the Counters

Keeping kitchen counters clean can feel downright impossible some days. But getting a beautiful crumb-free shine on my counters brings me joy and makes the kitchen look amazing.

I use a natural spray with essential oils that I know gets my counters clean and makes them shine. I also stopped using paper towels and use microfiber cloths which do such a better job with no waste!

5 – Wipe Cabinet Doors

We don’t often think about cleaning cabinet doors but those things can get dirty and greasy fast. However, waiting too long to clean them can mean it’s much harder to get the fingerprints and grease off.

My tip is to use one of these cabinet cleaner recipes and wipe them down at least once a week to keep them clean with very minimal effort.

House Cleaning Tasks in Your Living Room

6 – Surface Clutter Buster

One of the biggest payoff cleaning tasks you can do in your common living areas is to clean the clutter off your surfaces. That means cleaning the mail, cups, toys, and anything else off your tables and other surfaces.

Flat surfaces are magnets to everything in a busy household but in order for your home to “look” clean these surfaces should be clear of anything that should be there. And depending on how many coffee tables and side tables you have, you should be able to realistically cleaning them off in five minutes.

7 – Vacuuming or Sweeping the Floors

Depending on whether you have carpet or hard floors you can do a quick sweep or vacuum to liven up any room. Personally, I think vacuuming is much faster than sweeping. So if you do go the route of sweeping, you may need to tack on a couple more minutes!

8 – Toy Pickup

Picking up toys is usually a task reserved for the little people who play with those toys, but sometimes that doesn’t happen. Doing a quick toy pickup and stashing them into a beautifully styled storage bin like this ottoman will make your house look less like a daycare and more like a model home. Well, maybe.

9 – Clean your Ceiling Fan

This is only a fast cleaning tip if your ceiling doesn’t require a ladder to reach it. But if your fan is reachable like mine, try this amazing fan cleaning hack that’ll get your fan blades dust-free in under five minutes!

10 – Wipe and Shine Your Surfaces

This task is my middle daughter’s favorite cleaning job. Give her some spray and a cleaning cloth and she’s a happy girl. If you’ve been staying on top of surface clutter on a daily basis, it’s really fast to clean and shine all the surfaces in your living room. This really does make such a huge difference in a room!

House Cleaning Tasks for Your Bathroom

11 – Wipe Down the Mirrors

It’s funny how dirty mirrors can get and how we can see right past that dirt! When I finally decide to give my mirrors a good cleaning, it’s like I can see again!

That’s why this one’s first on the list. It’s a quick task to do that has a big wow factor but is so easy for me to forget. Am I the only one?

12 – Clean the Toilet

This is the one task I always do, but especially when I’m pressed for time. I do use paper towels to wipe down the entire commode and then toss them in the trash. Then I wash the bowl and I’m done! The yuckiest place in the house… all clean.

13 – Empty the Hamper into the Laundry Room

This may be the fastest task on the list, but again, it’s a big one. Our hamper gets overflowed very quickly because it’s a skinny one that fits in between the counters and toilet. Doing a quick laundry dump makes the bathroom feel instantly neater.

14 – Spray the Shower

Using a shower spray every day really works and helps repel soap scum and dirty so it doesn’t get glued onto your shower. Method makes a great shower spray, or you can make your own!

15 – Clear Off and Wipe the Counter Top

Even though our bathrooms have neat organizers sitting on top waiting to hold all of our stuff, we still end up leaving things all over the counter. Especially on super busy mornings!

Doing a super fast clear-off and wipe down will make your bathroom look like new again.