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

This post may contain some affiliate links for your convenience (which means that, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase after clicking a link I will earn a small commission). Read my full disclosure policy

No matter how clean my house gets, it’s hard to get too comfortable. Because with 4 young kids, it doesn’t take much for my house to become a disgusting mess.

After a few overwhelming days, my once sparkling clean house can look like it was ransacked by burglars. Burglars who dirtied the laundry, wrote on my walls, raided my fridge and pantry, and left every surface of my home sticky and covered in food.

Because when you have kids, it doesn’t take much for a messy house to feel so overwhelming that you don’t know where to start.

It could be work stress, mental health issues, a new baby, sickness, the kids being on a school break, or just life simply getting crazy stressful.

The reality is that when the going gets tough, for most of us the first thing we let slide is our house.

And I’m here to tell you that it’s okay.

You’re not a failure because your house is cluttered and messy. You’re normal. Beyond normal.

(so no beating yourself up, okay?)

my house is a disgusting mess - cleaning checklist

But you’re ready to conquer your messy home. You’re ready to see gleaming kitchen counters and vacuum lines in the carpet.

And most of all, you’re ready to feel some peace within in the walls of your home. Because while messes are unavoidable in the day-to-day of life, they can sure make it hard to relax and actually enjoy the things that matter most.

In this guide, we’re going to get you there. You’re going to learn:

How to get started even when the mess is overwhelming
Step-by-step guide to clean a messy house in just one day
How to build a daily routine that will make it easy to keep a clean home

Plus, I also created a free printable house cleaning checklist that follows these exact steps. After you read this guide, you can print it out and get started on the path to a tidy home.

A note before we dive in: Your goal right now is to tackle as much as you possibly can today and then set up a plan to tackle the rest. Therefore your main focus today is MOMENTUM.

Do not let yourself get buried in any one task. The most important thing you can do is just keep moving onto the next task.

(As a person with some raging ADHD, I know just how easy that is)

Instead, your goal is to move as quickly as you can through the steps and then once your messy house is suddenly feeling a million times better, you can deal with the nitty-gritty.

Remember, done is better than perfect.

That said, let’s get started!

BEFORE YOU TACKLE YOUR MESSY HOME

Before you tackle your messy home, your first step is to actually get yourself set up to be able to clean. Here are my suggestions:

Occupy Your Kids: If you have small children at home, this is the ideal time to allow some guilt-free screen time. Stick on a movie or let them use the iPad/tablet.

Put on some energizing music: At least if this is something that will help get you pumped up and moving quickly. While I love listening to podcasts & audiobooks, when it comes to cleaning quickly upbeat music is your best bet. You don’t want anything that will distract your brain from the task at hand. Remember, your goal is to move quickly from one thing to the next.

Open the windows (if weather permits): This allows nice air to filter through your home and bring in some freshness.

Enlist help: If you have kids old enough to help, or family members around who will help without complaining (you don’t need that right now), get them to help you. I find that I can get my kids pumped up to clean when I ask them how good it would feel to have a clean & today home.

Grab a caffeinated beverage. Not only does caffeine give you energy (hurrah!), but it also helps you think better. This is going to be helpful for making choices as you go through the house.

Get a bin or a bag to put any items that need to get moved to another area of the house. I use a laundry tote like this. This will be especially helpful once you get to step 6.

Gather cleaning supplies. I recommend:

Vacuum cleaner with tube attachment (if you have it)
Cleaning Cloth & all purpose spray or Clorox wipes
Bathroom cleaner
Toilet cleaner
Mirror cleaner

Now you’re ready to take a deep breath and dive into the steps of cleaning your messy house in just one day.

HOW TO CLEAN A MESSY HOUSE IN ONE DAY

When your house is a disaster, it can be downright paralyzing. It’s like everything is engulfed in flames and you’re there holding a spray bottle wondering where to aim the nozzle.

So what do you clean first in a messy house? Where do you aim your metaphorical spray bottle?

While this can feel like a daunting task, we’re going to break it down step by step so you can quickly and efficiently transform your dirty house into a tidy paradise.

Following these steps is the best way to put your hard work to best use by completing each task in as little time as possible.

1. THROW AWAY TRASH

(15-20 minutes)

Your first step is tackle the obvious trash around your house. Grab a giant trash bag and then go room-to-room through your house throwing away absolutely everything that can be thrown away immediately.

Your focus is singular: throw away anything you can without much thought.

This includes:

Obvious trash items
Small crappy toys your kids just leave around everywhere (e.g. fast food kid’s meal toys)
Junk mail

Once the bag is full, throw it in the outside trash and grab another bag. Repeat until done. This shouldn’t take more than 15-20 minutes. A few minutes in each room should do it.

Remember, this isn’t deciding whether to keep or purge any significant items. It’s throwing away trash and trash-like items around your house (broken crayons, conference sway, hotel note pads etc.).

If you have to think about it, just leave it for now.

And don’t worry about recycling or donating anything at this point. While I’m 100% all about recycling and being environmentally conscious, when you feel like you’re drowning, it’s about getting your head above the surface so you can actually breath.

You’ll recycle like a champ once you can breathe freely in your house. Right now it’s about relieving the stress that’s gnawing at you.

Once you’ve picked up all the trash, move onto…

2. THE KITCHEN

(1 hour or less)

Oh the kitchen. No room in the house can go from pristine to looking like a Hoarders episode faster than a family kitchen.

But you’re not going to do a deep cleaning of the kitchen. Not right now. Your main goal in the kitchen is to get it clean enough to be hygienic and functional. Clean enough to not feel depressed every time you look at it.

To clean your kitchen:

Go room-to-room and gather dirty dishes from anywhere in the house
Throw away anything too overwhelming (if you are completely overwhelmed, this may be what you need to stay sane)
Unload clean dishes from dishwasher (if there are any)
Rinse and load dishes in dishwasher
Start dishwasher
Clear counters & dining room table as best you can quickly. Remember, the trash bag is your friend. Make piles of important things, if needed. For example:
- Papers (you’ll tackle this in a later step)
- Things to move to other rooms in the house (put in bin or bag)
Wipe down surfaces. If you have a lot of crumbs, you may run a hand vac over the surfaces or use a hand broom to sweep up the mess before wiping own with a wet rag. Whatever is fastest and easiest for you.
Wash any hand dishes and set out to dry (optional)
Vacuum or sweep floors (no mopping yet, but you can spot mop anything truly hideous if it makes you feel better)

It might be tempting to buckle down into some nitty gritty cleaning. Like clearing out the junk drawer or cleaning out your fridge. DON’T DO IT.

Your house is like a person passed out and bleeding on the sidewalk. Let’s stop the bleeding and get her conscious before we paint her toenails.

(However, if you wish you can take 3 or so minutes to very quickly go through the fridge and throw away any spoiled or expired food.)

Once your dishes are clean, surfaces are wiped down, and floors are swept, you can then move on to…

3. THE LAUNDRY

(30 minutes)

Dirty laundry has ninja-like qualities when it comes to suddenly overwhelming you.

One minute, you think you’re okay. And then suddenly you’re being attacked by growing piles and overflowing laundry hampers. And everyone’s forced to wear their swimsuits because there’s no clean underwear in the house.

Or maybe that’s just me.

But regardless, we’re now going to conquer the piles of dirty clothes and laundry from around your house.

Here’s what you’ll do to tackle the laundry today:

Go room to room through the house and gather every piece of dirty laundry in the house. Don’t forget towels. And maybe bathroom rugs if they’re looking super rough.
Divide into various piles. I like to divide laundry into these popup laundry baskets since they collapse flat and store easily, and keep my piles compact and organized.
Throw the first load into your washing machine (I like to start with the pile with the most underwear in it…)
If you have any piles of clean laundry sitting around, fold and put it away – OR – simply divide it out and stuff it in drawers to deal with later. (Personally, I never fold my kids’ clothes since I’ve found it a waste of time and energy.)

Once you’ve got the laundry rolling along, you can then move onto the next step. But keep an eye on the laundry as you tackle other parts of your house.

You’ll want to take a minute here and there to move the washed laundry into the dryer and then put a new load into the washer. You’ll deal with the folding and putting away later.

And stay tuned at the end of the post for how to quickly and easily stay up on laundry from here on out.

house cleaning checklist when house is disgusting mess

4. PAPER CLUTTER

(30 minutes)

It’s now time to tackle all the obnoxious paper clutter from around your house. Here’s what you’ll do

First, gather ALL paper clutter, bills, etc. from around you house. You may have already started a pile in earlier steps.
Separate into 3 piles: Deal with immediately (ex. bills), deal with later, and trash.
Put the “deal with later” pile away. This way, if you’re looking for a paper, you’ll know where to find it. You can chip away at this in the coming weeks. In the meantime, make sure any incoming papers get added to this pile.
Pay any outstanding bills.
Go through the “deal with immediately” pile and do whatever you need to do to knock those things off your plate. If something is going to take a bunch of time and it can wait a few days, put an alert in your phone to deal with it in 2 days and set it aside (like on the fridge or a bulletin board).

Remember, your goal is to keep the momentum going and tackle as much as you can right now.

So with the papers now taken care of, it’s time to move to…

5. MEAL PLANNING/PLAN GROCERY SHOPPING

(30 minutes)

Your home is already looking and feeling so much better by this point. It’s now time to buy yourself some time and headspace by getting all your meals for the next week figured out.

You’ll also create your shopping list so that you know exactly what you need to feed your family for this next week.

Here’s what you’re going to do:

Figure out dinner tonight. Make it something SUPER easy with ingredients you have already. In fact, I highly recommend just grabbing take-out (or ordering pizza delivery) so that you don’t have another mess to clean and you don’t actually have to take time to make anything.
Plan out simple meals for the next week. I’m sure you want to feed your kids nutritious, organic, homemade foods for every meal and snack. But this week, let’s just make it easy. Once we’ve got room to breathe, you can plan some fancier grub. For the next week, let’s just make it as simple and convenient as possible. Here’s some awesome free printable meal planners to get started.
Some easy meal ideas:
- cereal for breakfast
- hotdogs
- pita chips, humus, carrot sticks
- frozen pizza
- dinner recipes under 30 minutes
- easy slow cooker meals
With menu planned, make your grocery list. To simplify life and cut down on future messes, I recommend to adding paper plates and bowls to the shopping list.
Block out time in the next couple days to do the shopping.

Optional: If you have the service locally, I highly recommend doing either grocery delivery or grocery pickup. This will save a ton of time and stress.

And frankly, your sanity is worth a few bucks. I personally love Walmart grocery pickup—it’s free and saves so much time. And you get $10 off your first order!

6. ROOM-TO-ROOM PICKUP

(45 minutes)

Now it’s time to start tackling the individual rooms of your house. This is where it may be easy to sucked into some nitty-gritty organizing, but fight the urge. Be strong!

Your goal here is to just get each room picked up and quickly wipe down surfaces. Since you’ve already picked up trash, dishes, and laundry messes from each room, it shouldn’t take long.

Your goal here is to just get each room picked up and quickly wipe down flat surfaces. Since you’ve already picked up trash, dishes, and laundry messes from each room, it shouldn’t take long.

In fact, it should just take about 10-15 minutes max for each room. To keep things moving, set a timer each time you start on a room!

To clean each room:

Pick up any out of place items and quickly put them away. This means all toys into one bin, like items into one drawer etc. If clean clothes are scattered, just make sure they get stuck in the right drawer. Don’t worry about folding or deep organizing yet.
Stick anything that needs to move to another place in the house in your bag or bin set aside for that purpose. As your work through rooms, you can put things in the correct place if it’s not too much trouble. Otherwise, you can tackle that bin later.
Clear surfaces.
Wipe down any surfaces. I like to either use Clorox Wipes or a rag/paper towel and Mrs. Meyer’s all-purpose cleaner (it makes everything smell fresh)
Move to next room and repeat until each room is picked up.

QUICK TIP: You may consider keeping a bin in each room for items that need to be put away. That way the room can get picked up and tidy, and all those items can get put away later. Ideally, by the person responsible for that item.

Once everything is picked up and floors are clear, you’re ready to get those floors sparkling.

7. FLOORS

(45 minutes)

At this point, your house is really starting to come together. Your house is basically all pickup up and it’s time to get those floors nice and clean.

For me, walking around my house and feeling clean floors beneath my bare feet is one of the best feelings in the world. And you’re almost there!

Here’s what you’ll do to clean your floors:

Sweep or vacuum any hard flooring. If they’re quite dirty, do it twice. Loose dirt on hard flooring tends to quickly soil any nearby carpet. Don’t worry about the bathroom floors right now. We’ll get there next.
Once the hard surfaces are clean, vacuum the carpet and rugs. If you have a hose attachment that’s really easy to use (like my vacuum), suck up the grime in the corners, otherwise, don’t worry about it quite yet.
Mop hard flooring. With tile, I love the Swifter Wet Jet, and with my wood floors, I use this cleaner and this mop.

Can you feel the weight lifting? Can you breath easier and relax more? You should because your home is really looking awesome!

If you’re totally pooped out at this point, skip the next step and move to step 9. Then make a plan to tackle the next step—your bathrooms—first thing tomorrow morning.

But if you’ve still got a little bit left in you (come on, you’re almost there!) and you’re ready to get your entire house clean and organized in one day, then let’s move on!

8. BATHROOMS

(45 minutes)

You’ve got one big task left: the bathrooms. To tackle your bathrooms quickly, you’re going clean them all at the same time. Or if that sound crazy, just follow the steps below for each bathroom.

Don’t worry about cleaning out cabinets or closets—just get the bathroom clean and hygienic.

Here’s what you’ll to clean your bathrooms:

bathroom cleaning kit for kids with printable checklist

Gather all bathroom cleaning supplies. For example:
- All-purpose bathroom cleaner for sink
- Tub/shower cleaner (I personally love Kaboom because I can just spray, let is sit for a few minutes, and quickly wipe down and it looks pretty dang good)
- Rag and/or scrub brush
- Toilet cleaning liquid
- Toilet scrub brush
- Paper towels and window cleaner for mirrors
Clear off all surfaces in each bathroom. Make sure sink and tub/shower are ready to be cleaned.
Spray down tub/shower in each bathroom. Let the cleaner sit for the time being and move to next steps.
Spray down sink with cleaner and wipe down. Moving from bathroom to bathroom, spray each sink with cleaner. Then go back through wiping them down.
With a rag or scrub brush, go through each bathroom and wipe down the tub/shower.
With toilet cleaning liquid in hand, squirt liquid into the toilet and then scrub with toilet brush. Do not flush and let it sit until you’ve finished the other toilets. Move to next bathroom and clean toilet bowl.
Rinse out toilet brush and put away.
Then go through and flush each toilet.
With bathroom cleaner and a rag (or Clorox wipes), wipe down the outside of the bowl and the toilet seat. Repeat for each toilet.
Sweep and mop floors.
Clean mirrors.
Put back any items that belong in shower or sink.
Put away all cleaning supplies
Once your laundry load of towels is done, hang clean towels in each bathroom. Or if you have a supply of clean towels in your linen closet, grab those.

Ta-da! The bathrooms are all clean. All ready for your kids to destroy. Just kidding (kind of).

9. FEBREEZE (Optional)

(5 minutes)

If you don’t have Febreeze, just skip this step and be sure and put it on your shopping list. Because Febreeze is a downright MIRACLE. It actually neutralizes bad smells. It doesn’t cover them up—it gets rid of them.

Yeah science!!!

And it will make your clean house smell and feel about 2x cleaner.

So if you have a bottle handy, take a few minutes and walk through your house and spray Febreeze on your couches, beds and carpet.

HOW TO MAINTAIN A CLEAN HOUSE WITH A SIMPLE CLEANING ROUTINE

Now that your house is clean, you want to keep it that way. And you want to put a plan in place to tackle the little organization projects you’ve got around your house.

To do that, you need to create a simple cleaning schedule so in a week’s time, you’re cleaning all the areas of your house. It doesn’t have to be complicated or take much time.

The key is really to do a little every single day.

If you’re not sure where to start, here’s a simple cleaning schedule that will keep your house clean in minutes a day.

To keep your house clean, you will want to:

Block out time daily for cleaning/organizing tasks. I block out a few minutes every morning and evening.
Follow a cleaning schedule. Create your own, download the one above, or find another online that you like!
Set non-negotiables. So no matter how tired or stressed out you are, there are certain tasks that you will always do, without exceptions. For example:
- Every evening you start the dishwasher and every morning it gets unloaded. (This keeps kitchen mess so much more manageable.)
- Every evening, you set a timer and do a 10 minute quick clean and clean as much around your house as you can in that time.
Spend 15 minutes on laundry every day. I have a family of 6, and 15 minutes a day is all I need to stay 100% on laundry. This is time to gather laundry, throw in a load, and fold the load from the previous day. Spend 15 minutes a day and you’ll be amazed.
Get in the habit of moving items closer to where they belong as you move around your house. This take zero extra time, but will go a long way to keeping your house uncluttered.

For example, this means that if you’ve got something in the kitchen that belongs in an upstairs bedroom, and you’re headed upstairs to—let’s say—the laundry room, you take the item up the stairs. And leave it in the hallway on your way to the laundry room.

It didn’t take you any extra time, but it got that item that much closer to its destination.

Skeptical? Just try it for a few days and you’ll see how much easier it become to keep your house clean.

Some additional tips to keep your house clean:

Keep a basket on the stairs for items that need to get taken upstairs.
Enforce chores with your kids and make the responsible for their own messes. I find that no screen time if the house is messy gets kids motivated very quickly!
Follow the 1-minute rule. If a task takes one minute or less, do it right away. Making this a habit will keep surfaces clean and messes from growing.
Put on fun music and have a cleaning dance party with your kids. I keep a special playlist of my kids favorite, most energizing songs that I ONLY play when we’re doing a cleaning dance party. It gets them pumped to clean and they associate fun with cleaning. Win-win.

And remember, you don’t have to be perfect—you just have to be consistent. Doing a little bit every single day will go a long way to keeping on top of things, even during crazy hectic seasons of life.

Looking for more tips? Check out the 10 Simple Habits to Keep Your Home Clean & Organized.

THE FASTEST WAY TO CLEAN A CLUTTERED HOUSE

And there you have it! You now know to how you can go from feeling like your house is a disgusting mess to—in just a few hours—feeling at peace in your clean and tidy home.

You’ve even got meals planned for the next week! Plus, you now know some and how to keep your lovely home clean and organized with some simple strategies.

To make this whole process easier, be sure and download the checklist to clean your messy house in just one day. You can do that below.

You’ve got this!

GET THE FREE CLEANING CHECKLISTS

Ready to clean your whole house in a day? Get the 2 different styles of cleaning checklists sent straight to your inbox.

Get the Free Checklists

BEFORE YOU TACKLE YOUR MESSY HOME