How To Clean Your Apartment Fast: 17 Quick And Easy Tips

You know how it goes. You’re at home enjoying a very lazy Sunday afternoon when the phone rings. It’s your college roommate, and she’s in town. No, she’s not just in town. She’s in your neighborhood and will be over in about 35 minutes.

You can’t possibly turn your apartment into a sparkling centerspread from Better Homes and Gardens in that time, but you can still get it in shape for an unexpected guest.

All you have to do is relax, breathe, and follow these 17 cleaning tips. They won’t take care of everything  — and they cut a few notable corners — but they will get your home ready for company, however unannounced.

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Scenarios Where Fast Cleaning Is Needed in an Apartment

Sometimes, life throws us unexpected curveballs, and the need to clean an apartment quickly arises. Whether you have friends stopping by on short notice, an upcoming video call, or a last-minute request from the family to drop by, knowing how to clean your apartment fast can be a game-changer. 

Learn more: 26 Easy Deep Cleaning Tips & Hacks To Make Your Home Sparkle

With limited time, the key is focusing on what makes the biggest impact, leaving your space looking neat and inviting without hours of effort.

Pre-Cleaning Preparation Tips for Cleaning an Apartment

• Gather Your Supplies: Before you begin, make sure you have all the essential cleaning supplies on hand, like disinfectant wipes, a broom or vacuum, microfiber cloths, and a multi-purpose cleaner. Having everything in one spot helps save time.
• Set a Timer: Decide how much time you have for each room and set a timer. This adds urgency and helps you stay focused on finishing the task quickly.
• Declutter First: Pick up any clutter and put items back in their designated spots. It’s the quickest way to make any room appear instantly tidier.
• Work from Top to Bottom: Start by dusting and cleaning surfaces from the top down. This method allows dust and dirt to settle on the floor, making it easier to vacuum or mop once you’re done.
• Prioritize High-Traffic Areas: Focus on areas that get the most use, like the living room and kitchen, as these spots will leave the strongest impression on guests or visitors.

Learn more: 6 Snow Day Kitchen Cleaning Hacks

1. Take a picture of your place.

Before you rush into panic cleaning mode, snap a few quick photos of your space on your phone. Now look at them. Does anything strike you as glaringly out of place?

It can be easy to get used to the gym bag you dropped in the corner two weeks ago, but a photo can help you notice things that don’t belong. (This tip comes courtesy of A Beautiful Mess blogger Emma Chapman, who clearly knows all about messes.)

2. Focus on rooms your guest will actually use.

You don’t have time to make every inch of your apartment spotless, so narrow your scope. Millennial Moms host Jordan Page makes an excellent point in her quick clean tutorial (embedded above): Your guest is only going to hang out in a few spots in your home.

Your guest is only going to hang out in a few spots in your home.

That means there’s no need to clean your home office since you won’t be showing Aunt Diane how to use your new printer. Simply shut the door on that space and worry about it later.

Instead, focus your energy on sprucing up your bathroom, living room, kitchen, and bedroom.

Learn more: How To Clean Your Apartment Fast: 17 Quick And Easy Tips

3. Pick up dirty clothes and towels.

Speed walk through all those rooms we just mentioned, with your eyes trained on the floor. Do you spy crumpled T-shirts next to your bed? Damp used towels by the shower? A rogue sock peeking out from under the couch?

Grab them all up and toss them into your hamper. You don’t need to wash them today, but you definitely need to get them off the ground.

4. Deposit empty glasses or dirty dishes into the sink.

Time for a speed walk, round two. This time, you’re looking at your tables and counters.

Do you see a coffee mug stained with this morning’s latte? The plate you used last night for your Bachelor snacks? Anything else that clearly belongs in a kitchen cabinet?

Collect all those dirty dishes and drop them in the sink. You’ll get to them in a bit. But until then, onto the next task.

5. Caddy your cleaning supplies.

Now is the time to bust out your detergents and disinfectants. Keep your cleaning supplies in one portable place to make this step a lot easier on yourself.

You can use a bucket, caddy, bag, or any other portable item that can hold all your sprays and rags. This way, you can clean more quickly from room to room.

And when you’re all done? Everything goes back to the same place.

Learn more: How to Make Your Own Cleaning Products

6. Give the toilet, sink, and bathroom mirror a quick clean.

Your guest is going to ask to use the bathroom at some point. So wipe down the main fixtures like your toilet, sink, and mirror with your preferred cleaning agent. (But first, put away any hair dryers or shaving cream you have sitting on the ledge.)

GQ cleaning expert Jolie Kerr recommends spraying the toilet and sink with Scrubbing Bubbles. Since the bubbles need a few minutes to work their magic, you can run off and do other tasks while you wait.

When you return to wipe everything off, make sure to Windex your mirror, too, for any streaks or spots. And straighten out your hand towels while you’re at it.

7. But just keep the shower curtain closed.

Yes, your tub should be clean, but it’s also way more work to scrub it than a toilet bowl. Plus, your friend dropping by isn’t going to hop in the bath for an hour-long soak.

Save yourself the time and effort by simply snapping the shower curtain shut. No one’s going to look inside unless they’re the kind of person who also snoops through medicine cabinets. In which case, why do you even invite them over?

Learn more: How to Soundproof your Apartment

8. Tidy up your surfaces.

As you move out of the bathroom and into your three remaining rooms (kitchen, living room, and bedroom), start looking for out-of-place items on your surfaces. We’re talking about your coffee tables, nightstands, and countertops.

If you spy something that you can easily put away in a second, do it. For everything else? Stack and clump together what you can into semi-neat piles.

Once that’s done, give those surfaces a good dusting. Feather dusters cover lots of ground in very little time, and they cost basically nothing. Bustle suggests this $6.99 microfiber duster from OXO.

Is your counter in need of more than a light dusting?

Wipe up any obvious spills or stains for now, and make a mental note to give your surfaces a more thorough clean tomorrow.

Learn more: 7 Easy Steps to Clean Behind Your Stove: A Complete Guide

9. Toss stuff in baskets.

So what about the junk on your counter that isn’t so easily sorted or stacked?

Here’s a cleaning secret:

You don’t have to put it away right this second.

Grab a laundry basket and load it up with all the stuff you’re not quite sure what to do with. Then, set it aside so you can move on to the next step.

If you happen to have extra time at the end of all this, feel free to put away all the items in your laundry basket. But if you don’t, just slide it under your bed before the company arrives.

It’s okay, we won’t tell anyone.

Learn more: 6 Easy Eco-Friendly Updates For Your Apartment

10. Make your bed.

Maybe your throw pillows spend more time on the floor than they do delicately perched on your comforter. But no one needs to know that.

Making your bed is the easiest way to make your apartment look more put-together than it actually is. And besides, there’s a very good chance your guest will end up storing a coat in this room.

11. Take out the trash.

If you just took the garbage out last night, you can skip this step. But if your trash can is packed to the brim with banana peels, eggshells, and coffee grounds, it’s time for a purge.

Bag up all the trash — not just from the kitchen, but the bathroom and bedroom, too — and get it out of your apartment. Don’t forget to add fresh new bags immediately, in case your friend needs to throw something out.

12. Do the dishes.

Remember how you put this off eight steps earlier?

Well, you can’t do that any longer. No one likes the sight of a sink stacked with smudged, stinky plates, so you have to do something about this mess.

If you have a dishwasher, just throw everything in there and move on. If you don’t, wash the biggest pieces and place them on the rack to dry. A sink with a few forks isn’t so bad. But a sink with a skillet full of last night’s stir fry? That’s not great.

If you really don’t want to leave anything behind in the sink but are running out of time, Cosmopolitan has a funny fix:

Simply stack all your dirty dishes together and hide them in your freezer or oven. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.

13. Take care of pet hair.

You probably don’t mind the fur your pup seems to shed every five seconds. But other people might, especially if they have allergies. Run a dust buster over the couch for stray animal hairs and give the floor a quick sweep.

While you’re at it, clean out your cat’s litter box and/or pick up the chew toy your dog left right by the front door. Then remind Winnie to be on her best behavior because you have company coming.

14. And vacuum if you can.

Vacuuming is a big time suck (pun intended), and realistically, you might not get around to this task. But if you can give your floors a cursory clean, it will make a big difference.

To ensure maximum vacuuming efficiency, cleaning pro Laura Dellutri suggests tackling the entire length of the room in one straight row. Then adjust and start again at the front of the room.

Loop the cord over your shoulder while you’re making these long rows, so you don’t trip in your mad dash to cleanliness.

15. Fluff your couch pillows.

It’s a silly, simple step, but it will not go unappreciated. As a final touch before your friend or family member arrives, fluff the pillows and cushions on your couch.

If you happen to notice a stain on the cushion as you’re fluffing, flip it over to the cleaner side. Also, fold up any throw blankets hanging off your sectional.

16. Spray a scent or light a candle.

Between the garbage can you just emptied and the dog fur you vacuumed up, there are a lot of weird smells floating through the air right now. Make your home less musty with a fresh scent.

Spray some Febreze, plug in the Glade, break out the essential oil diffuser, or light your favorite candle. The welcoming aroma will trick your guests into thinking your place smells (and looks) this good all the time.

Learn more: 4 Best Minimalist Apartment Design Ideas

17. Clutter.

While you were cleaning your home in a hurry, you may have found some things you love but don’t need in your home right now. Instead of putting them back after your guest leaves, only for the items to take up unnecessary space in your home, schedule a Clutter pickup.

We’ll pick up your stuff and transport it to our secure, temperature-controlled storage facility. We’ll also create an online photo catalog of your stuff so you never forget what you have in storage.

That’s not all.

When you want something back, you won’t have to spend hours rifling through a bunch of boxes in a storage unit. Just log into your Clutter account, select the item’s photo, and we’ll deliver it to you.

Last-minute visits from your family will always be stressful. But with Clutter, storage never is.

Room-by-Room Speed Cleaning Tips for an Apartment Clean-Up

When you’re pressed for time, it’s important to focus on specific, effective steps for each room. In the living room, concentrate on clearing surfaces and fluffing the pillows. In the kitchen, wash any dirty dishes, wipe down the counters, and sweep the floor. 

For the bathroom, quickly clean the sink, counter, and toilet surfaces. Bedrooms benefit from a simple bed-making and clothes-picking routine, while you can refresh small apartments with a quick sweep or vacuum, particularly around high-traffic areas. 

By following these apartment cleaning tips, you can cover the basics efficiently and maintain a tidy look throughout your home.

Speed Cleaning Hacks: Best Way to Clean an Apartment

Embrace speed-cleaning hacks that make cleaning an apartment much easier. Keep a small cleaning caddy that you can carry from room to room. Use multi-purpose cleaning sprays to save time switching products. 

Quickly run a vacuum or mop over high-traffic areas, even in a clean studio apartment, to make a big impact fast. For a refreshing boost, open windows briefly or light a candle to give your apartment a fresh feel. 

You’ll soon see that the best way to clean an apartment is often a mix of quick, effective hacks that fit your space and lifestyle.

How to Maintain a Clean Apartment: Weekly Apartment Cleaning Checklist

1. Create a Weekly Apartment Cleaning Checklist: Dedicate a day to tackle weekly apartment cleaning tasks so no mess builds up over time.
2. Tidy Up Daily: Spend five minutes each day putting away items that tend to gather on counters or in living spaces.
3. Keep Cleaning Supplies Handy: Storing small supplies in convenient places, like under the kitchen sink, encourages regular cleaning.
4. Focus on One Task per Day: Spread tasks like vacuuming, dusting, and wiping mirrors across different days for easy management.
5. Do a Mini Clean-Up Before Bed: A quick evening sweep of key areas can help keep a small apartment looking organized without overwhelming effort.

Maximize Your Space—Get Started with Our Storage Services Today!

Conclusion: How to Clean Your Apartment Fast

Cleaning an apartment doesn’t have to be a long, laborious process. With these apartment cleaning tips, you can learn how to clean an apartment fast, whether it’s a deep apartment clean-up for guests or weekly maintenance of a small apartment. 

With a mix of smart preparation, quick hacks, and daily habits, you’ll enjoy a tidy, welcoming space that’s easy to maintain.

 FAQs for How To Clean Your Apartment Fast

1. How can you clean your apartment in under 30 minutes?

To get your apartment clean, identify the high-impact areas that can make the biggest difference. First, quickly pick up the visible mess. Wipe down kitchen and bathroom surfaces and sweep or vacuum floors in traffic-heavy areas you can cover. Zero in the areas that are most visually impactful such as the countertops, tabletops, and floors.

2. What should I focus on if I only have 10 minutes to clean?

In a short time, focus on quick wins: pick up clutter, wipe down surfaces in the main living area, and straighten pillows or blankets. A fast declutter and surface wipe can make your apartment appear neat and ready for guests or a relaxing evening.

3. Which tools help speed up apartment cleaning?

Microfiber cloths, multi-surface cleaning sprays, and cordless handheld vacuums are great for fast cleaning. These tools allow you to clean a variety of surfaces quickly and efficiently without needing to switch products or equipment frequently.

4. How can I remove pet hair and dust quickly before guests arrive?

A lint roller or a damp microfiber cloth works wonders for removing pet hair and dust from surfaces and furniture. Quickly run it over visible surfaces like sofas and chairs. A handheld vacuum is also helpful for quick touch-ups in high-traffic areas.

5. What are some quick cleaning tricks for the kitchen and bathroom?

For the kitchen, load any dishes into the dishwasher, wipe down counters, and do a quick sweep of the floor. In the bathroom, a fast wipe of the sink, faucet, and mirror, combined with replacing any used towels, can freshen up the space in minutes.