Cleaning is a task that is best done in short bursts, but even if you're sticking to a schedule and only working for short amounts of time, you still need some structure to determine what to focus on. Enter the 5x5 method, which has recently been picking up steam on social media. It offers a way to structure your cleaning sessions while keeping them quick, reducing the likelihood you end up overwhelmed or burned out.
Think of it a little like the Pomodoro productivity technique: You'll need a timer, which you'll set in five-minute increments, and a list of five zones in your home that need some attention. You'll work on each zone for five minutes before moving to the next one. As with the Pomodoro technique, you shouldn't keep going on a particular zone once the timer goes off.
This approach is gaining popularity online, where CleanTokkers are celebrating it for keeping their cleaning routines simple and helping them make small impacts that add up to bigger ones over time.
I'm a well-documented fan of cleaning in 15-minute bursts to cut down on strain and feelings of being overwhelmed, so the 5x5 approach, with its 25 dedicated minutes of cleaning, is a little outside what I tend to recommend. Because the chunks of time devoted to each zone are so small, however, it doesn't end up feeling that overwhelming at all.
You have two options when you set out to do this: You can choose five standard zones to address every day, or devote each day to whichever five unique zones are in the most serious need of some attention. The goal here is to pick small, workable spaces, not entire rooms, which differentiates the technique from other zone-based cleaning approaches like the FlyLady method. Instead of attempting to devote five minutes to "the bathroom," for instance,break the bathroom down into five smaller zones: the medicine cabinet, bathtub, toilet, etc.
Play around with the approach for a few weeks to determine what works for you. For me, personally, this kind of routine usually involves zones that are pretty disparate. Spending 25 straight minutes in the bathroom would sap my motivation, but giving five minutes to the kitchen sink, then the shower, then the dining room table keeps me engaged and in the zone.
It's also important not to go over the allotted time, to the best of your ability. No, you shouldn't drop your vacuum in the middle of the room if you haven't finished the whole floor when the timer rings, but ideally, after doing this for a while, you'll get the hang of figuring out what can and can't be done in five minutes, so you don't end up in that position. Sticking within the five-minute window will make you focus, work harder, and be more decisive, knowing your alarm is about to go off.
There are, of course, bigger tasks that can't be done during five-minute bursts, so 5x5 may not work as an everyday approach for you. When mapping out your cleaning schedule for a given week, consider making three or four days a 5x5 day and setting aside a certain day or two for the bigger projects.
Overall, what you want here is to build the habit of always maintaining your space, not letting messes pile up until they're overwhelming. Five minutes might not seem like a lot of time (because it isn't!) but a daily commitment to it will result, eventually, in a much cleaner home.
