Good Housekeeping has shared a cleaning routine called The Organised Mum Method, created by Gemma Bray, that breaks housework into short daily jobs instead of one big weekend clean.

What this means for you

Many people let cleaning pile up until it takes over a whole weekend. Gemma Bray calls this "boom or bust cleaning". You clean until you are exhausted, then avoid it until the mess forces you to start all over again.

Her method, known as TOM, spreads the work out over an eight-week rolling plan. It has three parts: quick daily tasks, a 30-minute room clean on weekdays, and a weekly deep-clean slot called Friday Focus. The goal is not a spotless house in one go. It is steady upkeep over many short visits to each room.

Gemma came up with the idea after having her first child, when she felt overwhelmed by cleaning for hours each day. She wanted her weekends free again, so she built a routine around short, focused sessions instead.

Here is how to try it in your own home.

1. Pick your daily do's. Choose a few quick jobs, like making the bed, a fast bathroom wipe-down, or starting a load of laundry. Keep the whole list to around 15 minutes, spread through the day.

2. Give each room a day. The suggested order is living room on Monday, bedrooms on Tuesday, hall and stairs on Wednesday, and kitchen on Thursday. You can rearrange the days to fit your life, since Gemma says every home has some version of the same jobs.

3. Set a 30-minute timer. Work through the most important jobs in that room until time runs out, then stop. Gemma says time-boxing keeps you focused on priorities instead of trying to do everything.

4. Use Friday Focus for deeper jobs. This replaces the usual room clean and follows an eight-week cycle. Pick one or two bigger tasks, such as cleaning the fridge inside or wiping cupboard fronts, rather than trying to deep-clean the whole room.

5. Start small and build up. Gemma suggests beginning with a realistic amount of time you can actually manage, then adding to it as the habit sticks. She calls this proactive cleaning, rather than reacting once mess has already piled up.

Gemma's main message is to be patient with yourself. She says the house did not get messy overnight, so it is fine to take time getting back into a routine.

This site exists to explain everyday topics like this clearly, without needing a dictionary to follow along, for people who are busy but want the full picture.

As a next step, try picking just one room and one 30-minute slot this week to test the method before committing to the full routine.

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