The Best Apps to Get Your Spring Cleaning on Track
An app can’t clean your house for you, but when you’re dreading the task or feeling overwhelmed by the clutter, apps can help you declutter. Before you open an app that calls a professional cleaner ( even though there’s nothing wrong with that ), try these options to help you stay organized and motivated. (All apps are available for both iOS and Android unless otherwise noted.)
Best app to help you motivate yourself to clean: Tody
Tody is useful for anyone who needs visual representations of their progress or who likes to gamify everyday tasks. The simple interface will show you what your most pressing needs are, with graphs showing which rooms you should focus on throughout the day. There are also variants of the game where you compete against characters in the app to earn points by removing items. Most of the app’s features are free, but premium features require a one-time fee of $9.99.
Best for Planning: Sweepy
Don’t know what to do? Don’t know where to start? Sweepy — widely loved by the internet’s cleaning experts—creates a schedule for you every day. You tell the app how much you want to clean each day and it plans it for you and then tracks your progress. Your kids or other family members can even join, but you can set them up to only earn points in the app when you approve of their work. You can create rooms and tasks, keep a cleaning history, and complete tasks set by the app’s team for free, but for $8.99 a month you get a smart cleaning schedule and multiple family members.
Best free cleaning and organizing app: Clean My House
You might not want to spend money on an app that works like a regular old to-do list, but try Clean My House for Android before you fall back to a handy notes app. It sends daily notifications about what you need to do, so it’s a good option for people who need little reminders to get started.
only for Android
Best for Higher Stakes Cleaning: Fine
This app also appears on my list of the best for keeping goals accountable , but here it works perfectly: With Forfeit, you invest anywhere from $1 to $50 before you begin the task (in this case, cleaning a room or cleaning the house). everywhere), set a time limit and upload proof that you completed the task before the deadline, otherwise you will lose your money. Do this and you’ll get your money back. If you’re lacking motivation to clean, this might be your solution.
Best app to help you focus on cleaning: Home Routines
Home Routines are similar to the others here in that you create your checklist and specify how often you want to complete each task, but what’s new is that there’s a built-in timer that works offline so you can turn on airplane mode. Buckle up and complete your tasks within the timer. If you tend to get distracted, this is what you need. The download costs $4.99.
iOS only
Best app for cleaning multiple rooms: Spotless
Spotless helps you create task lists for every room in your home and has a simple interface that lets you specify how clean different areas are currently, giving the app the information it needs to prioritize tasks. When everyone in your house has Spotless, their app will update in real time as someone else cleans, so no one will ever have to do a job that’s already been taken care of. It’s free, but setting up unlimited tasks will cost you $4.99.
iOS only
Best app for getting organized: Toss
Toss is free and easy to use, but has great features: it will help you not only declutter your home, but also declutter your home. Every day you will receive a task, for example, to clean out the utensil drawer or the medicine cabinet. You can skip any task you want, but if you decide to accept a task for the day, you can mark how many things you threw away and the app will keep track of them all. After a while, you’ll see how many mismatched socks or old cables you’ve gotten rid of, and this will be great motivation to keep going.
iOS only