But did you know she’s also a cleaning guru? Hear us out. Yes, she’s a celebrity who likely has a lot of help around the house, but when we chatted with her via Zoom in December about her new Conscious Cleaning line, she shared some brilliant cleaning tips (spoiler alert: the best one involves putting her kids to work!). You’re going to want to add these to your routine, STAT.
Clean as You Go
“This is from my grandma who helped raise me,” Alba said. “She was always big on clean as you go. She never let things pile up until it was such a disaster… There was no spring cleaning with her. “Even when I’m cooking. I’m trying to rinse that thing… and clean up as you go so it’s not such an overwhelming task at the end,” she said.
Use a Timer to ‘Trick’ Kids Into Cleaning
“My husband has created a really amazing trick. I wouldn’t really call it a trick, but you’re definitely tricking the kids,” Alba joked. Here’s how she and husband Cash Warren get their older kids—daughters Honor, 12, and Haven, 9—to clean up in a flash: “He puts a timer on the phone and we screen share it on the tv, and [we] started at 10 minutes—trying to clean the whole kitchen in 10 minutes—and they got it in like eight minutes many days in a row. They tried three minutes and it was a big fail,” she said. So what’s the sweet spot in their household? “Around 6 to 8 minutes if everyone chips in,” Alba said, adding that for her girls, “they are really doing something in a time that they can really wrap their heads around—between five and 10 minutes. Maybe there have been a few broken dishes, but that’s no different than any night.” Apparently this trick also works for cleaning their bedroom. Alba and Warren like to offer small incentives to help keep them motivated. So if the girls clean their room in, say, 10 minutes they get a reward: “10 more minutes on a device, pick the game for family game night, or pick the movie or show we watch.”
Use a Credenza to Store Toys
“I went to Nicole Richie’s house… which always looks amazing and nice… She opened up a credenza, it had toys everywhere, like a playroom explosion, but inside this credenza.” So her tip is: use your furniture and fill it with your kids’ toys so you can put everything away and out of sight.
Make a Cleaning Caddy
Similar to a diaper caddy, Alba suggested making a cleaning caddy. “Just have your caddy that has all your items ready to go,” she said. “Take it with you for whatever room you’re cleaning… It makes it less overwhelming to have it ready instead of having to go room-to-room to gather the right products.”
