I absolutely hate a cluttered house. There’s nothing that moves me into a state of depression quicker than a messy living room.
With three children at home, plus a loving, but sometimes disorderly husband, the house is typically in a constant state of chaos. Lately, I have noticed that the state of the house correlates directly to my mood. Needless to say, Brian has started organizing the shoes on the foyer. He wants me happy.
Clutter affects me so much that I made keeping the house clean as one of my New Year’s Resolutions for 2024. (You can read about it here, if you would like.)
This blog post is about 7 different tips/techniques I use to help me stay motivated to clean.
Tip #1: Small Sections at a Time
Starting small is tip #1 for a reason. It has been proven over and over again that if you break up a task into smaller increments, you will have a better chance of sticking with the project.
When I think of cleaning the house, I think of it as a series of rooms, and not the entire place. Sometimes, I even think of a room in smaller sections, depending on how bad the kitchen is, the living room, etc…
It is easier for me to think about loading the dishwasher and cleaning off the counters first, taking a break, and then coming back to tackle cleaning the stovetop and refrigerator.
This strategy is one we’ve heard over and over, but sometimes is forgotten in our haste to try and do everything at once.
Tip #2: Create a Schedule
Life gets busy.
If you create a schedule, even a loose one, you give the task importance, or value. It’s more difficult to skip doing something if you have it on paper that in needs to be done. (Now, I said ‘more difficult to skip,’ but not impossible. No one is perfect.)
If I have a ‘To Do’ list or schedule of tasks to complete, I generally will keep it on our kitchen island. I enjoy checking off cleaning tasks as I complete them. This also creates a ‘buy-in’ with my family if everyone sees it.
Now….don’t misunderstand me. My 15 year-old twin boys do not see my list and say, “Hey Mom. Bruh. I see you are going to vacuum the living room today. Let me do that for you….Bruh.”
It’s not quite like that, however I do think they realize that when I’m in cleaning mode, they need to not create any more ‘extra’ messes around the house.
Tip #3: Start with Noticeable Chores
I really like this tip.
There’s something about starting with tasks that are going to be quickly noticeable that really motivates me to continue.
It’s like folding a load of clothes and pulling six bath towels out of the basket first to fold quickly. It looks like you’ve completed half your job and you just started. It makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.
With house-cleaning, picking up any big items and taking care of them quickly can really make a difference.
It’s like the ‘Mother-in-law’ strategy. (Carmen, if you are reading this, you are amazing!)
Let’s say you are sitting in the living room, all comfortable in you recliner with a bag of Doritos on your lap, and your Mother-in-law calls and informs you she’ll be there in 10 minutes for a surprise visit.
What do you do?
I realize that some people would be very comfortable with whatever state of craziness the house is in at that moment. They could continue to watch Family Guy, sticking their orange covered fingers back in the Doritos bag without a care in the world.
I’m not one of those people.
I would probably jump up and start looking around to see what needed picked up first that would make the most impact. Prioritize. (I’d also make sure I had pants on. It’s not always comfortable to wear pants at home. Don’t judge me.)
With a 10 minute countdown, I would not be organizing the silverware drawer, no matter how badly it was needed. I would be concentrating on the floor, counters, and tabletops.
Also, in this situation, I would move to Tip #7 which is (Spoiler Alert) enlisting family help.
Anyone unlucky enough to be in a radius of 50 feet from me, would be given a specific job to complete. Family members would attempt to scatter like an over-turned bucket of mice. It wouldn’t matter. I’d pull them back in with my charming personality.
I have become a little side-tracked in this section.
Completing quick, noticeable tasks is helpful with seeing results from your efforts immediately.
This leads directly to Tip #4.
Tip #4: Don’t get Side-tracked with Organizing
Organizing is fun. It can be rewarding to take a space and organize it to the point that everything is in it’s own little compartment and will be easily found next time you are searching for something.
The problem with organizing is that you could spend all day on one little area and lose track of the bigger picture.
Brian will go out to clean his pole barn. Sometimes he will ask me if I’d like to join him – as if it’s similar to enjoying a cup of coffee while looking at the sunrise. I typically refuse his invitation simply because I’ve done it before.
Brian will get out there with the best of intentions and then become consumed with organizing his socket sets, or lining up all his screwdrivers in the toolbox drawers.
I know what I’ll be doing. I will be putting away gas cans where they need to go, taking care of cardboard that he used to lay on the cement with, rolling up extension cords, sweeping the floor, etc…
An hour will go by and he’ll look up, still standing by the socket set drawer, look around the pole barn with genuine disbelief and say something like, “Wow. We got a lot done.”
“We did, didn’t we,” I’ll respond, sarcastically. “I think I’ll go back in the house now.”
Don’t misunderstand me with this. There’s a time for organizing, and organizing and cleaning are very similar, however I really think that if you are trying to make a big impact on your living space, you have to be careful not to let categorizing items consume your time.
Tip #5: Reward Yourself – The ‘Premack Principle’
Often on cleaning days, I’ll make a deal with myself that if I complete a task, I can have some type of reward.
This allows me to have a break in the cleaning, concentrate on small tasks, and also give myself encouragement.
Sometimes the reward is that I can sit down and read a chapter or two of the current book I’m reading. Sometimes it involves chocolate. (If you’d like to follow my Ozempic/Type 2 Diabetes journey, click here. I don’t always stay on track.)
Around 25 years ago, I was sitting in a college class and the professor was talking about something called the Premack principle. Now, I don’t remember a lot from college. I’m not one of those people that can recall specific lessons or paragraphs from a textbook, but I remember the Premack principle.
The concept basically states that a more desired behavior/activity (eating candy) can be used to motivate someone to do a not-so desired activity (loading the dishwasher). We use this strategy all the time throughout our lives, so it’s nothing new or ground-breaking. I’ve just always remembered the name of the concept and it fit perfectly into this blog post, so I had to talk about it.
I’m somewhat of a nerd.
At home, I may say to Keegan, “Use the Premack principle. Write half your essay, then watch Sportscenter for 30 minutes before you write the other half.”
It’s as if I’m hoping to use the term so often with my kids that they use it with their friends.
“Bruh. It’s the Premack principle. After we run our laps at practice, Coach is going to let us have a drink of water and take a break. Bruh.”
(I wonder if I’m the only person who is always conscious of how I’m walking the hypotenuse when I’m cutting off a sidewalk and walking the straight line through the grass?)
Probably.
Tip #6: Listen to Music
Music is a great motivator to help us complete a task.
I have an Ion speaker that I will bring out to the kitchen while I’m cleaning. I hook it up to my phone and start my playlist.
Before you know it, I’m singing along with Journey as if I’m right on stage with them. By the time the song is over, the stove is clean and I’m moving on to my next task.
Tip #7: Make it a Family Activity
There are certain cleaning tasks that can be divided into different sections and multi-sourced to various family members.
It is absolutely crucial, however, to know the difficulty level of the task, along with the capabilities of the family members. Pairing specific tasks with the right person is a key element to this strategy.
You know what….forget this tip. Anything beyond the cleaning of their own rooms, requires more direction, patience, and time when trying to have the kids help me with cleaning the house.
I’m better off banning them from the area, turning my music up, and doing it myself.
Goals for Today:
- Work on Pinterest Pins, Then Read a Chapter
- Hang up Clothes, Then Write on the Computer
- Load the Dishwasher, Then watch Amazing Race
**See what I did here? Premack principle. Spread the word.