As hard as you try, you just can't keep up with house cleaning? You are not alone. Here are the most common hurdles and what to do about them.
1. Attitude/Excuses
This is without a doubt the biiggest hurdle to reaching any goal. When it comes to cleaning house, you might find yourself using some of these common excuses…
- I don't have time
- I'm too tired
- I don't feel like it
- Its too much work
- Its too hard
- I don't even know where to start
- No one helps
- Its not fair
- I'll do it later..
Did I miss any?
Here's how you can start turning those thoughts around –
I don't have time. If you don't think you have the time to handle things while they're still small, you certainly won't have the time to tackle it once it becomes a monster. Remind yourself that 5 minutes now is worth avoiding hours of ugly work later on.
I'm too tired. This is valid – sort of. We work hard. Some days we are really exhausted. But if you make yourself spend 10-15 minutes to get things done before you pass out, your life will be so much more manageable. I force myself to have the kitchen cleaned up before I go to bed because I know it gives me a good start to the day tomorrow and I will be in a much better state of mind.
I don't feel like it– the battle cry of the day. We don't feel like going to work many days either, but we do because we have to.
Why is it that we only do what someone forces us to do?
It used to be, "How can I be my best?"
Now its, "How can I do the least?"
I can help you do both, but you will have to supply a little bit of self-discipline.
Its too much work. Its too hard. Well it can be if you've let it go too long, or you don't know the best ways to get it done quickly. I struggled to keep up before I worked with my sister who owns a house cleaning business. Once I learned how they do things so fast, its been much easier ever since.
I don't even know where to start. You have to pick one thing, and just start. Don't focus on the whole overwhelming mess, just one thing. Finish that one thing completely. Then move on to the next.
No one helps. Um, yeah. That's real life. But a funny thing happens when you start keeping things clean… They actually get better. Oh, they won't be cleaning, but they do at least start respecting the home and picking up after themselves.
Its not fair. No, its not. You can spend all of your energy stressing yourself out about it, or you can just accept it and move on.
I'll do it later… We all know later never comes. Put things away when you're done with them. When you do a load of laundry, finish it. Start taking control of the minutes.
2. Not knowing how to – No matter what you're trying to accomplish, its a whole lot easier once you know what you're doing, right?
I told you how I struggled. I was raised by slobs, so I didn't learn how to clean from them. I learned from ads and magazines. You know how well that goes.
But I was obsessed. I was so disgusted and embarrassed growing up, I vowed that my house would never be dirty!
Yeah, right. Then I became a divorced working mom. Oh man! I could not keep up, at least not to my standards. See, now I felt even more pressure. I didn't want to be the stereo typical single mom with the dirty house and fast food on the table. I was determined that my daughter would live a dignified life. Many nights I broke into tears. I was killing myself trying to do it all.
Then as luck would have it, I got laid off. My house cleaning sister asked if I would like to help her while I looked for a job. I wasn't thrilled with the idea.
Then she tells me that 2 girls can clean 3 houses and be home in time for the school bus.
What? How is that possible?
OMG! The education I got was priceless. I learned how to clean all kinds of surfaces, and what cleaners to use for the best and fastest results.
There was just one more problem…
I didn't want to be cleaning house on weekends. I wanted to spend that time with my daughter having fun. Not asking too much, right?
3. I needed a system
I thought about it, and thought about it…How could I pull this off?
It occured to me that most people have their houses professionally cleaned every 2 weeks. If I did a little every night, everything in the house would be cleaned every 2 weeks.
While that would work for many homes, it still wasn't good enough in my home. At this point we had tons of kids in and out, and 2 cats and a dog. We had sand and wet towels in the summer and snow in the winter. I tweaked the system until I could do a few things Mon. thru Thurs. Friday would be just a touch up to have the house ready for whatever the weekend would bring.
Imagine –
When you come home at the end of the day, you can close the door on the world and enjoy the tranquility of your home. This immediately removes stress. You feel calm, confident, and in control.
At the end of a hard day, you can easily make dinner and you can relax and enjoy your time together.
If another mother, or someone from work stopped by, you don't have to be embarrassed.
You can invite people over at the drop of a hat without worrying about how the house looks.
That should be enough to motivate you to take some action!
So, to wrap it up –
Step 1 – Get your mind straight Remind yourself of the benefits of doing it now. Apply a little self-discipline.
Step 2 – Learn the best and fastest ways to get things done.
Step 3 – Devise a system and stick to it.
Would you like more help?
I've put everything you need into a program called Secret Confessions of a Clean Freak.