| It has been said that there are people out there who love to clean. For those who feel this way, I would like to hire you! A cleaning service is what I need. Every minute I spend cleaning is a moment that I could be doing something else. With three little boys running around my house, cleaning seems to be a crazy activity that has no obvious results, and yet, we all know we have to clean sometimes. Regardless of who lives in our house, what once was clean will soon be dirty. It is a vicious cycle, so what are we to do?
Finding some order in your cleaning chaos can sometimes make it less overwhelming. As much as I don’t like a “to do” list, I do love the feeling when I cross off each task that I have accomplished. The moment when that last job is done, and the pencil puts the line through the final item, a sense of achievement overwhelms me, bringing with it a sense of peace. Maybe even making me a little easier to live with! Just having a list can change your outlook on cleaning.
Another helpful tip is having a particular day when you do particular items. Maybe every Tuesday you clean your lamps. Not only will you feel good about finishing that specific job, but your light fixtures won’t have time to get extremely dirty. Dust will only have a few days to collect on your light shade, and shining that lamp will be a piece of cake! After finishing the jobs that are assigned that day, you can sit back and bask in your clean light fixtures! In this way, nothing gets so out of hand that it becomes a horribly dreaded job.
Finally, I have found that not stressing so much over having a perfect house may be the best help in keeping it clean. When we are stressed, we tend to get stuck trying to make each job perfect rather than looking at the whole picture. Spending too much time cleaning out the oven will not make our kitchen look any cleaner, and often times when we are done and we look around, we feel more frustrated than when we started. Throw out the trash, wash the dishes, do the big stuff. Your kitchen will look cleaner, and you will feel much better.
Years of mistakes have led me to understand there are things I can do to change my perception of the day to day cleaning. Yes, my house will get dirty, and there are moments when frustration overflows. However, with some small changes, cleaning may not be any more fun, but it can be much more tolerable. Make a list of daily chores, have a plan to get certain tasks done on particular days each week, and don’t sweat the small stuff. If I keep my focus, I too can have a house that is not overwhelming.