While everyone wants a clean and organized house, getting motivated to clean, declutter, and organize is not as easy. It is hard to get motivated and stay motivated when we all are busy juggling work and family responsibilities. We keep imaging how awesome it would be when our house would be clean and clutter free. But that image by itself will not get you motivated.
This post may contain affiliate links. You can read my full disclosure here.
Is Cleaning Motivation Real?
Are people really motivated to clean and declutter? There is definitely a group of people who clean and organize all the time. And they find joy in doing so.
But because you are reading this blog post, you most likely don’t belong to that group 🙂
However, motivation to clean and declutter is possible. What you have to understand is that motivation does not mean being joyful when doing it. Also, when we talk about motivation, we don’t refer to the feeling of being motivated but rather to the action of cleaning.
You will be able to start and keep going with cleaning and decluttering – even when inside you don’t experience that feeling of ‘I’m so pumped! let’s clean!’.
How to Get Motivated To Clean and Declutter when Overwhelmed by Mess
Sometimes, we don’t get started with cleaning because the mess around us simply feels overwhelming. It feels like it will absolutely take forever to get everything clean and decluttered. Sometimes it might feel downright impossible.
When someone first suggested I run a half-marathon, I told them they were insane! The idea of 13.1 miles did not sound appealing at all. Especially, when running a single mile seemed barely possible. Just like with a messy house – it felt overwhelming to even think about it.
But with a slow and steady training plan, I actually ran it. And when I kept up with regular runs afterwards, training for another one was much easier.
This should be your approach to cleaning and decluttering. Slow and steady! One training session at a time.
Why do You Want Your House to be Clean and Organized?
As with everything else, start this journey with asking yourself ‘why’. Why do you want your house to be clean and organized? How will you feel when the house is clutter free and everything has a home? How will your daily routine change in that future scenario?
You need to understand your WHY really well. Because that is what will keep you going.
Even if you are initially excited to start cleaning, that feeling of motivation and excitment will eventually wear off. And you will want to quit.
But your why is what will keep you going.
Have a Plan
If you want to get yourself motivated to clean and declutter your house, it will be much easier with a plan. How do you plan on getting there? When will you be cleaning? How long will your cleaning sessions be? What exactly do you need to clean?
If you do not have a plan of action – it will likely never happen.
RELATED: How to Plan Your Day to be More Productive
Start Small
When you feel very overhelmed by all the cleaning and decluttering that you have to do – start small. Pick an area of your house that is either easy to clean or the area that is bothering you the most.
And start cleaning.
Once you are done with that area, you will feel accomplished and motivated to keep going. Seeing those very tangible results of your efforts will definitely give you more energy and desire to start cleaning and decluttering another area of your house.
One step at a time will keep the momentum going!
How to Get Motivated to Do Housework
Cleaning is obviously not something you do once and never have to think about it again. It is something that has to be done over and over again. And that is probably what makes it so challenging to stay motivated with. But there are some things that we can do to make it make it easier to stay motivated and on top of cleaning household tasks. Some of them are about setting things in place to make it easier to clean, organize, and declutter, and some are to convince yourself that you need to clean when you really don’t feel like it.
Create Cleaning Routines
Creating cleaning routines is something that is an absolute must. You basically are creating a schedule of cleaning tasks for your household. How are cleaning routines motivational? For one, they will become a habit, so you won’t even start the debate in your head: should I clean today? When something becomes a habit, you don’t need to relay on motivation as much.
But in case you do need some motivation to stick to your cleaning routines, think about how much easier it is to clean a week worth of mess versus a month worth of mess. You will have a much easier (and quicker) time dusting your house once a week as opposed to once a month when the dirt and dust had some extra time accumulate.
Cleaning routines can be dificied into a few different types:
- Weekly Cleaning Routine – cleaning tasks that get completed on a weekly basis
- Daily Cleaning Routine – cleaning tasks that we you daily during your morning or evening routines
- Deep Cleaning Routine – cleaning tasks that have to be completed on a regular basis, but it could be monthly, quarterly, or even annually
Having those routines in place will help to keep you on track. Cleaning in accordance with your cleaning routines will become a habit and you soon it will just become part of your life.
Just like when you get up in the morning and brush your teeth. You don’t think about it. You just do it because it has become a habit for you.
That is where we want to get with cleaning as well. Establish a cleaning routine that works for you and your family and start implementing it.
Create Household Systems
Besides routines, you should also have systems in place that help to run your household. Think about things like:
- Laundry
- Decluttering
- Change of seasonal clothes
- Yard work
These are the things that you do on regular basis. But it’s not something you do every day and it’s something that will look a little different each time you do it. Even if you do laundry every day, it will be different types of items that you wash each day.
Decide how the system itself will look like. When it comes to decluttering – what day of the week will you dedicate some time to declutter? Will you declutter one space at a time or will you be decluttering by category? What areas of the house require regular decluttering sessions?
And just like routines, they will slowly become your habit. Most of the time, you will not need extra motivation – this will be just something that you do to make your weeks run smoother.
RELATED: Household Management for Working Moms
Reward Yourself
There will be times when despite all the routines, systems, and good intentions, you simply don’t feel like cleaning, decluttering, or taking care of your household responsibilities.
What then?
One of the ways to get yourself motivated is by coming up with rewards for yourself.
“After I clean up the kitchen, I will watch a new episode of my favorite show”. “I will take a bubble bath after I declutter the front closet”.
Having something fun to look forward to, will make you move faster to complete the task at hand so you can enjoy your reward sooner.
Reminder of the alternative
Another way you can motivate yourself to do your housework chores is to imagine the alternative. What will your house look like when you don’t do the particular task now? How will that make you feel?
For example, one of the things that I really love is to wake up to a clean kitchen. I have noticed that when I come downstairs in the morning to a dirty kitchen, it sets me up in a bad mood from beginning of my day.
So anytime I’m dragging my feet with doing my evening routine, which includes cleaning the kitchen, I remind myself of how I will feel if I don’t get it done.
That will usually get me going!
Setting an Example
Another thing you can do to get motivated to clean and declutter is to think about setting a good example for your kids.
When I really don’t feel like doing something I think about what I have been telling my kids about importance of doing their chores. Even when they don’t feel like it.
Have you ever told your kids: “if you would simply take the time that you just spent complaining about doing your chore and actually do it, you would be done by now”? I sure did 🙂
And sometimes I need that ‘pep talk’ myself. Because it usually takes me a few minutes to get something done instead of spending much more time on the couch thinking of all the excuses of why doing it later is a better idea!
Invite Someone Over
When all else fails – invite someone over.
My husband and I often joke that we get really motivated to clean when we know someone is visiting us. We are just on it! And the speed with which we move is also noteworthy 🙂
It is funny and silly, but it actually really works. You might not be motivated if it’s only you and your family looking at the mess but when you know there are other people who are about to enter your house, you might change your mind and be motivated to clean 🙂
One thought on “How to get motivated to clean and declutter”