Need help with cleaning motivation? If you can’t get motivated to clean your house because you’re too overwhelmed or you’re just plain tired, then these tips can help!
“How do I stop being lazy and clean my house?”… If you’ve ever asked yourself this question, then this post is for you! It may seem like a simple answer… just get up and do it, right? But actually, there is such thing as overwhelm paralysis.
Which basically means that you’re so worried by the scope of what you need to do, in this case cleaning your house, that you feel like you can’t even start. And the same thing goes for being too overwhelmed to start decluttering!
When the laundry hamper is full, the kitchen sink is full, and the playroom floor is full, all you want to do is sit down on the couch with a full-size candy bar and a full Netflix playlist.
I get it.
So what can you do about it? You can try these easy strategies the next time you need some serious cleaning motivation:
How Do I Get Motivated to Clean My House? 13 Tips that Work!
Make a Cleaning Motivation Playlist
Nothing motivates me to get my butt moving and be more productive like a good upbeat song. So when I need some extra cleaning motivation, I ask Alexa to play my cleaning playlist (aptly titled “Time to Clean”).
If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you already have access to millions of songs. So you just need to go in to your Amazon account and create your own playlist. Then blare your favorite booty-shaking songs throughout the house to boost your mood. Easy motivation to get cleaning!
Clean One Room at a Time
If you’re faced with a whole house that’s an absolute mess, then of course you’re going to be overwhelmed and you’re just going to want to sit on the couch! Even the most tidy person wouldn’t know where to start cleaning if every single room needs attention!
So when you need cleaning motivation, the key is to break your home into small, bite-sized cleaning jobs.
Try putting on your horse-blinders and just focus on one room at a time. Ignore all the other piles of mess in the rest of the house, and devote all of your energy to that single room.
And if that room happens to be your kids’ playroom or insert hot-mess-room here, then split that one room into smaller zones. For instance, you could divide the bedroom into smaller areas like:
- Nightstand
- Under the bed
- Sock and underwear drawers
- Clothing drawers
- On top of the dresser
- Shoe rack
- Closet
Then, just focus on one small area at a time. This method also works really well when decluttering!
Set a Timer As Motivation to Clean
Starting a monumental task when there is no end in sight is overwhelming! So give yourself a finish line to look forward to before you start cleaning.
Start a timer on your iphone or a kitchen appliance when you start cleaning, and commit to working uninterrupted until that timer goes off. So that means putting your phone down and staying off social media so you’re not getting distracted!
Even if you can only clean house for 30 minutes each day, if you’re fully invested in those 30 minutes, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in such a short period of time!
Add Cleaning Jobs to Your To-Do List to Stay Motivated
If you check your daily to-do list like your life depends on it, then why not add your cleaning jobs for the day to the list?!
Actually writing down different chores on a list that you check frequently is an awesome cleaning motivation hack!
And if you want to grab some super cute free printable to-do lists to use (like the one pictured below), then check out this post: 80+ Lists to Make to Stay Organized When You’re Overwhelmed
Schedule a Get-Together at Your Home As Motivation to Clean
Every two months or so, when our house needs a good deep cleaning, we offer to host family and friends for dinner or a small party. That way, I’m forced to clean, and there’s a deadline.
Now, I may be wrapping up the vacuum cord 30 seconds before the first guest walks through the door, but the cleaning still gets done. This is probably my #1 Cleaning Motivation Trick!
Look for Small Wins as Cleaning Motivation
Success is really motivating. So when you feel like you’ve accomplished something, you’ll be encouraged to keep working towards other accomplishments.
Cleaning works the same way.
When you finish cleaning one area, you’ll probably feel so happy with the results that you’ll want to keep going. And “small win” cleaning tasks can help with that.
I like to think of “small wins” as mini tasks that only take a few minutes to complete, but that can make a big impact in the cleanliness of your home. These could include jobs like:
- Windex-ing the bathroom mirrors – This only takes a few minutes, but once it’s done, it can make your bathroom look WAY cleaner… especially if you have young kids that always manage to spit toothpaste all over the mirror.
- Decluttering and wiping down the bathroom counters
- Making the bed(s)
- Decluttering the nightstands
- Wiping down the kitchen counters
- Folding blankets and fluffing pillows in the living room
Use a Cleaning Schedule to Motivate You
Following an actual schedule that’s stuck to the front of your refrigerator is another great cleaning motivation trick. A printable schedule that’s front and center where you’ll see it everyday can help to keep you on track with keeping the house clean.
You can read all about creating a weekly cleaning schedule and grab this printable schedule here: Create a Weekly Cleaning Schedule You Can Stick To – Printable Checklist!
Have a “Cleaning the House” Outfit
Kind of like putting on a sports bra and a cute gym outfit can motivate you to go for a walk around the neighborhood or turn on your favorite streaming workout… Putting on a designated “lounge” outfit that you don’t mind getting some bleach spots on or smelling like Lysol can be awesome cleaning motivation.
It’s probably not going to be high heel boots and skinny jeans… If you look cute, you’ll be more enticed to leave the house, instead of cleaning it. Which brings me to my next cleaning motivation hack…
Don’t Get Dressed or Put Make-Up On for the Day
It may sound funny, but I feel like I’m the most productive when I don’t fix my hair or put on make-up. Granted, I work from home so it doesn’t matter if I look like a hot mess.
But if you really want to get motivated to clean house, you don’t want to have other “errands” distracting you. If you’re not actually dressed and ready to leave the house, then it’s more of a hassle to run to Starbucks or stop by Target for a few minutes. And if you can’t go out, then why not spend your time tidying up instead?
Put Your Phone Away
Social media can be a HUGE roadblock to productivity. One minute you’re in the middle of working on an important task, and the next 60 minutes you’re scrolling through TikTok watching cat videos.
So before you start cleaning, go ahead and slide your phone in a drawer or put it on silent so you won’t be tempted to check it every five minutes. You can even download a productivity app that locks your phone for a set period of time so that you can get more done.
Assign Chores
It can be very demotivating to feel like you’re doing all of the housework yourself… especially if you have kids that are old enough to help out or you and your husband work the same number of hours outside the home.
But assigning chores to other family members can help you feel less overwhelmed.
You can use printable chore charts for kids (like the ones my kids use below) to delegate certain cleaning jobs to your children, or even divvy up the chores between you and your husband.
Remember “Progress over Perfection”!
This is a motto that I try to stick to in my professional life, but it applies to cleaning also!
Perfectly rolling up every single t-shirt in your drawer to look like a little burrito and then neatly organizing them in rainbow order LOOKS cute, but that takes some major time! Time that you probably don’t have… especially if you have young kids.
So rather than focusing on getting everything PERFECT, focus on making PROGRESS! Because nobody has time to be scrubbing baseboards with a toothbrush, right?!
Use a Reward as Cleaning Motivation
If you need some cleaning motivation, then there’s nothing quite as motivating as a small reward for completing a task… Whether it’s a big ol’ slice of cake waiting for you in the fridge or a run to Starbucks for a Caramel Macchiato after you’re done.
Use that small reward as your own motivation to clean the house, just like how you would entice your kids to clean their rooms by offering a lollipop or some extra screen time. And once you finish cleaning, you’ll have something to look forward to!
Cleaning Motivation Quotes to Inspire You
And if all of those tips to get motivated to clean still don’t work, then try writing down a few motivational cleaning quotes in your journal or planner. Hey, there’s a reason why they’re called “inspirational quotes”… because they inspire you to get things done.
Here are some awesome cleaning motivation quotes for you:
- “The way to get started is to quit talking and start doing.” – Walt Disney
- “The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.” – Marie Kondo
- “Out of clutter, find simplicity. From discord, find harmony. In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
- “Happiness is a freshly cleaned house.” – Unknown
- “Cleaning and organizing is a practice, not a project.” – Meagan Francis
- “Some of us are like a shovel brigade that follow a parade down Main Street cleaning up.” – Donald T. Reagan
- “Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door.” – Marcelene Cox
- “For every minute spent on organizing, an hour is earned.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “The clean person is not one who runs away from dirt but one who takes that time and effort to tidy-up a dirty environment.” – Abdulkabir Olatunji
- “A clean home is a happy home.” – Unknown
- “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Lower the bar. Actually spending ten minutes clearing off one shelf is better than fantasizing about spending a weekend cleaning out the basement.” – Gretchen Rubin — This is basically what I was saying about “Progress over perfection”!
- “When all else fails, cleaning house is the perfect antidote to most of life’s ills.” – Sue Grafton
- “Outer order contributes to inner calm.” – Gretchen Ruben
- “Clean your space, clear your mind.” – Unknown
Find Your Cleaning Motivation
What motivates you to clean the house? Is there any hack or trick that you use when you need to get motivated to clean? If so, leave it in the comments below. I’d LOVE to hear from you!
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