How to Motivate Yourself to Clean a Messy House

Have you ever woken up one morning and felt motivated to do something about your messy house? Well, that’s something a lot of homeowners experience from time to time, however, the problem is that no one knows when that day will come! And in the meantime, you’re left with a house that is getting messier by the day!

Unless you are someone who really enjoys cleaning and is committed to keeping a neat and tidy home, finding the motivation to clean (especially when things have gotten out of control) can be really difficult. The bigger and more time-consuming the task seems, the less motivated you feel to do it; this is the case with a lot of people while there are others who tend to have the opposite reaction. 

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for ways to motivate yourself to clean a messy house, the tips below are guaranteed to give you the push you need!

Start By Decluttering

The easiest part of cleaning up a messy house is tidying up. This is generally done in the form of decluttering and/or putting things back in their place – so simple! Of course, if you’ve allowed a large amount of clutter to take over your house, it may overwhelm you or give you a “justified” reason to put it off till later because you simply don’t have the time to declutter a large mess. 

Well, the great thing about decluttering your home is that there’s no need to do it all at once! If you spend as little as 5 or 10 minutes a day to declutter one or two areas of your home, the progress you can make in just a few days will be significant! The key here is to remind yourself that a little goes a long way, and that’s enough to motivate yourself to declutter every day. Moreover, a clutter-free house is a lot easier to clean!

Focus on One Room at a Time

When you look at something as a whole (such as house cleaning), it’s overwhelming; but when you break it down into small tasks, it’s easy-peasy! The same principle applies to cleaning a messy house if you do it one room at a time. Here, your goal is to clean one messy room, not the entire house!

When you focus on cleaning one room at a time, or one cleaning task in the room, you already know it’s going to be quicker and easier than attempting to clean the whole house. This serves as motivation because at the end of the day, we’re all trying to make house cleaning simpler and faster!

Make a Realistic Cleaning Schedule

For homeowners who need to balance a job, taking care of kids, and other responsibilities, it often is a case of ‘too much to do, and so little time’. That’s when house cleaning typically ends up on the bottom of your priority list, and your house ends up in one big mess!

The best way around this is to create your very own, realistic cleaning schedule that works around your day-to-day routine. Set aside a short amount of time in the day to devote to cleaning and before you know it, you will develop a daily cleaning routine that is quick and easy to complete. In other words, you will feel motivated to clean because it won’t feel like such a time consuming burden.

Consider the Cons of a Messy House

One of the best ways to motivate yourself to clean a messy house is by thinking about all the negative things it brings. While you may have a few of them in mind, take a look at these cons of living in a messy house below:

Health Problems

Along with dust and dirt that are both common causes of allergies and other problems, there could be health-threatening fungus like black mould growing in your home that you haven’t noticed yet because it is hidden among the mess!

Mental Stress

If you didn’t already know this, a messy or cluttered home can affect your mental wellbeing because the mere sight of it causes instant stress. Unlike a clean and tidy house, clutter in the home causes clutter in the mind. 

Misplaced Items

 Personal belongings and important documents often get misplaced in a messy house which can be very frustrating. This is especially true when you are in a hurry and can’t seem to find your keys and wallet!

Unexpected Visitors = Embarrassment

 When friends or neighbours show up unexpectedly, and your house is a mess, you can’t help but feel too embarrassed to let them in! Many homeowners are left red-faced in these situations, however, they can be avoided by simply maintaining a clean home!

If one of the cons mentioned above are not enough to motivate you to clean your messy house, surely all of them put together will do the trick!

Race Against the Clock With a Timer

When you’ve got a timer counting down, you automatically work faster and focus on the job at hand without getting distracted. This is a great way to motivate yourself to start cleaning up your home because, again, you are aware of the fact that you only need to clean for a stipulated amount of time that will soon be over.

Depending on how much time you can spare in the day, set a timer, keep your phone and other distractions at bay, and get on with the cleaning task. You’ll be surprised at how much more productive and motivated you are to clean a messy house when you’re trying to beat the clock!

Make it Convenient

In almost everything we do, we look for convenience. Where home cleaning is concerned, we try to make the work easier by looking for cleaning hacks so that tidying up a messy house is quick. Well, to make house cleaning more convenient, you should have an all-round cleaning kit so that you are prepared to tackle any mess!

Apart from having everything you need to clean your house, it helps to store them in convenient places that are within reach when you are in a particular room. For example, if you’ve got a cabinet in your bathroom where you can store bathroom cleaners and cleaning tools, you will be more motivated to clean the space while you are in it. 

Lastly, if you can’t find the time and motivation to clean your messy house just yet, you can trust MaidForYou to come in and do the work for you! This will leave you with a clean and tidy house, and a second chance to keep it that way!