At MaidKeepers, we provide local cleaning services to a number of clients, but we also like to instill some tips on how you can make your life a bit easier with a cleaner house. Being in the business of cleaning, we know that maintaining a tidy house is a prolonged effort. Sometimes, after a long day at work, you just want to kick off your shoes, put up your feet and veg out in front of the television. After a few days, the clutter keeps piling up, it creeps from the corners of the room onto the tables, counters and furniture. At this point, the sheer sight of it can be discouraging enough to prevent you from tackling it.
Thankfully, we’ve compiled a few simple tricks that will hopefully make your home’s daily maintenance a little easier.
1. Do the dishes while you cook
It’s probably safe to assume that there are very few people in this world who genuinely enjoy doing dishes. They’re slimy, they’re gross and there’s just not a lot of satisfaction in completing the job. Let me tell, you, though… the only thing worse than doing dirty dishes is doing dirty, week-old dishes. A simple way to conquer this seemingly insurmountable task is to rinse, or wash, the dishes as you go. By preventing them from piling up in the sink, you overcome the psychological factor… you take a difficult thirty-minute task and break it down into a series of simple, thirty-second tasks.
2. Break large efforts into a series of small tasks
While we’re on the topic of breaking things down, this logic can be applied to hundreds of household cleaning jobs. That overflowing closet in the spare bedroom? Resolve to organize one level of it per day. Those annoying cobwebs in the house’s corners? Tackle one room per day. If there’s one truth we’ve learned in the cleaning business, it’s this: If a problem can build up incrementally, it can be broken down incrementally.
3. Let altruism be your guide
But sometime’s it’s just difficult to motivate yourself… after a long day, a restless night or a difficult life event, it’s all-too-easy to delay action. It’s easy to offload the responsibility onto someone else or rationalize your lack of action. Just for a moment, though, imagine how you would feel if you came home to discover that your significant other, your brother or you roommate cleaned the house. Let that feeling be your guide. By acting altruistically, by cleaning for the benefit of someone else, you can amp yourself up psychologically and turn an otherwise unrewarding action into one with visible rewards.
4. Get excited about shortcuts
When Google Maps first came out, it showed me a route that shaved ten minutes off of my daily commute. Let me tell you, I was excited. That was ten extra minutes of sleep which meant I could stay up ten minutes later which meant I had more time to do the things I wanted to do. In short, shortcuts are awesome… get pumped up about them and actively search them out! Whether you’ve discovered a way to keep the bathroom mirror from smudging up (shaving cream) or you’ve developed a procedure for quickly cleaning the microwave (vinegar and water), let yourself be excited about all the time you’re saving!
5. Treat yourself to a day off
Naturally, we have to include this one. If you’re in too deep and just can’t seem to muster the motivation you need to get started, you may just need to reboot. Sometimes the mere sight of a clean slate is all you need to convince yourself to stay on top of things. So take a day off, hire a maid service and resolve to employ our other tips in the future. After all, you work hard, why not treat yourself?
Find out more about how Maidkeepers can help keep your house spotless.