Guide to Cleaning

I decided to tidy my house up this morning, which is always a depressing thing to think about. I hate cleaning. But hey, it's good for you (burn those calories!) and for your home, as well as those that might have to come into contact with your home. Here's what I do to make a boring task better.

1. Make an epic, wake-me-up, take-on-the-world soundtrack. It took me the better part of an evening to achieve this task, so you should do it before you actually really plan on getting down to it.

2. Blast your soundtrack. Sing to it. Dance to it. Do whatever you need to do to get into the right frame of mind, energized and ready to bust that dust.

3. I start in one place, but I go about my tasks sort of randomly. I'll do a load of dishes, organize my coffee table, clean my counters and sinks. I finish each task, but I mix it up so I don't feel burnt out after one room.

4. Breaks are always good. I tend to clean until it's done, but if you're the type that needs breaks, go for it. Just don't let your "break" be the stopping point of cleaning.

5. Use cleaning products that you can enjoy. I use an all-purpose cleaning solution for all of the surfaces in my house, and it literally smells like "clean" to me. It's lemony and herbaceous. For my floors, I use a lavender wash, which is one of my favorite scents.

6. Do not overwhelm yourself with tools and scrubs and such. I use a well-rinsed sponge for the kitchen, a cloth for the bathroom, one broom and one mop. I use only a few cleaners because I get ones that multitask. Something for surfaces, something for floors, a brush and wash for the toilet. Not a ton of stuff.

And that's how I do it. I'm somewhere between a perfectionist and a unmotivated. There are two points that I'm OK with, and that's spotless, and/or "this level of clean is acceptable." It's why it's hard for me to start. That's why the soundtrack is so important!