Scouring the web for feel-good content is almost as challenging as scouring your mind for motivation to clean. I mean, where do you even start? We think of wellness and a positive mindset as a personal vending machine. Whenever we need it, we insert our dollar bill (motivation) and out comes your nosh of choice (yoga, meditation, spin class, etc.). Once that spark of motivation comes, most of us seize the opportunity and propel ourselves forward onto whatever our spirit desires, whatever our inner-self is trying to tell us: Be healthy, Be productive, Be more awesome, Be prettier, Be sexier, Be smarter. The thing with that spark is, it fizzles. All sparks do. You have to keep gently blowing on your inner kindle to ignite the fizzling flames so the more logs you throw on your fire, the brighter it burns, baby! I’m getting pretty deep here. All I’m trying to say is, if you want to build better habits, like being a better housekeeper, you have to have a good idea of the equation before you jump right in or you are going to clean your ass off today and let your house go to hell a few hours later, only to be so overwhelmed by it all that your back at square one until you feel that spark again. You’re going to be managing a cycle that isn’t doing you any good.
So, the equation is simple: Get organized! This was a big one for me. I’m anything but. I’m a hot mess all the time. I sort of prided myself on that virtue, which also wasn’t doing me any good. I thought I was the fun one who would forget to bring what was asked of me, who would frantically clean my house when the UPS guy would knock on my door, and who would do her makeup in the car on her way to a planned-in-advanced gathering with my friends. How cute am I? NOT CUTE.
Youtube has been a revelation for me in my old age. In my beginning years of Myspace and Facebook and Limewire, I used the internet for superficial needs and convenience. I wanted to know how many page views I had on my photos, to check in on old friends and see what albums they posted after a drunken night out. To download music for my ipod so I would be kept busy by tunes class-hopping around campus. All superficial. It wasn’t until I got into the Clean with me phenomenon that is virtually sweeping (pun!) the homes of every domestic goddess that I fully grasped what the internet could do for me. It took a Clean with me video to realize that we really are all in this together, that we all have a story to tell and that, chances are, we could all benefit from sharing advice. I found a lot of motivation in these videos and since I’m a blogger, I obviously think that a Clean with me Blog post is just as relevant and motivating because, while you can’t physically watch me clean, you can still take away the pieces of my routine and perspective that resonates with you.
To get started, I’m going to go back to my inner-fire metaphor. The kindle is your spark of motivation. I need to clean my house is you telling yourself I want to feel organized and have a happy, functioning home. You can clean your house all you want, but if you don’t have a routine you’ll end up in a cycle that leaves you cleaning cluttered, crazy messes on an as-needed basis. That’s just not productive and you’ll soon learn that that you like the way you feel and how your productivity changes on all facets of your life once you create a routine. It sounds crazy that all this change comes just from developing a cleaning routine, but trust me. It is like a domino-effect. You’ll like the way things run once you’re on a routine. And when it comes to cleaning, it is really not that crazy! Take it from a recovering hot mess, it’s not as overwhelming and hard to keep up with as it seems.
Step one: Cute Cleaners
You know how picking out cute workout clothes makes you want to work out? It’s the same as cleaning, guys. Pick cute and smelly-good cleaning supplies, and you’ll want to clean! My first nugget of advice is to march on over to Grove Collaborative and get a membership. You can customize your membership so you don’t have auto shipments and it will become an on-demand cleaning supply arsenal for you. And their stuff is CUTE. The sponges are pretty, the cleaning gloves are pretty, the spray bottles are pretty and so varied (from Mrs. Meyers to Method to Grove’s own line). The best part about it all is it’s just as cheap as getting it at the store. It’s been a fun way for me to enjoy cleaning and organization and I know you’ll enjoy it, too. Visit the site and give it a thought! Thanks to Grove and my own personal preference of stuff that just works, here’s my arsenal for the day:
Also, I had my Dyson cordless vacuum on hand. It’s cute. It’s pink! And it was much needed today. I’ve been sick so cleaning has been on the back-burner and between my pets and my children, my floor needed attention. I was honestly overwhelmed by the mess, but even though I get overwhelmed by it all, I have my system and it helps to calm my nerves a little.
Step Two: The Domino Chore Effect
I love watching the vlog This Crazy Life on Youtube because she’s so real and domestic AF. She just knows how to hold it down and I have probably learned the most from her. The best thing I’ve learned from her is that when you think of cleaning your house, start with a place in your home that makes you feel motivated to keep going. For example: In my home, my place to start is my living room. It’s the first thing you see when you walk in my house, and it’s so bright and airy that once I see it in it’s full scope all clean and nice, I want to keep going. It’s a domino chore for me. Once I start with the living room, I’m motivated to keep cleaning. For you, it might be your bathroom, your bedroom, your kitchen. It really doesn’t matter just as long as where you begin makes you want to keep going.
I start by getting all the big stuff off the floor and putting the garbage in the garbage and the kids toys on the couch. I then ask my kiddos to put all their toys in their rooms. Then, I vacuumed the couch and folded the blankets and pillows and put those back in their respective places. I vacuumed the floor, then I whipped out my Caldrea and got to work on my coffee table. Then I got my window cleaner and worked on my front and back door, which are both glass-pained.
That was all I needed to do in the living room. I have a cleaning schedule for my dusting, my polishing, etc., but I’ll share that in a future post. That brings me to another nugget of advice: Don’t do all your cleaning in one day. Spread it out throughout the week and month and season and year so you’re not doing it all at once when you need your house clean (clean oven, baseboards, etc.)
Now, the kitchen! Oh, baby.
I used my Grove bubble-up dish sponge and my Mrs. Meyers Basil scent dish soap and got to work. Use your imagination here.
I needed to give my dining room chairs some attention because the kids are constantly wiping their hands on everything but a napkin. So, that was quick and sort of painless.
Then, the chores for the day (or the time-being, anyway) were done and I could sit and hang out with the kids without having my house on the forefront of my mind. It wasn’t perfect, either. The house was in no way ready for a holiday gathering or a birthday party, but if someone were to stop by it would look tidy and real-life clean (you know what I mean when I say that).
So, Basically . . .
Remember that you can’t just clean your entire house on an as-needed basis. You have to invest a little time in setting up a reasonable blueprint to help you keep your routine going. Otherwise, you’re going to hate cleaning and be overwhelmed by the sheer idea of it. Having a daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally and yearly schedule of when you clean what around your casa (like baseboards, oven, yard, etc.) will go a long way in helping you not feel overwhelmed. Also, cute cleaning goodies! Stay clean, my friends.
Hairstyles
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admin
Thank you so much! That means a lot!