I love cleaning {I know, I’m Crazy}: Six things to like about cleaning

I love cleaning.  There I said it.  Sure, the act of cleaning up after my kids isn’t that awesome, but take something REALLY dirty and make it REALLY clean.  Well, that is a good feeling.  I love to clean and organize — and here’s the reasons why.

Trust me, my weekly cleaning schedule is often a topic of conversation (I even talked about it on my podcast) at both work and with my friends.  They wonder how I can be so OCD (me, wondering how other people can’t be) and how I make it through all those tasks.  They figure I must love cleaning.  Frankly, I don’t usually mind cleaning.  Here’s 6 things I like about cleaning.  Maybe, by reading these 6 things you can think of cleaning in a new way at your house?

BTW, I think one of the reasons I like cleaning so much is because I am organized.  Good organization at your house makes cleaning SO much easier, as a good amount of cleaning is actually putting stuff away.  This course gives you a firm foundation.

Do you wish this was more like you:

• You can have guests over at a moment’s notice because you know your home looks AOK
• You wish you could relax more, in a comfortable, easily tidied-up room
• You know where your important documents, etc are stored so you can grab them when necessary

If so — check this course out.  You can even save 10% with code PC10.

I love cleaning my house

What I like about cleaning

I like to clean to see the follow-through.

I like seeing a job start to finish.  There is something great to having a pan that is disGUSTing and then just you with some soap and elbow grease make it look good as new.  I can do that in a matter of minutes.  Go me! Who doesn’t love the sense of accomplishment that comes with knocking out those household chores?

Cleaning gives me a sense of control.

I like the control.  Lets face it, my kids and my husband do plenty of things that drive me INSANE that I can’t fix at all — but give me some dusty baseboards, and I CAN DO THAT.  Within just a few minutes it’s back to perfection.  No one else does that for me.  I love you baseboards.

I love living in a clean house

I like clean stuff.  Is there anything better than climbing into a bed with clean sheets or cleaning out a junk drawer? I don’t tolerate dirt very well.  It’s not usually something my eyeballs can ignore for a long time.  I HATE bare feet on dirty floors.  It drives my mind NUTS to have all those little pieces on my feet.  It makes me happy to walk on clean floors.

I also just did a podcast about getting my family to clean:

Cleaning gives me motivation to do more!

Having clean stuff gives me motivation to clean more in other rooms.

Related Post: How to clean tile floors with vinegar and baking soda

I love to clean and organize!

Honestly, I REALLY like to organize.  I like to pull everything out and then weed out what I don’t need, and then figure out the best way to put it all back.  And yes, I do mean the BEST way.  That part, is somewhat problematic.  BUT, it SO nice to look at a space that was just a jumbled mess of stuff I really didn’t need and then looking at something that is able to be utilized. {makes my heart swoon}

Honestly, there is nothing more motivating to keep cleaning than a clean house.

I like that I can limit cleaning

I create a time limit.  I LOVE using timers to make the job not seem endless.  My mind can do 20 minutes of scrubbing the shower, it can’t really do a nubulous “when it’s done” type thing.  I try to just start in the dirtiest part, so that it’s looks pretty well done when that timer rings.

Doing a quick, frantic clean can lead to a LOT of benefits!

What do you enjoy about cleaning?

I find a lot of joy in making something that seems un-useable, useable — which is why I love this book.  I swear it’s my cleaning bible.  I’m actually friends with Katelyn IRL and whenever I have a stain, she’s my first call!  She even has a ton of awesome uses for bar keepers friend! It’s a good idea to think about some cleaning tasks that you actually enjoy to not get burned out cleaning your own home. Maybe you like to wipe down the kitchen counters or fold a warm load of laundry. Focus on the good things!

Why do I like cleaning so much?

I mainly like being DONE.  That’s the whole thing of the cleaning schedule.  I need jobs that have a start and a finish.  I also need to know that I’m done.  See #3 — if I see dirty stuff part of my mind wants to clean it then… which would actually allow my mind NO time to rest.  It’s just so NICE to be DONE with the things I need to do and the move on to things I WANT to do.

{reality check}

I don’t ALWAYS love cleaning….

The reality is that cleaning can be hard.  Sometimes it makes me hot and sweaty, sometimes I wish I had different tools or that my family wasn’t so messy.

But other times, especially when I’m groovin’ with my tunes I’m thrilled to have a clean house and be able to breathe and relax in the Zen.

Do you like cleaning?  If you HATE cleaning, could you concentrate on one of these 6 benefits to make it a little more tolerable?  Get it done. 🙂

How to love cleaning

You don’t have to be a neat freak to have a clean home. And if you don’t already love cleaning it’s going to take a little bit of time to love the cleaning process. The easiest way to love cleaning is to start with simple tasks that don’t take much time so you can see the end product of a clean space.

Don’t think you are going to fall in love with cleaning your entire house the first time you start a cleaning routine. I’m going to be honest, you may never LOVE cleaning, but you will love how it feels to have a tidy home on a regular basis. A messy house is not good for your mental health, so take a deep breath and know that in the long run it’s going to be a great thing for you and your family!

While you’re here, grab my printable cleaning lists (makes it easy to have a to-do list already printed for each room) and check out my other cleaning posts below that.

This post was originally written in 2014, and has been updated.