For many people, doing a complete house cleaning is a tedious and never-ending task that they fear to do every week. But it does not have to be like that. Cleaning has many benefits for your physical and mental health that can help you live a happier, more organized, and more satisfying lifestyle.
Adapting a cleaning regimen to your daily life may seem like one more thing to add to your to-do list, but if you fully invest in it and find fun ways to incorporate it into your schedule, you might enjoy cleaning. your home more than you could ever hope for!
Cleaning is satisfying, works as a conscious distraction to relieve stress or anxiety, helps reduce your exposure to disease and bacteria, and encourages a cleaner, healthier lifestyle.
Maintaining a regular cleaning routine once or twice a week reduces the amount you need to do in one ‘session’, making it more manageable and less overwhelming to tackle.
However, when you put off cleaning, you will likely end up with a large amount that needs to be done at one time, and you may find it more difficult to keep things like clothing and bedding in sanitary condition.
“But cleaning is boring and I’m busy!”
There are many ways you can make cleaning more interesting and help her adjust to your lifestyle.
First, identify what you enjoy.
If you like music, listening to a song with a strong beat is a great way to keep your momentum and your mind distracted; This can help you avoid getting bored. Alternatively, you can try listening to an audiobook, or perhaps the radio, to engage your brain.
If you are spiritual or religious, or if you engage in meditative practices, you may want to incorporate cleanliness into these to cleanse your home and body of negative energies.
You may also want to meditate or pray before cleaning, lighting incense as you work, and using crystals like selenite or tourmaline to help purify your space. Ritual cleansing is part of many religious practices around the world, including Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism, as well as pagan and spiritualistic practices.
If none of these appeal to you and you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can choose to turn on the TV, clean while doing your DIY, or just clean as you go about your regular household routine.
Next, identify your lifestyle constraints and requirements.
If you are a creative type of person, you may find that you are prone to creating a lot of clutter. While this is not uncommon among creative people, you may find that your house or apartment gets dirty and gives you less space for your usual activities, and that you become stressed when you try to work surrounded by clutter.
If you have a more logical or strategy-based mindset, you likely have less clutter, but working long hours can make it difficult to commit to a full cleaning routine. So instead of doing a big cleaning at the end of the week, why not do a small cleaning job or two each day before work?
This eliminates household chores, leaving you free to enjoy your “free time.” Plus, after a week of cleaning a little every day, you’ll avoid having to do it on the weekends!
How to structure a cleaning schedule and stay on top of it
If you want to clean your house, but the thought of doing it is too overwhelming, the best way to approach the job is simply by making a list of things to clean. This will help you identify what needs to be done, how and when to do it.
The trick is not to make cleaning sessions too long and to only commit to two or three tasks per session. If you have a cleaning session that is too long, you are likely to get tired or stressed, which will discourage you from doing it the next time.
Instead, try scheduling 2-3 longer cleaning sessions a week, with certain jobs (like doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen, etc.) being done daily or every other day.
‘But I’m just not motivated to do it!’
If you have difficulty motivating yourself, especially if you suffer from attention deficit disorder (ADD) or depression, you can choose to clean your house with a diary, the calendar on your phone, or one of the many apps on the market. Alternatively, if you have a reliable support network, you can ask them to nudge you when you find it difficult to maintain a self-care routine.
Another good way to motivate yourself is to allow yourself a reward every time you clean.
Maybe you can have a candy bar when you have completed a week of cleaning? Or maybe you could be really naughty and have a glass or two of wine when you’ve finished all the cleaning jobs on your list?
Everything you find motivates you, embrace it and use it to your advantage!
Clean home, clean body
There are many ways cleaning your home helps keep your body in tip-top shape!
First of all, cleaning is a great way to integrate physical exercise into your daily life, especially for those (such as the elderly) who cannot make more strenuous efforts.
Moving furniture, vacuuming, mopping, making the bed, and many other common cleaning activities are effective ways to burn calories, with up to 100 calories burned in just half an hour! Moving heavy equipment and furniture will also help keep your muscles strong, lean, and defined.
Cleaning can help you eat healthier too! Studies have found that people eat more food and more unhealthy food when under stress, and living in a dirty and cluttered home increases cortisol levels and therefore stress.
Additionally, a 2013 study found that people who worked in a neat and organized space were more likely to choose an apple over a candy bar when choosing something to eat. Therefore, the cleaner your home is, the less stressed you will be and the healthier you will eat!
Plus, if you’re struggling with insomnia, your messy bedroom could be the culprit, as a National Sleep Foundation survey found that making your bed in the morning could increase your night’s sleep by as much as 20%.
Regular cleaning of your home also means that you won’t get sick as easily, as it helps remove viruses, bacteria, pollen, dust, and fungal spores that can trigger respiratory conditions like asthma and allergies.
The best places to start? Mymove.com identified the nine most germ-free places in your home, including dish sponges, kitchen sink, toothbrush holders, pet bowls and bathroom faucets, among others.
The Mental Health Benefits of Keeping a Clean Home
Keeping your home clean is an easy way to reduce your stress levels.
First of all, it helps you stay more organized, as you will know where everything you need is. No more last minute rushing in the morning trying to locate those important files before work! This will help keep cortisol (a stress hormone) levels low and in check.
Next, clutter stresses us out because it overloads our brain with excessive visual stimuli. This contributes to what is known as sensory overload and is a particular problem for people with ADD, autism, and certain mental health disorders that can cause high levels of stress as a result of external stimulation.
Clutter also creates feelings of guilt and anxiety when looking at work that has not yet been done. It’s hard to let go of feeling overwhelmed when there is evidence of incomplete tasks in front of you.
Another aspect of mental health that clutter affects is concentration. When we are overstimulated, our brains work overtime to try to process the additional visual information. This results in you not being able to focus on other things, like work for example.
The feeling of being overwhelmed by clutter can also promote avoidance mechanisms, such as eating junk food or watching television.
All of this means that by tidying up your home, you can also achieve a more orderly and calm mood!
For example, in 2011, researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging, among other biological measures, found that removing clutter from the immediate environment resulted in better focus, better information processing, and higher productivity for participants.
So by staying on top of clutter, it can help you be more productive, have more energy, and lead a healthier lifestyle.
Benefits for your home
In addition to keeping your home cleaner and tidier, there are other benefits to your home that can be achieved with regular cleaning.
For example, if you clean regularly, you are less likely to find serious problems in your home, such as black mold and rot, for example, later on. Cleaning stains right away helps them stop “settling” and makes them easier to remove.
Regular cleaning also helps extend the life of carpets, furniture, and more, making furniture buying and maintenance expenses less frequent.
Benefits for friends, family, loved ones and pets
Doing your share of cleanliness and order also helps improve relationships!
A Yelp study recently found that up to 80% of households argue about cleanliness, with 20% reporting that it is a common cause of conflict. Keeping your home clean can help reduce these arguments, but it’s not that simple!
Many arguments are not about cleaning itself, but about how to do it and who should do it. Housekeeping is often a way for gender roles to be expressed, so women who do most of the cleaning may feel unsupported, while men may feel like they aren’t doing enough to keep them happy. Your partners.
By creating a regular routine of who does what work, you can help reduce gender-based arguments and communicate more effectively with your partner. You may even decide to set up a ‘date night’ after your cleanse day, so you can reward yourself and spend time together at the same time!
Also, if you have young children, animals, or elderly relatives at high risk for falls in your home, the clutter can present some immediate health hazards. But by regularly cleaning and maintaining your living space, you can keep your loved ones safe by reducing the likelihood of accidents happening at home.
Benefits for society and the environment
Tidying up your house can even help society in general! By regularly tidying up your home, you can donate to charity shops or list items on websites like Freecycle.com that will help you offer the items to the people who need them more than you.
This also helps the environment by ensuring that items you no longer need are reused rather than thrown away. You may also find that you enjoy the creative side of repurposing old items into useful new equipment and home decorations!
Why maintain a cleaning routine?
Cleaning benefits you, your home, the environment, society in general, and your personal relationships. So surely the question should be, why not organize your cleaning routines properly, so you can see how much better they can help make your life?