How to Enjoy the Time You Spend Cleaning the House

Over the last few months, as I was getting our house ready to list for sale, I did A LOT of cleaning. I don’t know about you, but cleaning isn’t my favorite activity—there are so many things I’d rather do!

All of this cleaning brought to mind a post I wrote a few years ago about making cleaning more enjoyable. As I managed to stay on task and get the cleaning done, I utilized some of the ideas I shared there and came up with a couple additional strategies that worked well!

Tips for making housecleaning more enjoyable

Visit with someone

I find that I’m able to complete tasks much more quickly when I’m able to visit with someone while completing them. We’re in the middle of a COVID pandemic, of course, so it hasn’t been possible for me to have someone over while cleaning, but I’ve spent plenty of time on the phone with family members and friends. The speakerphone feature on my smartphone or my wireless headset make this very convenient.

Listen to music

Listening to a playlist of songs that I enjoy provides a nice distraction while I clean. Upbeat songs, in particular, are helpful because they encourage quick movement.

Listen to audiobooks

In general, I am not a fan of audiobooks. I have a hard time following them, so I prefer to consume print books or eBooks. Nevertheless, I’ve listened to a number of audiobooks over these last few months. They allow me to get more “reading” done while distracting me from unpleasant cleaning tasks.

Use nice cleaning tools

As many of you know, I’m super frugal. Unfortunately, many times in the past I’ve purchased cleaning tools because they were cheap, even if this meant they weren’t as effective. The result of this was that I had to work harder! The reality is that you either pay in money or pay in effort. I’ve found that sometimes it is better to pay in money because it can save me a ton of time and elbow grease!

Use nicely scented cleaning products

Many cleaning products have overwhelming scents that are obnoxious. Unless I’m specifically trying to disinfect something, I prefer to use homemade cleaning products to which I’ve added essential oils. This way I know that the products are safe and they are scented in a way I prefer.

Enlist help

I have three young kids (the eldest is not yet six), so they can only help so much with cleaning. They do help, though, and it lightens my load a little bit! They clean up their toys, match up socks, fold towels, dust low surfaces (such as the coffee table and end tables), etc. When they help, we can move on to fun activities more quickly.

Have a contest

When my kids help me clean, we sometimes compete to see who can get her task done first. When I clean alone, I sometimes use a timer to see how much I can get done in a certain amount of time. These simple forms of competition provide a little extra motivation and make the cleaning a bit more exciting!

Give thanks

It may sound cheesy, but cleaning makes me realize how blessed I am because I have so much stuff that needs to be cleaned. I have a house to live in, a bed to sleep in, wall hangings that need dusted, toys that need picked up, etc. I find that cleaning is much more meaningful when I pray and give thanks while I complete my cleaning tasks.

Enjoy rewards

Once I’ve completed a task, I try to relax and reward myself a bit. This may mean reading a few chapters in a book or enjoying a piece of chocolate. The rewards aren’t big or formal; they’re just enough to provide a little motivation to get finished with the cleaning.

Final thoughts

I don’t think any of these strategies are going to make it fun to clean, but they certainly make it more tolerable and help me get to the fun stuff more quickly!

How do you feel about cleaning? Is it something you enjoy or something you just push through to get it done? What things do you do to make it more enjoyable?

Shared at the following:

Encouraging Hearts and Home, Over the Moon, and Busy Monday.