How to make tidying a little less painful
By Ash Sabinin, Contributor
By doing small bits at a time, you can save yourself some stress and time later when it all piles up.
How to make tidying a little less painful
By Ash Sabinin, Contributor
Spring is slowly emerging with the budding of flowers and longer hours in the sun, and with that comes the idea of Spring Cleaning. I find cleaning super tedious and can never get more than an hour of work done before I get distracted by something I found and then lose all motivation. So, if you’re at all like me, here are some ideas for how to make cleaning a little more manageable.
My first tip is trying to never let things get too bad by consistently doing small little tasks, like taking off your shoes at the front door to reduce the overall amount of dirt that gets tracked into your home. Another good idea would be to set a schedule where you rotate different types of cleaning to keep it from getting repetitive and boring (or at least more boring than it has to be). Small habits like these can really add up to a lot and reduce how often you need to do a deep clean.
However, regardless of how much you tidy, there will always come a time when you’ll want to do a deep clean of your space and get rid of anything that doesn’t serve you anymore. This is good, it’s a sign of growth, embrace it! Be ruthless, if you love an item of clothing but it doesn’t fit, consider giving it to a friend or donating it to someone in need so it can see some use. If this alone seems like too large of a task, break it into smaller chunks. Pick one room, or even one corner of a room and try to really power through until that one area is cleaned and organized in a way that makes sense to you. If that doesn’t work, try setting a timer for a manageable amount of time, put your phone away, play some good music and clean as much as you can until the timer goes. Also, just because the timer goes doesn’t mean you need to stop cleaning if you’ve found that you’ve got a good flow going. Getting rid of clutter will help keep things neater and more organized as well as increase the space you have for things that really matter.
After you’ve cleaned, it will be easier to stay organized. Use whatever organizational tools you need, from premade desk organizers to a checklist for daily tidying. By doing small bits at a time, you can save yourself some stress and time later when it all piles up. Doing five minutes of dusting or washing the counters prevents you from having to spend more time and effort later cleaning a bigger mess. However, if that doesn’t work for you, don’t worry! Sometimes no matter how hard we try to change a habit, it just doesn’t work. So, we need to start working with our lifestyle, not against it.
One of my tips, possibly the most important one, is to create a space that actually works for your lifestyle. It will really help to have your space make sense for you and your routine. Take advantage of your strengths, maybe it’s making and following to-do lists while findings things that help with your weaknesses, like writing out how long each task will take to help you manage your time effectively. If hanging clothes in a closet is too much, try putting them away in a dresser. If something doesn’t work, modify it so it works better with your routine instead of feeling bad or frustrated about not being able to do it. Who cares how things are “supposed” to look, if you struggle with vacuuming because it’s too much work to go get the thing out of the closet, maybe buy a mini vacuum, and leave it in a central part of your home so anytime there’s a little mess you can deal with it immediately instead of letting it pile up and become a bigger chore later.
Having a clean home isn’t the most important thing in the world but it can help improve one’s mood and make your space more comfortable. I hope these ideas help you and we can all celebrate the coming of the warming seasons from the comfort of our nice, tidy homes.
