My Five Favorite Cleaning Hacks to Try If You Don’t Want to Clean at All
At some point, cleaning can become an overwhelming task for everyone, and creating a habit or schedule that you actually stick to can be a big part of the problem. However, as with other tasks such as decluttering and organizing , one way to overcome procrastination is to find a method that works best for you. Here are five of my favorite dishes for you to try.
FlyLady technology for stress-free cleaning.
The FlyLady cleaning method , popularized by organization guru Marla Seelly, involves immersing yourself in a soothing, easy cleaning routine that won’t bog you down. To reap the benefits of this method , divide your home into “zones” and then spend 15 minutes a day on the zone you’re currently working on. Yes, it takes time and won’t work right away, but as Seelly says, “It didn’t get dirty in a day and it won’t get clean overnight.” Here’s how the zones are divided:
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Zone 1 is the hallway, porch and dining room. You fill this zone in the first week of the month.
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Zone 2 is the kitchen that is prepared during the first full week of the month, which is the first week that has seven full days.
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Zone 3 is the master bathroom and another room in the home, such as an office or closet. This occurs in the second full week of the month.
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Zone 4 is the master bedroom, its closets and bathroom for the third full week.
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Zone 5 is the living room, but since it’s not a full week, it may overlap with Zone 1. It’s likely that your living room is near the entrance, which helps make it smooth when you start incorporating Zone 1 back into your schedule at the end of the five weeks.
Obviously, if your home is laid out differently or you have your own unique challenges, play around with the zones to suit your needs, but try to dedicate a week to each and follow the same schedule each month.
The One-Hour Method If You Have a Big Clutter
In general, I’m a big fan of cleaning in small chunks of time over days or weeks. In most cases , 15 minutes a day is all you need to improve the cleanliness of your home over time. In fact, once you get into the habit of doing it this way, the house will stay cleaner and require less effort, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of smaller cleaning cycles. However, before you get to that point, you may be in serious trouble, and when that happens, you may need more time, which is why CleanTok influencer @MommyHasntShowered suggests the “one hour” rule . Here’s what it sounds like: You clean for an hour continuously, focusing only on cleaning, and then stop when the hour is up, rewarding yourself with something you enjoy, like ice cream or your favorite show.
Using this option is subjective and likely depends on how urgent the situation is. If you have someone coming over or the clutter is so bad that it’s affecting your mental health, you may have to give up a longer work session. If you have a big mess but you prefer to deal with it little by little, this is not for you! However, keep in mind that while a slow pace over a few days or weeks can be good for not feeling overwhelmed, doing a lot of things at once can be good for motivation . Each approach has mental and emotional benefits. The trick is to figure out which one you want to connect to.
The 20/10 Approach When You’re Unmotivated
The 20/10 approach combines elements of my favorite daily snack schedule and the hourly method. It’s taken from Rachel Hoffman’s 2017 book Clean Up Your Habitat: You’re Better Than Your Clutter and simply asks you to clean for 20 minutes and then take a 10-minute break. This is similar to the Pomodoro productivity technique , which encourages you to work for 25 minutes, then take five breaks, and then get back to work, but here you have less time to work and more time to relax. Once your 10 minutes are up, get back into the game, clearing out even more for another 20. However, only do this two to four times because, again, we don’t want to get overwhelmed. What I find most helpful is to take a 10-minute break in the area I just cleaned so I can really enjoy the results. If I’m cleaning the living room, I’m going to relax on the couch, enjoying the tidy surroundings. If I’ve cleaned the kitchen, I’ll go grab a snack at the counter where everything is clean and free of clutter. Remember that you are not cleaning simply for the sake of cleanliness, but rather for some benefit, which most often lies in the freedom to enjoy a tidier and brighter space.
One tool method when you need structure
If you really don’t know where to start when it comes to decluttering your day, try the one-tool method . This approach takes some of the classic cleaning tips I like (like don’t try to do everything at once), but turns it on its head slightly: Where you’d typically tackle one area at a time, moving from spot to spot over a few days, try tackling one task at a time. By using the one-tool concept, you’ll be breaking one of my cardinal rules, which is not to jump from room to room during your daily scheduled cleaning time, but you’ll open up a whole new kind of efficiency since you won’t have to pull out the same tools day after day. Do this every few weeks to shake things up and reduce the likelihood of getting bored.
So on your first day, you might be dusting off. The second time, you might vacuum. On the third, maybe you mop. You get the idea. Pick one tool or task and go through each room of your home.
Junebugging when you can’t concentrate
Sometimes you know what needs to be cleaned, but you just can’t focus on it. Take advantage of this and choose a method that allows you to mindlessly attack the problem without thinking too hard. The correct approach here is the Junebug method . There’s a chance you’ve seen this demonstrated or at least mentioned on CleanTok , but the earliest mention of the idea came on Tumblr , where a user explained that for cleaning purposes, despite ADHD, they imagine they are like a June bug: “Have you ever seen a June bug clinging to a window screen? He is surprisingly persistent, but not very focused. All that matters is the location.”
Here you will put this into practice by identifying the area you want to cleanse and then focusing on one specific spot. So, if the kitchen needs cleaning, focus on the sink. You can wash dishes in it, put them away, and then get distracted by noticing that the cabinet needs to be wiped down. After you’ve wiped down your cabinet, remind yourself to be at the sink; go back to it to clean it or wipe down the faucet. While you’re at it, you may notice that you can also wipe down the handles and handles of your drawers, refrigerator, and oven. Go and do it, but always come back to the starting point. This practice lulls you into an easy routine. As you continue to return to the first point and expand, you will move in simple circles and allow what normally distracts you to actually become your guide.