Maintaining motivation

[freezerdinners]

I'm so inconsistent! I go through periods where I can crack on with all the housekeeping stuff, and other times when UGH I CANNOT be bothered or I feel completely overwhelmed at the relentlessness of it all.

How do people keep momentum when housekeeping stuff (mainly keeping in top of mess) is the absolute last thing you want to do?!!!

Do I just need to have a word with myself? Am I just lazy in those moments? I want the house to be moderately tidy and know I feel better when it is, but sometimes I'm.just.so.tired of it all. How do you balance mental health in the moment versus being your future friend?!!

I struggle with this too, OP. I think it’s healthy to give yourself a break some of the time (say 10%?So around one day in ten) and not do anything, really. Any more than that, the mess starts to overwhelm me and becomes bad for my mental health.

When I feel like doing nothing but have to, I make sure to do the non-negotiables which just keep things ticking over which for me are:

dishes
washing, if needed
swish and swipe one bathroom
5 minute tidy
5 minute kitchen tidy
3 minute hoover one area

That takes about 20 minutes. Most days I do about 40 minutes which means the house is in good shape most of the time. Before and after photos are great for motivation, as is a list.

Also, saying to yourself, ‘I’ll just do five minutes’. 5 minutes goes really quick and by then you have got some momentum and you do a bit more.,

Recently started listening to Rock the Housework with Gemma Bray who came up with The Organised Mum Method. She does guided cleaning sessions to music, really motivating!! Slightly strange concept but it works. Costs about 3.50 per month though.

interested to hear other people’s ideas.

Good luck, op! 😊👍🏻🧹🧽

I’m with you sister, I’m so hard on myself though then end u doing nothing.

sitting here trying to muster up some motivation to do something

every room is a mess

Thank you both.

@Bien22 I think the 'ill just do five minutes' might be a good start for me. Or maybe 2 😂.and listening to something also a good tip.

I've looked at the organised mum before but it's too much for me - particularly as we have a cleaner! See how bad I am - all I really need to do it tidy and basic daily cleaning (ie kitchen) - and I still can't do it.

@PeggyGa oh yes, I'm very hard on myself - but I don't seem to be motivated by the stick method! So end up cross at myself AND with a messy house.

To be fair I think my motivation is also linked to my menstraul cycle. Get a burst of energy and enthusiasm after my period then it gradually wears off! If only my kids were messy half the month instead of all of it 🙄

I do actually clean the kitchen daily. It's the tidying tidying endless movement of stuff around that I struggle with

Hi OP

It is hard.... I go through good phases and terrible phases! Try the clutterbug podcast - the latest episode is about doing a daily 15 minute evening tidy up and half an hour a day clean, anywhere in the house - if you can manage that every day you'll pretty much keep on top of things, and it's such a positive spiral, as when you feel on top, you keep going! I always listen to a podcast or good music while I'm doing housework, so it feels like less of a chore....

Good luck!

I've been listening to the A Slob Comes Clean podcast and I just try and make sure I do at least one of the four main habits/daily non negotiables she talks about (I bought her ebook that walks you through it, but it's really not necessary, you can get it from the podcast)

Basically do dishes/fill dishwasher and put on every night (even if it's not full, run it anyway) and empty in the morning (and wipe the counters down). I actually do this in mid morning and DS1 empties it when he gets in from school (usually with a reminder boot up arse)

If that's all I can do then that is all I do. Most days though I also do something with laundry, whether it's putting away piles or doing a wash or moving it to the dryer. If I'm feeling particularly energetic I complete the daily tasks by clearing the kitchen floor and running the robot hoover, checking for clutter in the bathrooms and removing it, and doing a 5 minute tidy up (those are the four habits, except the laundry which is my addition.)

I give myself permission to do nothing else, and honestly, just doing those things most days makes a huge difference. If I happen to have extra time and motivation, I might do more.

If this is your main issue. It sounds like it might help you if you do some ‘clutter stops’ in this case. Try doing 3x 5 minute clutter stops each day so picking things up and moving them where they belong. Morning, lunchtime/after work/ before bed. Set a timer and only do 5 minutes so you have an end in sight and it doesn’t take over your life. If there’s a lot, put it in a basket or box and then redistribute in next clutter stop.
After a period of doing three per day, you might be able to reduce to once or twice per day.

Also try and ‘encourage’ everyone in your household to put things in their home after using them. Easier said than done, I know.

ps I need to follow some of my own advice - this is giving me motivation too!

I used to imagine my mother in law would turn up uninvited.

Nothing motivated me more than not giving her something to criticise. 😁

"fill dishwasher and put on every night (even if it's not full, run it anyway)"

This is really bad. Don't do that.

have you got rid of all extra crap ? nothing is harder than cleaning around a mess that does not need to be there, do you have enough storage in the right places, everything out all the time makes a place look messy and slows down the actual cleaning. how does your cleaner cope ?

No, it's not bad. It might be slightly worse for the environment than running a full dishwasher, but we're talking about maintaining motivation for cleaning. For that purpose, it's essential to keep the dishes done. Run it as a half load, if you want, but not running it because you have to wait for it to be full leads to procrastination , never getting round to it, "I'll do that later" syndrome and a state where you end up with more to put in the dishwasher than will actually fit in there, meaning that your kitchen is constantly in a state of overwhelm and you can't get started, meaning the dishwasher doesn't get run for several days in a row, meaning your kitchen doesn't get cleaned, meaning you don't collect dishes from other rooms, meaning the entire house is overwhelming and it's even harder to clean around everything else. I was just listening to a "layers of cleaning" podcast today actually which is one of the Slob Comes Clean one, and she describes the daily stuff - dishes clean and put away and floor and bathrooms clear - as being the top layer, because it doesn't matter what else you do, if you don't keep on top of the dishes then nothing feels clean because they are constantly being used, they get disgusting fairly quickly, and they are in the way of everything else. You have to do the dishes first before you can clean anything else and therefore any cleaning takes longer because you're doing dishes + cleaning rather than just cleaning.

If you just always do it every night whether you need to or not, it's always done, the counters are always clear because you can put dirty things immediately inside rather than leaving them in a pile waiting for the next time, and if you feel motivated to clean you can just clean rather than having to move dishes or wash up first. If you are a family of 3-4+ then it's highly likely it will be full or close to full by the end of a day anyway. If you're a single person living alone, then you'll probably have to work out your own schedule (or hand wash stuff?)

If you don't have problems with this, then run your dishwasher however often works for you. But you are probably not the person with the problem this thread is looking to solve!

Your argument doesn't make much sense. Yes, put the dirty dishes in your machine every night to avoid being overwhelmed by it, but there's no need to run it until it's full.
It's a bit like saying that you either have dirty clothes all over the floor or you have to run the machine all the time no matter how full it is.

Well, it kind of does work like that for laundry as well, although different quantities so it would be extremely rare that I wouldn't have enough to make up a full wash load. But like I said, if you've never had the problem then you probably don't need the tip. It helps a lot of people.

Anyway having read this I do actually clean the kitchen daily. It's the tidying tidying endless movement of stuff around that I struggle with

And again having listened to that layers podcast today, she said the next layer, if you're good with keeping the basics under control, is declutter/reduce the amount of stuff you have in your house. I'm not into minimalism, and I usually have a bit of an emotional reaction to the idea of decluttering but I really like the way she explains that everyone has a clutter threshold, ie, an amount of stuff that you're actually able to handle. Thinking about it that way, it's clear that I haven't got anywhere near my clutter threshold because I'm overwhelmed by stuff all of the time, so I have been getting rid of stuff and it is helping.

I can't go to bed at night unless I've tidied the whole house.
If you do it daily it's not so bad.
It's the thought of getting up in the morning to a mess, it would really get on top of me first thing.
It's a habit now I usually do it as soon the DC are in bed then I still have an hour or two to myself in the evening.