Submitted by MoonlightPotatoes t3_z3mac0 in LifeProTips
My case might be a bit special, I'm working full time and attending uni for my master's. Work is 8hrs (or 6 on a good day) and uni is 4 hours for four out of five days, excluding assignments
Between these two, I can't seem to find time to clean, no matter how hard I try... Living in a messy home messes up my productivity a lot and I'm falling behind on my responsibilities
I listen to podcasts while I clean. Put the airbuds in, make a favorite drink, it ends up being fun and relaxing. Even just an hour a week can be enough if you get efficient at it.
Clean as you go about your day as much as you can. Put things away when done using them, clean up messes right away instead of later, wash dishes as soon as you’re done with them, keep things organized so they’re always an obvious place for stuff.
This prevents the mess from getting out of hand, and then if you have a free day or a few hours free you can spend a longer time doing a more full cleaning.
I treat tidying up as a form of exercise. As said, put some music up and get to work. Don't let the dishes pile up. If you have time to eat, you have time to wash the dish afterward.
Sounds like you do have time, you're just not using it wisely and don't have the motivation to clean. You say you work full time, but that usually means 5 days of work so there's two days a week you don't, and Univ 4-5 days for 4 hr, sounds like there is time for you to clean. Even on a day you have both, that leaves 12 hrs, 8 for sleeping then 4 others, say even if 3 of those are for commuting and doing things like eating and showering, that leaves 1, even if you take 10-15 mins and start to clean, eventually things will be cleaned up (maybe a week). Then once things are cleaned up- don't let it get messy again. Put stuff up immediately after use, do the dishes right after using, stay on top of things don't just put off. If you say "but I'm never home!" If was true home wouldn't be messy.
You do not have to clean the whole place at once, break chores down and do 1-2 a day. And get on a routine.
In my experience, focus on 3 things - tidy as you go, everything in its home, and hiding places. Take the 3-5 min to wash your dishes immediately when you’re done eating, then dry and put them away. In fact, put everything away, every time - coats in closets the first time, laundry only in baskets not the floor/bed, etc. Last point is to make good use of closets (or buy an armoire), and hide laundry baskets, dirty boots/shoes, etc.
It takes a lot less time, just a few min each day, but you need to stick to the habit so stuff doesn’t build up.
I'm so proud of myself because yesterday, I got angry with the dirty toilet bowl, so I poured some cleaner in it. The next bathroom break I flushed it and it cleaned pretty good. Not spotless, because I didn't scrub, but still way better!
It's just so annoying, dust seems to set after a few days, countertop is a mess, don't get me started on the couch... All the random stuff ends up there, or on the table
Live life with good habits, so a mess doesn’t build up.
Its easy just sacrifice sleep and mental health, you're only staying busy 12 hrs out of the day. I think that's the narrative, anyway. Pain equals gain. Something like that. Try to cut back on responsibilities so you have a more balanced plate and keep the lower priority things low? If you cant cut back on responsibilities youre probably destined to burn out until you're forced to.
Things are easier to maintain than to repair or replace.
Cleaning is work it's not easy so yea just put some background noise and do it. It's your home respect it act like your home has a life of it's own like a dog or something. You need to clean it.
Best bet is to restrict your movement to one single part of the house so that the rest of the house is untouched.
Deep clean the whole house when you have the time and do a mini-clean only in the area you move around in.
Not applicable if you have kids or pets or a partner.
Think about that old camping rule. When you leave a campsite you leave it just a little bit better than you found it.
So every time you walk into or out of a room do something no matter how small to make it a little bit better.
And don’t create any new messes in the interim.
It might take a while, but eventually the house will be looking pretty good.
A good place to start is getting rid of all the useless crap…less stuff to clean and doesn’t get messy as fast
As I've gotten older, I've really come to hate little knick knacks and decorative items. They're just clutter that gets in the way of dusting and makes cleaning take longer. Unfortunately my partner does not share my minimalist impulses.
>you get efficient at it.
Quoted for emphasis. The first time I cleaned my house, it took the entire weekend. Within a few months, I was able to build a routine and it took it down to an afternoon. And with a good podcast, the time flies.
I have someone hired to do all of that right now, but obviously most people aren't in the position to do that.
If you can spare it, I'd hire someone to do the things you hate the most or stress you out the most on a very small scale just to see how much you feel it helps you.
Others can offer more practical advice if you can't do that, but if you have any ability to, even just a couple of hours a week, you should try it.
We set a 10 minute timer every day. Sometimes we only clean for 10 minutes, and sometimes we get in the groove and keep going.
We do this as well. Twice a month we have a cleaning lady come and help us out. Nobody wants to scrub crap, change sheets all the time, do dishes that eventually pile up, etc. We’ve found it takes us about a week and a half before our regular life starts accumulating (noticeable hair on floor, dishes not being cleaned right away after eating, etc).
Just a couple hours a week helps far more than most people think it does. And depending on who you get, it's not that expensive, either. We need to normalize having housekeeping help again. There's an unnecessary stigma surrounding having someone hired to do it and that needs to go. I pay mine $20/hr right now, but people can be hired for less. I see Facebook ads for it often at $12/hr, sometimes advertising as low as $9.
Sometime it is best to accept it is too much. When my life was too busy to keep a reasonably tidy house, I ended up carving out one room that I kept clean and organized. This could even be just one small corner or a desk in your house. I am really bothered by clutter, but having one place I could retreat to for working or just to clear my head was helpful. Hang in there. When life slows down, there will be more time for a clean home.
Agreed. Our household balance is great because there’s no resentment. We pay a little higher but worth it to help support someone who we have a great relationship with. While it’s both of our ‘jobs’ to keep the home clean and not be total slobs, my wife covers paying the cleaning lady. She could also choose to clean up and not get a maid, but it works out better this way so she can have more free time to dive into her hobbies since she’s not working at the moment. Plus, she’s an amazing chef so less cleaning and more cooking and quality time spent together!
I have the same problem mate. Full time job and 4 hours study course the afternoons. Likewise, my home is a mess, I just don't have time to tide it up. I come home from work, cook something quickly, wash the dishes as fast as I can, and then go to the college. My room is a mess during the week - not dirty or smelly though - just messy, clothes thrown around etc. But as you say, that affects my productivity and motivation. The weekend when I'm off, I clean everything and make the house spotless, which makes me really happy and gives me energy to study or exercise. Until Monday when the downhill starts again.
I try to keep tidy as I go and have a maid service come every other week.
Started doing this when my ex wife (wife at the time) was in and out of psych facilities and I was working full time and taking care of our three children with out help.
Post divorce and kids out of the house half the time I kept it up cause I loved not having to worry about scrubbing toilets and oven tops ect.
Set a one hour timer twice a week for cleaning and chores! If you have others in the house, have them do cleaning time at the same times.
I live alone on a 1/2 acre property with a nice sized house with 3 dogs so it is not easy.
If a task takes less than 5 minutes, do it immediately. For example, while I am making breakfast, I empty or load the dishwasher.
Have a schedule for routine stuff. There could be a weekly schedule of tasks but I also have a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and annual schedule. I take 4 day long weekends quarterly to do tasks on the weekend.
Don’t let it get to dirty in the first place so a full home clean won’t take all that long
Same here, it makes it much more enjoyable!
This won't work for everyone, but my husband and I use an app that reminds us what needs to be done every day. We use Tody but I'm sure there are plenty of different ones out there. You just put each chore in and how often it needs to be done (or you can put one off things in).
We end up doing 15-20 minutes of cleaning each day (each) and can keep on top of almost everything. I think it works for us because we don't mind if the full list isn't ticked off each day (sometimes downtime is more important), but it also prompts us to keep on top of things like the glass in the shower which get really hard to clean properly if you leave it for ages.
Agree with others that doing a little at a time is helpful. You never get the satisfaction of the entire house being clean at once, but overall it will be decent. I did a lot of this when kids were little and I worked full time. Also agree that reducing clutter overall is good. Fewer things = less to do.
Just dedicate 10 minutes a day to clean. Set a timer and decide what to clean each day and do it real fast and if u cant finish it then leave it and finish tomorrow..
no way that someone cant dedicate less than 1% of the day to clean. Resting instead is just part of excuses when u can rest better with peace of mind when u are not stressing about the mess
My university suggested hiring someone too, but sometimes the budget won't allow that, especially if you have to pay tuition fees.
Robot vacuum was a game changer for me. I set it to run first thing in the morning, so it encourages me to do some tidying as well.
I totally understand how you said you are more productive when you are messy. Picking up after yourself takes time weather its at the time or later. Just do the best you can.
Fly lady system.
Check out Steph thr Secret Slob on YouTube or Diane from Denmark. Both use the Flylady system and have a video series about how to get started
True. Can you tutor someone for some housekeeping time? Maybe trade kids with another Mom?
Good ideas, sometimes there are jobs available at the university too
The easiest way to stay clean is to not get messy in the first place. Keep clothes in hampers, wash dishes immediately. Light cleaning for everything else. Deeper cleaning even more retell. Lower standards of what clean should look like. Also, consider cutting back classes and take longer for your program. I work full time and am back for another degree but only taking one class at a time. Best of luck to you and hope this helps
It’s a never ending struggle but the less daunting you make it seem the easier it gets. If you do get down to business, you only need about 2 hours every 2 weeks for the deep cleaning stuff.
My hacks are:
Keep the bathroom cleaner in the shower so I can spray it when I’m showering and the vinegar bottle cleans the glass very well if you have those glass doors.
A rumba lol
Not wearing shoes inside the house. Sometimes I just take my shoes outside and carry them to the front where I leave them there so the dust doesn’t get inside and dirty the floors.
Throwing the trash anytime it gets full or eating something that creates a lot of trash throw it away right away
Dedicate special projects for different things each day like sometimes I feel like cleaning the countertops and it takes me more than 5 minutes so each area is a project but for different day lol
I have a shredder so I can shred all the mail I don’t want and pour it later when it’s full
Declutter your house. The less stuff you have the cleaner it feels. Lol
Put it away don't put it down
First thing is being chilled inside. Sometimes it’s messy and it’s ok. It’s with everyone’s household this way. I like some small cleaning in between very slow, just a little bit as calm down acitivity. Saturday is 1 hour cleaning day and every 6-8 a cleaning person as support.
I work 60 hour weeks. I find that since I am not at home most of the time the house doesn't get very dirty. The rest of the time, I try to clean as I go.
I’m in a similar boat as you (working and going to school). I generally keep tidy - load dishes as I go, put things away, etc. - but I have a robot vacuum which helps immensely with not having to actually vacuum as often and I’m also getting an air purifier that is supposed to help with dust.
When I actually do need to clean, I put my headphones in and use it to make myself feel good/productive.
A bit at a time! Window treatments one day, bathrooms the next, counters, tables and floors the last...
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