If you’re like me you’ve never have a maid. I’ve always wanted one, sure, but apparently they cost money (something that I don’t have a lot of). Well, we might night live in Beverly Hills, but that doesn’t mean housework has to be a chore. After years of dirty plates and scrubbing the tub, I’ve found 6 ways to make housework super fun (so you no longer have to dread doing it).
#1 Dance to the Music
I have to be in the mood to clean house. I mean, I’ll do little things like wash dishes or sweep up spilled coffee grinds when they need it, but to actually clean my apartment top to bottom, requires me to be in the right frame of mind. There’s only one thing that can put me there: Music.
If you want to make housework super fun, you have to turn the radio on. I don’t mean depressing sad songs or classical Mozart, I mean get the rock going! If you can dance to it, you can clean to it. I usually clean to M83 or Phoenix, or when I’m in one of those break-up moments where scrubbing the floors is the equivalent of scrubbing away my anger, it’s usually some angry girl band in the CD player.
#2 Have a Cleaning Party
If you have roommates, then you have to have a cleaning party! First of all, a cleaning party ensures that you aren’t the only one doing the chores. Second of all, it makes cleaning so much more fun! You and your crew grab a pizza and some wine (or soda) and laugh and share stories as you dust and clean out the fridge. It’s much easier than doing it all yourself, too.
#3 Hide Prizes
If you have kids (or roommates) a good way to make housework super fun is to hide prizes from each other! think of it like an Easter egg hunt. Each person chooses a room to clean and someone else hides a prize in the room. You can hide money, a bar of chocolate, a scratch lottery ticket…anything you can imagine! The trick to this fun house cleaning tip is to hide the prize somewhere that obviously needs to be clean, but isn’t obvious to find. Does your roommate need to make her bed? Hide something under the pillow. Does someone need to dust the Bookcase? Hide something behind one of the books.
#4 Treat Yourself
If you’re alone and have to do all the house work yourself, then make yourself a deal. if you get it all done, you can give yourself a treat. I know it sounds silly, but hear me out. There are two things that motivate me: a to do list, and a personal treat. The treat doesn’t even have to be that extravagant. I often tell myself if I get the entire house thoroughly scrubbed today I will actually sit down and start that new book. Or, I’ll let myself buy a new book. Sometimes, I even promise myself a movie or an ice-cream or a sushi dinner (it really depends on what I’m in the mood for). The idea of treating yourself afterwards is often enough to make the housework super fun.
#5 Beat the Clock
When I was a kid, my mom used to keep me home from school to help her. I don’t mean lovely games of hidden prizes or treats after, I mean scrubbing the walls with bleach and dusting every little nook and cranny. I hated it. I hated it so much I begged to go to school (a sentiment my brother didn’t share since he hated school even more).
My mom, in all her super clean wisdom, finally gave in and made up a game called “beat the clock”. She would look at the time and say, “Okay, you guys, I bet we can have this done by…” whatever time she came up with. Usually it was anywhere from one to four hours later. We’d get a small break in between for a sandwich and some very rare soda, then try to have all our chores done in time. If we did, we got to watch TV the rest of the day. if we didn’t, we had to keep cleaning (even my brother hated losing beat the clock). Today, I still time myself when I do chores. It makes me push myself to get things done.
#6 Be a Television Star
Sometimes all the self-bribery and clock motivation in the world won’t help. When that happens you have to pull out the big guns. One of the things I like to do when I’m cleaning (especially Spring cleaning) is redecorate in my head. You’ve seen HGTV, you know what I’m talking about.
What I do is pretend I’m one of those people on HGTV who needs to get a house done for a prospective new client. I am also the client, which means I get to redecorate the place in my mind as I go along cleaning. Sometimes, I even talk to the imaginary camera as I clean out the closets. Let me tell you, I’ve got huge plans for my apartment; new colored sheets for my bed, cool art decorating the walls, multiple throw pillows, and a new shower curtain. We’ll see what happens after I get this place cleaned up!
Housework is a dirty job, but someone’s got to do it. If not, the place can really get out of hand quick! Since you have to do the housework anyway, so why not come up with ways to make it super fun? So, tell me, what do you do to make your chores less demanding and more appealing?
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