I am a weird combination that makes no sense. On one hand, I am very organized…and on the other hand, I am incredibly messy. You are getting to know this about me. I need cleaning tips for someone like me! Not someone who already keeps a tidy home and loves to clean!
Messy and organized…I have always felt like this was a really weird combination, until I met with my daughter’s speech teacher a couple of years ago. When I walked into her classroom, her first words were: “I really have so many great ideas for staying organized and absolutely no follow-through.”
I immediately felt right at home. Finally, someone who gets it!
At the time, I had no follow-through because I was half-dead most days because my health was so incredibly bad (I seriously look back and have no idea how I got ANYTHING done!); but I have recovered a large amount and thus, have no excuses…other than bad habits, procrastination, overwhelm, and lack of motivation. What is my problem?
But I have spent the last year working so hard to take back my health. And I have seen success! So, though still not fully recovered, I have so much more energy and the ability to take back my house. It’s time to finish projects; use those organization methods; and re-claim my life.
Sounds great, right? Except that writing about it doesn’t actually accomplish anything!
Here’s the thing though. I started re-claiming my health in small steps and that’s how I need to approach this too.
Can you relate? Are you a messy procrastinator that doesn’t really love to clean? Has your house become a dumping ground? Would you rather spend hours on Pinterest looking up the best organization methods than actually organizing? Then, you are my girl! Here are some cleaning tips to get us going…together!
5 Cleaning Tips…for Messy Procrastinators
- Set Your Goals and Write Them Down!—
If you’ve read any of my other posts, you knew I was going here! What do you want to get done today? Start small!
Years ago, I worked as an academic coach. I loved my job and it consisted of helping at-risk college students to power through and succeed in their courses. Our team had a weekly meeting, in which our lead would begin with, “Please share a success—personal or professional—from this week.” We ALL dreaded it! Um…I was a stay-at-home mom with three kids underfoot. I wasn’t really meeting a lot of personal or professional goals.
One week, not kidding, my personal success was, “Well, today, I got all the crumbs cleaned out of my silverware drawer.” Yep! I can guarantee you that I made everyone else on my team feel AWESOME about themselves! That’s me! Lowering the bar wherever I go!
I don’t care if that’s your little goal for the day, write it down and CHECK IT OFF when you GET IT DONE!
Setting small, attainable goals is the key to changing bad habits and staying motivated. Write down your goals. Check them off as you achieve them. And celebrate once you meet your goals for the day!
I highly recommend setting big-impact goals. Big-impact cleaning projects are things that take a small amount of effort and time, but make a big impact like cleaning your kitchen and dining room floors; putting the shoes in the entry way away so you’re not tripping over them when you walk in; cleaning up just one room so you have one place that doesn’t make you crazy, etc.
Do not make the rookie mistake of setting goals that are too lofty. This is the mistake I make every single time. I set too many goals, or goals that are too high, and then I feel like a failure when I don’t reach them. There is nothing that kills motivation faster than failure…so keep your bar low at first, and gradually start to raise it.
Before long, your habits will be changing and you’ll be living in a cleaner, more organized house.
- Eat the Octopus First—
What is the biggest project that is hanging over your head? What have you been dreading the most?
That’s the project you must tackle! Bite down hard, and eat that octopus! Once that big, gross, thing is out of the way, you will feel energized and satisfied! This way, your next project will be a little less awful, and you’ll just move through projects from the worst to the best and end with sweet success!
But, of course, keep the first step in mind, which is to set attainable goals. That means, don’t say, “Today, I’m going to tackle cleaning my entire garage.” Instead, set goals to complete projects within your garage, and keep at it until that garage is clean! (Absolutely preaching to myself here.)
- Create Some Pressure—
If you’re a procrastinator, then you know that pressure leads to productivity. Ideally, we would learn to not procrastinate, right? But that’s for a different day!
If you know that you are a procrastinator, then the way to be productive is to create pressure for yourself.
When I was a kid, my mom left a list of chores to get done while she was at work. It seemed like a ridiculous amount of chores, but considering that I rarely got started until about 20 minutes before she got home, it obviously wasn’t that much.
The crummy thing about procrastinating is that you never really do the best job you could, because you’re just working furiously to get things done.
So, by tricking yourself into pressure, you may complete tasks more quickly, and do them well! Maybe you give yourself only a 15-minute window to get that junk drawer cleaned out. I race against the clock all day long. I trick my brain into feeling pressure—and I am much more productive.
- Clean in a Circle—
I’m sure you have heard this before, but it is one of those cleaning tips that really does work well for me. When I’m overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin, I pick a corner and clean in a circle.
Many people say to clean clockwise, but I don’t find that to matter. Just clean in a circle in whatever direction works best for you!
If I am really overwhelmed, I just start putting things away, working in a circle. Some recommend cleaning the entire room—cupboards, counters, floors, appliances, etc. as you work your way in a circle.
I find that to be too much. It takes too long and doesn’t make a big impact. Instead, just start by cleaning up the big stuff, so you can easily see your progress!
- Declutter Hotspots—
If nothing else, just declutter your hotspots. Hotspots are coffee tables, counter tops, kitchen table, basically any flat surface that is a junk collector.
I do not understand why when the entire house is a complete mess, if I have ONE clean surface in the house, that is where my kids or my husband dump their junk! WHY?!?
The other day, I swept out the garage and lined up all the bikes neatly in the garage to make them easily accessible for the kids. So, what do they do? Bring in a box of junk from the van and drop it right behind the bikes! WHY?!?
That’s life, I guess. But if you take just a few minutes to declutter the main hotspots, you’ll feel better and your house will look better. That’s one of those big-impact, feel-good, give-you-energy-to-keep-going jobs!
My next few days are “project days” in my mind. My follow-through might be different, but I’m writing goals down, making a game plan, and following my own cleaning tips in order to meet these goals.
It amazes me, though, how often I have seen the success of those who set three small goals, write them down, and follow through; and yet, how often I forget to do this! It is so easy to forget the importance of goal-setting, when your goals seem so insignificant, but if you’re overwhelmed, do not skip it!
Also, if you are working on a big project, like that mess of a garage, or the basement dumping ground, take a before picture so you can refer to it as you work through the small projects. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get discouraged and feel as though you don’t see any progress…continuing the cycle of procrastination. Feeling like you’re getting somewhere is incredibly important to cleaning your house, when you’re a messy procrastinator!
By the way, being a messy procrastinator is not always a bad thing! It’s especially not bad if you’re spending most of your time playing with your precious children and not worrying about keeping a perfect home…but let’s get real for a moment.
Sometimes, you have to pick up the big stuff! Sometimes, your husband needs to be able to walk through the door without knocking over a pile. Living in chaos affects mental health, and relationships in many ways.
Cleaning up makes your home more comfortable for your whole family. Having a comfortable home makes your children enjoy being at home too!
And, get your kids to help with chores! Even very young children can do chores to help out. This is an important part of being a mom, like it or not!
So, let’s work on this together. We can do this! It might take me a while, but I am going to re-claim my house and get organized! Implementing these cleaning tips will help us both!
RElated: How to Start Cleaning When You Feel Overwhelmed
