View Full Version : Housework spin-off...how do you motivate yourself to do it?
How do you motivate yourself to clean, particularly if it's something you really don't like doing?
I honestly just treat myself the way I treat Thomas, and tell myself I have to do a chore I don't like before I can do something fun. I usually get home from work around 10:30, and I don't have to get Thomas until 12:00, and I really like using that time to go online or read. But I can get work done around the house three times as quickly as I can when Thomas is around, so I have a "rule" that I can't sit down after I get home from work until I've taken care of the breakfast dishes and making sure everything is straightened up.
I generally try to do that with chores, and make doing them a requirement for doing a leisure activity I like. Once I tell myself "Oh, I'll just read/knit/go online/play Sims/watch a movie for a few minutes and then clean..." it's all over. ;) I have to do the chore first or I will put it off for a loooooooong time.
I invite people over :lmao i know if i know i have people coming over i will work my ass off to get the place looking half decent!
Beka, that works with Sean. If I want him to clean up, I just have to invite somebody over for dinner. :giggle Personally, I feel like if someone likes me, they better like my mess, too, ;) but Sean cannot stand having people over if the house is messy, and he has no problem cleaning all day if we're having a dinner guest.
Does Sean have an obsessively tidy mother/father? I ask because that is where that element of my personality of having to tidy for guests comes from- ordinarily i am fine to let things ride and tidy as i feel like it but i was raised in such an obsessively squeaky clean home that an immense wave of mother-guilt hits me at the thought of visitors seeing my messy home.
Amy J
04-02-2007, 10:17 AM
Lately, I've been telling myself that I have to stay on top of it because it's one of the ways that I'm getting fit and healthy. I keep moving and don't stop until I'm on the computer! lol
The other thing is that we live about 1/2 mile away from the country and we get mice and other little critters in our house all of the time so I have to stay on top of it before the animals come in.
Marzipan
04-02-2007, 11:34 AM
There are certain chores that I absolutely hate doing even though I don't mind housework in general. One thing that helps me is to turn on my iPod and set a timer for 20 minutes. I can do just about anything for 20 minutes, no matter how shitty. I figure if I once spent 20 minutes pushing a whole 'nother person out of me, then I can, by god, scrub grout for that length of time.
A schedule helps me too, and I try and make my schedule such that I'm not doing despised tasks all at once. For example, I don't mind cleaning my ferret cage, so I might do that the same day as something I particularly loathe, like cleaning the shower. I also stock up on cleaning products I like. Mrs. Meyers and Method make such nice smelling things that my house smells completely fabulous afterwards.
Christine
04-02-2007, 12:31 PM
With our schedules, I'm having to do most of the housework in the evenings or all in one day during the week. It motivates me to do a good job, since I know I'll barely have time to tidy the rest of the week. I don't like it getting to the point of being overwhelming, so I'll work hard that one day and then just tidy up the rest of the week.
Desirae
04-02-2007, 12:48 PM
I do the same as you, Lori. My main cleaning time is nap time and after bedtime as it's nearly impossible while the boys are up.
Heather
04-02-2007, 04:53 PM
I just make myself do it.. and usually gripe to myself in my head(sometimes outloud) most of the time I'm doing stuff. Like our bathroom. It needed cleaned badly and I put it off for a couple of days and did it this morning after my older two were at school. I fed Trevor and Virg.. put on the Blue's Room babysitter for Treb and plopped Virg in her walker and she wandered up and down the hallway right outside the bathroom where I was at. They never nap at the same time, so I can't wait until then to do housework.. I just gotta get up and get it done and try to work around the kiddo's lol.
If I don't do it the moment I'm motivated.. i'm likely to procrastinate. Every time. Especially with laundry. That's my most despised of all the chores. And it probably always will be.
Polly
04-02-2007, 05:06 PM
I tell CJ my back is hurting. :rofl Kidding. I grit my teeth and do it. Of course, having people over really helps.
Polly
I was thinking about this a little more, and this is what I thought of- Cleaning I don't really mind, but it's the clutter is the biggest problem here. I hate picking up after other people, and it's really hard when I have no place to put said clutter. Then it's really hard to do actual cleaning with the clutter.
I mean- of course I don't like to clean the toilet (who does?) but it's not something I hate with a passion. When I think about cleaning, the part that makes my blood boil is picking up toys, dirty socks, junk mail, etc. after all 4 of us. That's the part that's overwhelming to me. If all I had to do was vacuum, dust, wash windows it would be easy and quick.
Deh deh deh- how about I answer your actual question?! Anyway- it's typically a matter of risk of injury LOL My motivation is not wanting to cause physical injury or illness.
Maleah
04-02-2007, 08:44 PM
I do a little of what everyone else suggested.
I invite people over. Buy good smelling cleaning stuff and some neat cleaning stuff like my battery operated Black and Decker scrubber thingie. :)
I also use Flylady (sort of)
Usually I wait until about 45 mins before DH gets home and do a flight-of-the-bumblebee-housecleaning type thing. Lately the preggy hormones are kicking in big time. If Dh sees that I worked hard to have the house clean he's more likely to rub my back and :boink
:lmao