New Year in the sign of "painless" cleaning: try the Pomodoro technique, the five-minute rule or another of the proven tips!
The truth is that cleaning isn't always the best fun under the sun, so here are a few tips to make it easier and more enjoyable after a busy period. If you've clicked on this article mainly to help yourself out of the mess of an incredible bin that's just hard to manage, try this:
Pomodoro technique,
The Pomodoro technique is known for its use in management. Are you still stumped? Maybe the system of alternating work and breaks will give you a clue - both are important!
The Pomodoro Technique is built to make the worker as efficient as possible. Typically it involves 25 minutes of work and 5 minutes of break time, with every fourth break being as long as 10 minutes. Doesn't that seem like an unnecessarily complicated shenanigan? You'd be surprised how important breaks are! Not only because they give you a break, but they also work as a motivator - you can look forward to them, reward yourself with them. Moreover, it's a known fact that if we promise ourselves a break during work or study for a perfectly clear time, our brains are willing to give their best in that limited time.
The ideal is to use alarm clocks or kitchen timers for these purposes and really keep the times!
Cleaning checklists,
Are you one of those people who find to-do lists daunting or motivating? Either way, either way, they give an overview of what still needs to be done and how long it might take. Don't underestimate the power of organization. If you don't know where to start with cleaning, just write down what all needs to be done. This will not only make it easier to choose the first task, you can also filter out the details that can be put off for another time and prioritize the essentials. At the same time, there are those who are comfortable simply ticking off what they've done - it's a kind of sense of accomplishment, even if it's only part of a larger task. Try it, maybe it will motivate you too!
appliance race,
That you need to give it a little juice and a sense of challenge? How about a game with the washing machine to see who can get the job done first? Does she do the laundry first or do you vacuum the apartment first? Who's gonna win?
Doesn't that sound silly? As the classic would say, if it works, it's not stupid!
Motivational listening
You don't feel like doing anything? Put on some high-energy music to get you energized! And if rhythm doesn't do anything for you either, how about a motivational podcast?
Or an audiobook.
Speaking of listening, a good cleaning tip is to put a book in your headphones. Lots of people listen to audiobooks in the car to cut down on the journey and enjoy their favourite literature at the same time. Do you want to start reading too, but don't have the time or motivation? Take the plunge by listening first and listening while doing physical activities like cleaning. You'll see how much easier everything will suddenly go.
Zdroj: Giphy
How to keep your home tidy afterwards?
There is some good advice for that too. Let's start with the more sensory ones:
Enjoy the feeling of tidiness and remember it
Just imagine - your home is all put together, decluttered, washed, dried, ironed, polished and simply beautiful and smelling good. That's the kind of home everyone loves to come back to. Enjoy the moment when everything is done. Walk around and admire it. Sit back and just soak up the energy. Keep the pleasant impressions in your mind and keep them as well as the order.
The five-minute rule
Don't you know how it's possible that in a few days the clutter will come back and you'll have a big clean-up again? Try the five-minute rule! Anything that can be done quickly enough that it won't take more than this minute, never procrastinate. Are you just going to the bathroom and on the way you step over a plant that has fallen leaves? Pick them up. It certainly won't take more than five minutes. Washed your hands and dropped your towel? Pick it up immediately, don't walk away from it. Are you ready for bed after dinner? Surely you can still rinse one plate. You'll see how the mess will suddenly form much more slowly.
The fifteen-minute rule
Set aside an ordinary quarter of an hour a day for an honest clean. Vow to give those few minutes a day to really give your home your best effort. It doesn't seem like it, but even those fifteen minutes will do a lot. In a week, you've managed to investigate on cleaning practically almost two hours and it didn't even hurt!
Invest in organising things
That you have nowhere to stuff things, there's stuff lying around everywhere, even the tops of the cupboards and the spaces under the beds are full? Well, it's not exactly motivating to clean things up in that kind of living situation when there's simply nowhere to put them. Don't make it worse for yourself and invest in storage spaces and organizers. One day you'll be congratulating yourself for this decision.
Shut it down
The biggest impression of clutter is stuff lying around. And that's unnecessary. Plus, it's pretty demotivating even for the person who's trying to tidy up. You're rearranging, rearranging, rearranging and still feel overwhelmed? You need to put that stuff away. Spreading useless stuff on shelves, open cupboards, tables and basically wherever there's space doesn't do much good.
Of course, if you love everything you've put on display and it's an endorsement, not just a virtue out of necessity and uncertainty about what to do with it, don't be discouraged. Your home, your taste, your rules, and your lovely home mess!
