Five Ways to Take the Dread Out of Cleaning

I admit it; I often dread cleaning. With three kids, sometimes it's just too much! But I have found ways to deal with the dread.

Set priorities
You can't and don't have to get everything done at once, so you need to decide what's most important. Get those things done first, and then you can clean out the coat closet or re-organize the garage if and when you have time.

Use a timer
Take it a few minutes at a time, one task at a time. Set a timer for an amount of time you think you can handle (5-15 minutes is usually good). Choose one task or area to focus on, like emptying the dishwasher or cleaning off one section of counter. Do it until the timer rings, and stop - even if you're in the middle of something! Take a break, and then set the timer again. You still might not get everything done in one day, but at least you'll be making progress.

Develop routines
If you have a simple routine to follow each day, you'll know what to expect and you'll keep up on cleaning so the house doesn't get too bad to manage. Choose a few tasks to do in the morning and a few tasks to do at night, and keep it simple. Don't plan to do spring cleaning every day. You can also create simple weekly and monthly routines so that more detailed cleaning will get done on a regular basis.

Lower Expectations
You don't have to be perfect. Real people are not perfect. You decide what's important, and do it. Don't expect your house to look like the pictures in a magazine. Take your own pictures! Get a room the way you want it to look every day (again, not perfect), and take a picture. Use the picture to remind yourself and any helpers how the room should look.

Delegate
You don't have to do it all by yourself! Well, unless you live alone. But even then there are ways to share the work. You and a friend could swap housecleaning days sometimes - one day, you go to her house, and you clean together, and then another day you do the same at your house. You're probably still doing the same amount of work, but at least you don't have to do it alone.

If you don't live alone, enlist the rest of your household. Ask your spouse, partner, or roommate which tasks they'd be willing to take on. Give the kids a few chores to do every day. Children as young as three years old can take on small chores.

And don't expect perfection from those who are helping, either. Some people try to do everything because they feel others won't do it correctly. Let go! If the task gets done, does it really matter whether they did it exactly the way you would? Don't turn away help because of perfectionism.