How to Love Cleaning? [8 Simple Tricks]

Back when I was living with my parents, you couldn’t force me to clean my miniature room if my life depended on it. I’d clean it once a month – tops – because I didn’t really have the sense that it belonged to me. But ever since I moved in with my fiance and made our small space pretty, I’ve learned how to love cleaning, and I do it full of joy every single weekend.

What’s my secret? A couple of tips I’ll share with you.

How to Learn to Love Cleaning

Forcing yourself to clean and putting it on your calendar, but dreading the actual day won’t help you keep your home neat and tidy, but this will.

1. Use It to Multitask.

You might be thinking I’m crazy, but hear me out! What do you usually do while cleaning? Chances are, you sigh and wish it would just be over. But if you make it fun and productive instead, it’ll become a whole new thing. While I clean, I like to put on my wireless headphones (sounds like a brag, but it just makes it easier – I don’t have to worry about cables while I’m moving around) and listen to music. On my venture to figure out how to not hate cleaning, I also discovered that listening to Audible makes the time pass by so much more quickly. My personal choice is Harry Potter in Danish (I know, insane), but I won’t advise you to try that.

2. Do the Before and After.

Why do you force yourself to start cleaning in the first place? It’s probably because you’ve noticed dust layers the size of a small wave, socks everywhere, or that you have no more clean plates left. But once you’ve cleaned it up, you just end up feeling tired, rather than proud of accomplishing something, right? The solution to that is easy – snap a few photos of before and after. a) you’ll start learning how to love cleaning your house, and b) you can always send it to your husband/wife as a “here’s what I did, your turn next time!” reminder.

3. Don’t Get Distracted.

We’ve all been there. We start dusting, there’s an old photo book, we decide to “just take a peek”. Next thing you know, it’s three hours later and you’re crying over your childhood toys. It’s easier said than done, but don’t get distracted! What I do in those situations is simply set aside a pile of “to look at later”. Then once I’m done, I’ll make myself some coffee, sit down, and reminisce over the good ol’ days. If you’re wondering how to love cleaning your home, that’s one of the better tips. You’ll start appreciating all those times you come upon forgotten things or unexpected money.

4. Make a Plan.

As with most things in life, if you can visualize something, you can do it. So don’t just start cleaning to get it over with. Make a mental note of where you’ll start (I usually vacuum first, then dust, then mop the floor) and stick to it. When you’re more than halfway done you won’t be able to help but feel proud. And if you feel proud of yourself, understanding how to love cleaning your house will be a piece of cake.

5. Get Help.

If you want to prove to yourself and all those around you you can do it all and you don’t need any help – don’t. That’s the best advice I can give you. My work is flexible, so I used to only work until around 1pm (which isn’t more than 6.5 hours a day), in order to make everything look perfect by the time my fiance is back home. And then, while he enjoys his weekend, I’m stuck making up for the lost time and constantly working. So, maybe it’s time for him to learn how to enjoy cleaning the house, I thought. And would you know it – he got used to the idea, and now does half the work most of the time. I was wondering how to stop hating cleaning for so long, and it turns out this helps a lot.

6. Give It a Twist.

What to do if you hate cleaning? One of the most obvious things is – do something new! Rearrange your furniture, change the way your books are arranged, turn the sofa around… If you end up with a new-ish living room or a fancier kitchen, cleaning will have been worth your time. Plus, every time you go into it, you’ll have something to look forward to.

7. Remember Why You’re Doing It.

If your answer is “because it has to be done”, it’s not very likely you’ll learn how to love cleaning your home. One final piece of the puzzle is remembering that that home is yours. It’s there for you when you’re feeling sick, tired, when you’re experiencing good times, and it deserves to look its best. That chair you always sit on, the TV you spend your nights watching cooking shows on, the shelf with your favorite books – it belongs to you, so why not make it Pinterest-perfect?

8. Don’t Be a Perfectionist.

Just because you want to know how to fall in love with cleaning doesn’t necessarily mean you need to make it into an obsession. This took me a while to learn, but I’m finally there! When my friends would come over I’d always notice a string of spider web or some dust I missed, or my laptop screen being disgusting despite me looking at it all day long. But that became so exhausting I just told myself – It only has to be good enough. And once you start with that mindset, you’ll hardly go into the whole ordeal sighing. Rather, you’ll say – ”Time to make my home prettier!” and do it well enough.