Often, cleaning an apartment does not bring pleasure to housewives. They forcefully and out of necessity wash the floors, wipe the dust and wash dirty linen. It takes a lot of time and energy to put things in order in the house.
But if you organize this work correctly, you can turn routine household chores into pleasure. There are several cleaning methods that save time and prevent you from using too much energy.
Why do you lose the desire to put things in order?
The reasons why a woman doesn’t want to start cleaning are usually very simple. Among them:
- reluctance to waste time on this activity;
- physical fatigue;
- lack of emotional mood.
Most often, reluctance to start cleaning is explained by a combination of several reasons. Therefore, before taking any action, you need to find out why exactly there is no desire to clean the house. Having understood and eliminated the negative factor, it is much easier to force yourself to clean the apartment:
- When a woman works, it is difficult for her to find time for cleaning. In this case, a schedule of days for cleaning will help, when a quarter of an hour is allocated for putting things in order. If it is difficult to maintain cleanliness using such a system, you can devote several hours to the household at once, but on one day of the week.
- If the housewife is very tired physically, you need to think about where the energy goes and how to distribute it correctly so that you have the energy to restore order in the house. Additionally, it is worth thinking through the cleaning process in advance so that you spend a minimum amount of time on this activity.
- The hardest thing is to restore your emotional state. Housewives expose themselves to too much psycho-emotional stress. Then the need to do unpleasant things is perceived as additional stress. To solve this problem, use additional little things that will make this work more enjoyable. For example, turn on your favorite music.
Psychological moment
As we noted at the beginning, the psychological attitude is very important in cleaning. A positive attitude towards yourself, towards home, and loved ones helps a lot. Do you remember what symbolic meaning in Germany they attach to cleaning old things on New Year’s Eve? For Germans, throwing trash out of the house is a symbol of cleansing, it is readiness for a new life, for change, for a new stage of the journey.
Cleaning an apartment is akin to this process. By cleaning, throwing out litter, trash, getting rid of old things, you put your life and your thoughts in order.
During mechanical work, it is useful to think about what is important. Creative people write poetry, think through the text of the next article for a magazine. Technical people think through solutions to complex engineering problems. Sometimes this leads to amazing discoveries and useful things.
There is another psychological technique that is often used when they don’t know how to force themselves to clean a house, apartment or room. This is a gift. Come up with a gift for yourself, a pleasant reward for your efforts. For example, a visit to a restaurant, a friend’s house, a movie or theater. Perhaps someone will be stimulated by a candlelit evening with wine and cheese. Everyone has their own joys. Don't skimp on them for yourself. And then your cleaning will fly by.
Video: how to motivate yourself to clean if you’re lazy?
Motivation for cleaning
Lack of desire will make even the simplest task seem too difficult. Many reasons and obstacles to fulfilling it immediately pop up in the mind. Therefore, you need to come up with the right motivation for cleaning. It is especially important to do this before general cleaning of the entire apartment.
The easiest way to think through motivational moments is in families with children. They always copy their parents. Therefore, the attitude of adults towards cleaning and cleanliness is perceived by children as a guide to action. The child will not maintain the cleanliness if he daily observes the parent's negative attitude towards this.
By the condition of the apartment, you can understand what kind of people live in it. To make the house cozy, every thing should be in its place and create a pleasant, peaceful mood. If the apartment is chaos and disorder, you want to run out of it in horror.
Important! Concepts such as obesity, difficulties at work, and problems in your personal life are associated with maintaining cleanliness in a house or apartment. In a mess and dirt, you cannot set yourself up for positive thinking or adhere to the principles of a healthy lifestyle. Cleanliness in the house, on the contrary, makes thoughts clearer, brings peace to thoughts, and relieves tension from the body.
Choose the right detergents
Where would James Bond be without his car-boat, a ring with a video camera, a hidden pistol and a watch with a saw? Most likely, he could not get out of those troubles into which his service on Her Majesty’s guard had driven him. We don’t have to do not give a gender to the same, you are noteworthy of the same. CE chews. Buy a basic set of products: dust cloths, sponge cloths for washing the bathtub and toilet, anti-plaque and rust remover, simple cleaning powder, floor cleaner and detergent for washing glass. Don't forget about two pairs of gloves - you'll need the second one in case the first one gets torn. So that you don’t forget anything, we have compiled a list:
How to force yourself to start cleaning
How quickly the work started will depend on the correctly chosen attitude. Therefore, before you force yourself to clean the house, you need to prepare:
- psychologically let go of all problems;
- for a positive mood, turn on an interesting movie or favorite music;
- think over a cleaning plan, dividing the apartment into several zones and considering the sequence of your actions.
It takes no more than seven minutes to develop a psychological attitude and mental systematization. After this, cleaning no longer seems such a scary and time-consuming task. Soft, pleasant music or a TV playing in the background will support a positive mood.
Then they begin to put things in order, following a mental plan. At the same time, it is important not to be distracted by those things that were not included in the original list. This technique is suitable for easy daily maintenance of order in the apartment and for large general cleaning.
Fly Lady system
The founder of this method was a housewife from the USA, Marla Seelly. She figured out how to force herself to clean without experiencing negative emotions back in 1999. Now this method is supported and actively practiced by more than a million women and men.
The concept of this method is that you don't have to clean your house every week, devoting your entire Saturday to this activity. Marla Seelly suggested that it is much more effective to tidy up every weekday for a quarter of an hour, and to spend the weekends interestingly and profitably. To complete the allotted 15 minutes, you need to act quickly and set a timer. After his signal, work stops.
On weekdays, the housewife is engaged in putting things in order only in one of the zones. At the same time, she follows a clear sequence:
- dining area and hallway;
- pantry or laundry room, kitchen;
- bathroom and children's rooms, this also includes a workshop, if available;
- bedroom and toilet;
- living room.
Also during the day, time is provided for performing mandatory “routine” work and 5 minutes a day for sorting out debris that forms on shelves or in drawers. Additionally, on one weekday, the entire apartment is cleaned, when all the floors are washed or vacuumed for an hour.
Followers of the Flylady system especially carefully monitor the condition of the kitchen sink. It is kept perfectly clean at all times. Apart from this, there are some useful principles that apply to all people. Flylady women do not spend a long time at the computer; they do everything consistently and do not forget to maintain a good mood.
Important! To track time, it is preferable to use a mechanical timer rather than an electronic one. Rhythmic ticking stimulates work more effectively.
Get ready to clean
If you perceive cleaning as a tedious and unpleasant task, that’s what it will be. Try to change your perception - if you succeed, the process will be painless. The whole family can do the cleaning by distributing responsibilities. Turn cleaning into a game or competition if children are involved. If you rent an apartment with someone, agree to clean up the mess together - it’s both more fun and somehow more honest. If you have to do general cleaning alone, don’t worry. At least no one will interfere, and sometimes it’s important to be alone. Make a playlist with your favorite music on Youtube or find a ready-made one in Apple Music or Yandex.Music. Correctly selected tracks will help you relax. To make things go even faster, assign yourself some kind of reward. If you are cleaning up with your family, agree that after this you will go to the cinema or to a cafe, if with friends, then arrange a small feast. In the end, you can promise yourself that if you don’t break down and take everything away, buy a long-awaited book, a game, a shirt, or treat yourself to a delicious dinner in a restaurant.
Cleaning according to Feng Shui
This ancient Chinese teaching contains advice for all occasions, including the proper organization of cleaning. To force yourself to clean your room, you need to follow a few simple recommendations:
- The time for major house cleaning falls on the waning moon. In this phase, a person gains strength to carry out routine tasks. He becomes more patient. The energy in the house becomes more favorable.
- Garbage is thrown out of the apartment before sunset, observing periodicity.
- To improve material well-being and psychological comfort, water pipes and sewers are kept in perfect order and cleanliness in the house.
Feng Shui advises treating cleaning as a process of cleansing the human soul, and not just as clearing away rubble in the surrounding space. At this time, energy channels are released, allowing well-being into the house. If a person approaches putting things in order with such awareness, he does this work with inspiration.
Ways to make cleaning more enjoyable
In order not to be lazy in the process of cleaning the house, work begins in a good mood. It is better to do this right in the morning, when a person is cheerful and full of strength. For this work, it is better to wear comfortable clothing that does not restrict movement.
To lift your mood, you can use household chemicals with a pleasant aroma. It will fill the room and inspire new achievements. For the same purpose, it is recommended to take high-quality accessories, sponges and brightly colored rags.
To make the process go quickly and the cleaning to be of better quality, you can use a time limit. Then there will be no desire to be distracted by extraneous matters. As an incentive, you need to come up with a small reward for yourself for quality work done. And you won't have to redo everything.
How to properly clean a refrigerator
The inner walls of the device are able to absorb odors from the products stored in it. Therefore, over time, the refrigerator begins to smell unpleasant. To get rid of this, it is not enough to wash it from the inside with high-quality detergents.
To eliminate unpleasant odors, high-quality absorbents are needed. Activated carbon is suitable for this purpose. The tablets are taken out of the pack and placed in a saucer on the refrigerator shelf. If the volume is large, you will need several of these plates. Baking soda has a similar effect. Periodically, the used absorbent is replaced with fresh one.
Lemon is suitable for periodic cleaning and eliminating unpleasant odors. The fruit is cut into two halves and the inner walls of the refrigerator are wiped. After a quarter of an hour, simply wipe them with a damp cloth. After this treatment, there will be no unpleasant odor or dirt left.
Important! A solution of baking soda will help remove heavy stains in the refrigerator. Dilute 2 tbsp in warm water. l. product and wipe the inside of the device. There is no need to rinse off the soda.
Basic cleaning steps
If general cleaning is planned, it is carried out in a certain order. To begin with, they clean up the living rooms. They clean the children's room one by one, then move on to the master bedroom and living room. During cleaning, they sort things out along the way, throwing away unnecessary things. To clean properly, it is important not to forget to wipe the dust from paintings, wall shelves and other furniture in the rooms. After this, the floor in the room is washed or the carpet is cleaned.
Then they move on to the kitchen and bathroom. Here, special attention is paid to the cabinet doors, countertops, sink and stove. No one forces you to wash them until they shine, but it is necessary to maintain cleanliness. To clean the oven from soot and deposits from the inside, ammonia is used. It is poured into a wide container and placed inside the device overnight. By morning, the impurities will soften and come off easily.
In the bathroom and toilet, dirt is wiped off the tiles, mirrors are cleaned, plumbing fixtures, faucets and taps are washed. The shower stall is washed with high-quality detergents with a disinfecting effect to prevent the formation of mold and mildew.
To make cleaning easier, old things that have served their purpose are thrown away on time, rather than piles of rubbish piled up. Therefore, you need to periodically throw out:
- stale press;
- expired cosmetics;
- worn shoes that are no longer used;
- out of shape underwear, mismatched socks;
- empty packaging;
- dried bouquets and indoor plants;
- old dishes and kitchen utensils;
- expired products;
- broken items.
Rely on other people's experience
Find out from your friends how they usually do general cleaning and what difficulties they encounter. Other people's experience helps to avoid mistakes. We asked our friends to save your time.
It turned out, for example, that SMM star Andrey Frolchenkov
believes that “there is no point in tying general cleaning to any time of the year.” He says: “It’s dirty - get out!” Everything. Period. I very rarely have to do general cleaning of the house, since my place is almost always clean. My mother was obsessed with cleanliness and this was passed on to me. I start general cleaning with a vacuum cleaner and dusting, beating out carpets, then washing windows, plumbing fixtures, bathtubs and toilets. Well, and so on. I finish everything by wet cleaning and airing the house. I always work in partnership with my wife. There is enough for the two of us in our apartment. We simplify the task by taking snack breaks or simply checking the phone. The main thing is not to get carried away. Sometimes we turn on music. In general, we have one secret: if you start general cleaning, clean until the end.”
Writer and procrastinologist Maxim Dorofeev
asserts that “cleaning, by the way, is done very well when you need to tidy up something. That is, you are waiting for the session, the time for filing a tax return, preparing a tax report... And then the desire to clean up appears. I somehow don’t do any of this feat. I clean when my wife forces me to. And we haven’t had any general cleaning for a hundred thousand years. We are somehow little by little and evenly.”
Journalist Lesya Ryabtseva
says: “Sometimes improvised products can be a good alternative to cleaning tools. For example, I often use my grandmother’s methods - soda, vinegar, lemon, toothpaste to whiten surfaces. And in general, I try to limit myself and my family as much as possible from chemicals, I read the ingredients of sprays and gels, I don’t buy anything that contains alkali and possible allergens. But you also need to get used to such detergents, they lather worse, and after the soap opex, which I previously used instead of washing powder, in general, clothes have a specific smell, I had to give up opex. By the way, I am very concerned about the topic of cleaning drains and washing machines. I know that some people don’t even think about the fact that the machine needs additional help, because it’s already, as it were, constantly in the water. In fact, due to the fact that washing machines pass through all this mass of scale and soap, they need help - once every 3 months I use special tablets for rinsing the inside morning techniques."
How to get rid of burning smell
If something catches fire in your apartment, it is important to first get rid of the source of the fire. Having eliminated it, throw away all damaged things and ventilate the apartment. After this, an unpleasant burning smell remains, which does not disappear for a long time. Humidifying the room will help get rid of the burning smell. To do this, simply turn on the water in the bathroom and kitchen. The evaporating water will pick up the burning smell. All that remains is to simply collect it from the floor with an unnecessary rag.
Additionally, plates with absorbent are placed around the room. It will attract an unpleasant aroma. For this purpose coffee and salt are used. The effect of using these substances will occur within a few hours. Wet cleaning with vinegar added to the water will help eliminate the unpleasant stench. To give the air in the apartment a pleasant aroma, lay out lemon or orange peels.
Invite your colleagues home
It is worth inviting not close friends, but some acquaintances or colleagues. Your best and closest friends will forgive you for a small or big mess, and your colleagues will wash your bones the next day and discuss all your shortcomings. After you have already been invited, there will be no question of whether to clean or not, the only correct answer will be “necessary”, and quickly and efficiently. Therefore, get up from the couch and get started, because you will need to set the table, which means you will have time to go to the store, and even get yourself in order.
Rational cleaning
If you don’t want to constantly clean the house, you need to properly allocate time and energy to cleanliness. To begin with, they will organize a general cleaning. It will serve as a starting point for further maintenance of cleanliness. During the process of such cleaning, they simultaneously inspect things and mercilessly throw away everything that has not been used for 2 years or more. These things only take up space and accumulate dust. If you have never needed them in 2 years, there is little chance that they will be useful in the future.
Then a permanent place is found for all things. Then, having used one of them, you just need to put it in place. So, you don’t need to spend a lot of time and effort to maintain cleanliness. Clothes are immediately put away in the closet, not left on chairs and sofas.
Important! In order to maintain cleanliness longer, the living quarters are cleaned first, and then the utility rooms, gradually moving towards the exit from the apartment. In the room, cleaning begins with sweeping away dust from the ceiling and chandeliers, and then moves on to the furniture and floor.
To make work easier, rationally use household chemicals. They greatly simplify and speed up the process of laundering an apartment. Furniture polish will protect it from dust longer, and modern stain removers are used to remove stains.
Create a cleaning plan
If you have decided that you will do the cleaning yourself, we do not advise you to take on the task right away. First, develop a plan. Take a piece of paper and break your work into stages. If you don’t know where to start, take our list as a starting point. There are seven points in it.
- Start by sorting out old and unnecessary things. Get rid of trash that you won't need sooner, collect small trash and unnecessary papers around your apartment.
- Inspect hard-to-reach and heavily polluted places. This is a bathroom, toilet, stove and hood. Spray the surface with detergent from a spray bottle, fill the detergent with anti-rust liquid - and leave it alone so that the product has time to act.
- Keep your apartment free of dust. You will need a vacuum cleaner with attachments for furniture and microfiber cloths that do not leave streaks on smooth surfaces.
- Deal with the bathroom. Before scrubbing the plumbing with a sponge, be sure to wear rubber gloves - detergents dry out your hands. Wash the surface with horizontal movements so as not to leave streaks. To wash the toilette, buy a separate brush.
