How to Get Motivated to Clean House | 7 Ways to Spark Your Inspiration

Inside: Wanting to maintain a tidy space but having trouble feeling motivated to keep it that way? Try these 7 tips!

7 Ways to Inspire Your Desire for a Cleaner Home | Find Cleaning Motivation

I’m a recovering mess-ignorer.

It’s true. I was someone who used to walk right by the same mess multiple times a day before deciding it was time to take care of it. The mom who would have to frantically throw yesterday’s wash into the dryer the next morning just so my kids would have clean pants (…because I’d neglected to get to it the day before).

What I’m trying to say is, I understand. This post isn’t coming from someone who is naturally a “cleaner.”

I detested cleaning, even though I loved having a tidy house. But I’ve found that with a change in attitude and viewpoint, my moments spent cleaning have become some of the most peaceful and enjoyable portions of my day.

7 Ways to Find Cleaning Motivation

Here are some big steps to help you on your journey in the mess-ignorer recovery program.

Get a Change in Perspective

This is the biggest tip I have for you, and I’m giving it to you first. It’s the one that truly made the most change in my life and the one I’ve done most recently. Before my mindset shift, the rest of the changes I made only helped incrementally. But retraining my mind has lifted the burden of housekeeping in a way that I didn’t know was possible.

I say housekeeping, but now, I really see it as homemaking.

I'm not keeping a house. I'm making a home.

And that makes all the difference.

If you need help resetting your brain in this area, I HIGHLY recommend the Thankful Homemaker podcast. Marci Ferrell is a seasoned woman of God who is truly doing the work laid out in Titus 2 for mature women of faith. Her podcast has impacted my life and edified me in so so many ways.

Visit her blog and find her podcast here.

Shine Some Light on the Situation

Now for some practical day-to-day tips.

As soon as it’s light outside, my curtains come open. There’s just something about the sun that gives me a boost of energy and instantly lifts my mood.

But if I keep the curtains closed in the morning, I’m more lethargic and slow to get things taken care of.

It’s simple, but effective.

Get Scent-Spiration

Another easy mood boost comes from whatever scent is in the air.

In the morning, I like to diffuse citrus scents (like grapefruit, orange, and lemon) because they energize me and give off an aroma that my brain associates with cleaning.

Essential Oils -- Get Motivated to Clean

Use Products You love

If I don’t like how something smells or it’s not easy to clean with, chances are, I’m going to avoid using it.

For me, a cleaning product has to tick these boxes:

Smells great
Not full of garbage
Easy to use
Effective
Doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg

If it does all those things, I’m pretty much sold. Almost all of my favorites can be found on Grove collaborative, meaning they also get shipped to my door every month.

Grove Products -- Get Motivated to Clean

If you want to try it out, you can use my code for a free 5-Piece Mrs. Meyers gift set!

Keep It Simple

We often over-complicate the cleaning process. Did the women of old have a cleaning schedule with 5,042 items that they needed to check off weekly? No. Do you need an all-inclusive cleaning schedule? Probably not.

I used to follow one, but I’ve found that it’s just really unnecessary for me.

If you want to know more about what I do now instead, click here:

I will say that it can be helpful to get an idea of all the tasks that keep a home super clean. But having them set in a rigid schedule just seems to add more stress than anything else.

Start With the Most Gratifying Tasks

Get the motivation to start, and then do the thing that will bring you the right mental reward. It’ll make it easier for you to keep the ball rolling.

For example, once I do my dishes and wipe out my sink, I love the way it looks. But it’s dampened by the fact that there are crumbs and a splotch of jam on the counter. So then I wipe those down. While I’m doing that, I notice some marks on the cabinet. So I tackle that. But now the whole kitchen is clean except for the grass on the floor, so I sweep that. And if I sweep in the kitchen, I might as well go do the dining room and living room too….

And it just keeps going.

So find the motivation to start with something that you know will bring you some satisfaction, and then roll with it.

Vacuuming Rug -- Get Motivated to Clean — Vacuuming is another task that motivates me to clean other areas in the room

Delegate Where Possible

Early on in this stay-at-home mom gig, I felt like I had to do it all myself. This was what I signed up for. I had wanted my job to be taking care of the kids and the home. That’s why I quit my 9-5.

So if I wasn’t able to do it all, I suddenly felt like I was failing at my job.

Which happened daily.

But if my husband tried to step in and help, I wouldn’t let him. I’d even get upset and apologize because somewhere there was a kink in my brain making me think I was letting my family down. I wasn’t “good enough” at being a stay-at-home mom.

The weight of feeling like I had to do it all was crushing.

Part of that was an attitude thing (which weve covered). But I now find a lot of satisfaction in serving my loved ones and tending to the responsibilities of our home.

BUT that doesn’t mean I have to go it alone. My husband is great at doing the things that slip through the cracks for me at the end of the day (and I let him now). And my kids are being taught about responsibility and being members of a team by taking care of the chores I’ve delegated to them.

This isn’t a one-woman show. If it was, there’d be a lot less accomplished in the day.