11 tips for staying motivating to clean your home

As we make our way slowly back to resuming normal life, I'm having a hard time finding motivation to get much done. I decided to gather all my tips and tricks that I normally use for tough times and big projects and write them all down. Maybe through this post, you'll be able to find some inspiration for tackling a messy area in your home, too!

1. The number one thing I do before tackling any big cleaning project is to get mentally prepared. This could mean a number of things: Put on some music, open the windows. Wear your PJs, or get dressed for the day and put your hair up (I like to wear a pair of flip flops -- I hate crumbs on my feet!). Brew a pot of coffee or eat a couple cookies as you work. Put on a sitcom or something you can listen to don't really have to pay close attention to. Whatever you need to do to create a pleasant environment in which to work. Don't just start cleaning. If you do and you're like me, you'll soon find yourself distracted, unmoved, and tired. I actually prefer to wait until the entire room is clean to light candles -- that's like my "job well done" for myself.

2. I love to read blog posts about cleaning and organizing. I know that Pinterest is normally for reading about people doing things and then not actually doing them, but you can use it for some really great inspiration when you need to get pumped up about cleaning up. ;) Even if they are simple and something I've heard before, they help get me in the mindset to start cleaning.

3. See if a friend or family member can come over and help with the kids while you're busy. I'm so lucky to live near my parents, and they have been able to watch River and Austen practically every time I've needed them. But when you're parenting 24/7, what do you really want to do when the kids are out of the house? Truthfully, I just want to lie down and binge watch The Office and eat something the kids aren't allowed to have. But I can get a ton of work done if one of my sisters comes over and distracts and entertains my kids so I can clean. If you ask someone to come over to be a mediator for your children so you can work, you're not going to kick back and relax while they are there... you're going to work!

4. Think about how you'll feel after things are clean. Take a moment to breathe and look around the room you're about to tackle -- imagine the floors vacuumed, every surface cleared, and a sparkling, inviting feel in the entire space. Sure, it'll take work to get it there, but I know once it's clean, I'll feel so much better and victorious over the mess that was trying to take over my life and my home.

5. When you start, first clean the things you don't mind cleaning. For me, it's the living room. To move clothes to the laundry room, put the kids' toys back in their room, take dishes to the sink, fluff the throw pillows, dust, and vacuum is no big deal. I actually enjoy it (as opposed to cleaning the kitchen, which I hate more than scrubbing the toilet). So I start with the living room, and when that's done, I'll flip on a few lamps, light a candle, and open a window so that the environment of my home feels calmer. That alone motivates me to tackle other areas.

6. Feel good about every little thing that gets done! If you're tired, achy, and unmotivated, you should celebrate over little victories. Sometimes, instead of making a To-Do list, I make an Already-Done list as I work. As busy moms, we something tend to underestimate the amount of work we actually do in a day. After every task, no matter how small, write it down and be proud of yourself for the work you got done, and watch your list grow. It will encourage you to keep adding to it.

7. Try giving yourself a specific amount of time to work on something, or a simple chore, instead of setting about to do the entire thing. I often won't start cleaning something because I know the amount of time it takes to complete it is more than I have the motivation or patience for. I can stare at my horribly messy kitchen and know it is a good hour of work, and not want to touch it. But never underestimate the power of a good halfhearted job! If you look at it as getting the job done one step at a time, it'll be easier. For instance, I may not have the motivation to get my entire kitchen clean, but I can unload the dishwasher. Then I can clear and wipe the counters. And by that time, I can either stick to my halfhearted goal and take a breather, or just keep on keepin' on. Before you know it, the kitchen is either clean or looks 50% better than when you started. Every little bit of work helps. And there's less to clean up when you do decide to finish.

8. Another approach is to do a little halfhearted housework in each room. Just because you stopped cleaning one area of your home doesn't mean you can't move on to another area. Sometimes it's all you need for a fresh view. A change of pace. My brain tends to hop from one thing to another, so I may give myself 15 minute chunks of time to complete one task in each room, making a circle. Each room will start to feel a little bit less chaotic and you may not get worn down or discouraged as you might when tackling one giant project at a time.

9. Pick your top three things that need to be clean to make you feel less chaos. You can pick three for your entire home, or three for each room. For me, my top three are a cleared & wiped counters, vacuumed carpets, and a made bed. Here are my top three for each room.

Kitchen
Cleared and wiped surfaces
Swept floors
Dirty dishes in sink

Living Room

Couch made up and throw pillows in place
Floor cleared & vacuumed
All clutter on one surface

Bedroom
Bed made
Floor cleared & vacuumed
All clutter on one surface

Bathroom
Trash taken out
Cleared & wiped countertop
Sanitized toilet

10. One way to get rid of clutter fast is to go around the house and pick up anything that doesn't belong in that room. Have one basket to carry around and toss everything in, or have a basket for each room (or each family member). Empty it out at the end of the day so the junk doesn't continue to pile up!

11. And last of all, this one doesn't have so much to do with the cleaning process as keeping things clean. A gem that I got from The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin is: finish what you start! Look at everything as having a complete beginning and an end. Making a peanut butter sandwich doesn't just involve slapping some peanut butter and jelly on two pieces of bread. You finish the job by putting the bread away, putting the dishes in the sink, and wiping the crumbs off the counter. Making a nice cup of hot tea and reading a book on the couch at the end of the day also involves putting the tea bag in the trash, putting the cup in the sink, placing the book back on the bookshelf, and folding the blanket. Catch my drift? It's so very simple, but if you truly follow this "rule," it can actually save you a lot of mess heartache!

sweet potato, avocado, and chevre quesadillas

This will remain one of my all-time favorite lunches! I made this one afternoon when I didn't have a whole lot of food on hand. Luckily, I was feeling creative. I decided to combine three of my favorite flavors, and was so pleasantly surprised with the result. I need to make these again. Soon.

Directions for making one quesadilla. Use as much of the following ingredients as you want.



Sweet potato, very thinly sliced
Onion, sliced
Avocado
1 oz. chevre
2 tortillas
Softened butter

Saute the sweet potato in oil of choice for about ten minutes (I prefer butter or coconut oil). Add the onion and saute until translucent. Remove from heat. Generously spread softened butter evenely on one side of the first tortilla and place butter-side down in pre-heated skillet. Make sure the bottom of the tortilla is covered in butter -- this will make sure it is evenly toasted. While the tortilla heats up, add a layer of sweet potato & onion, avocado, and chevre. Salt & pepper to taste. Cover with the second buttered tortilla, butter-side up, and when the bottom tortilla looks golden brown, flip the quesadilla. When that side is golden brown as well, remove from heat and serve! You won't want to share.

beach trip

navigating

Before I even started feeling sick, I just sort of accepted my fate. I knew I'd be lying in bed, I knew the apartment would fall apart, and I knew my kids would spend hours in front of the computer watching uneducational television. When you can barely turn over without wanting to puke, arguing over whether or not they can watch My Little Pony isn't a priority.

But by this time, I have no one to blame but myself. I'm tired and weak and it's because I'm anemic. Which is because I was too sick to take my iron supplement. But I'm not sick anymore, haven't been for four weeks. And I still haven't started my supplements.

I just ordered them today. They should be in the mail in a few days. I'm looking forward to it, because I've begun to realize I'm not just lazy, I'm actually really, really tired. Not sleepy. I don't want to sleep. But I do lie in bed all day. I can't get myself up to do anything. Small tasks are hard. And I've mentioned before how I'm a crazy perfectionist who won't even try to clean up a little if it means I can't clean up a lot.

What's the use of unloading the dishwasher if I also can't load it, clear the table, wipe the counters, sweep, and then mop? I want to knock the person who ever said that infamous quote about a job half-done. Whatever it is. Sometimes all you can do is half a job, and that's better than not doing anything, right? Right. At least that's what I have to tell myself lately.

So today, I'm picking up my bedroom. And I'm doing it slow as molasses. I don't care that it took me fifteen minutes to clear my bed, take off the old sheets and blankets, put on fresh ones, and then take a break before figuring out what I was going to do next.

I don't even know what comes next. I don't know if the nexts will ever end. My home hasn't been such a disaster since I was pregnant with Austen. Even though I haven't been dealing with nausea and vomiting in a month, I can't seem to catch up. When things are this messy, there's not enough time in the day to win the race against the mess. It just keeps happening. We keep living, and then the living creates more mess. Like dishes and crumbs on the floor. Dirty socks in the living room. Towels strewn about the bathroom. And maybe that doesn't sound like a big deal, but when there's already three month's worth of mess in every corner and atop every surface, it is. One can hardly dig through to see the bottom before a pile gets placed somewhere else. And I'm tired. So tired.

Right now I'm curled up on my bed mending a tear in my bedspread that's been there for five years. It's about damn time. There's a load of laundry going and it's sweet music to my ears, because there are only the linens left to wash once it's done. Right now I'm ignoring the fact that the six loads of laundry that have been washed also need to be sorted, folded, and put away. After my blanket is mended I can move all said laundry to the top of my bed, all nice-and-neat like, and work on picking up the toys, books, trash, clothes, crumbs, diapers, notebooks, loose papers, and other things that have been lying on the floor for a couple weeks.

Maybe if I ever get my home clean, I can start being a mother again, instead of sticking my square-eyed children in front of the TV from morning 'till night. And then maybe we can welcome Baby into a clean, orderly, peaceful home where the kids don't fight and a made-from-scratch dinner's on the table every evening just as Daddy walks in the door, and our time is spent reading classic children's books and painting and cuddling and putting our laundry up right away (and not navigating our way from bridge to town to Candy Mountain with a certain loud-mouthed little girl).

But I'm not complaining. This is just an observation. I'm fairly certain I'll catch up and that my children will survive and won't be permanently damaged by their over-consumption of Dora. I think.