Most people know that cleaning your home is a boon to your mental health. Clean spaces give us a sense of accomplishment, promote a clear mind, and genuinely make us feel happy. Cleaning is a great step to promote a happy and healthy lifestyle. However, while cleaning can promote good mental health, the way we clean is often stressful and inefficient. Cleaning your house can clear your mind, but not if you approach cleaning as a stress-inducing chore. Cleaning can and should be an activity that brings you happiness and clarity. Here are a few tips to make cleaning less stressful and keep your mental health in mind.
Make a plan
The way most people clean their homes is not conducive to creating a stress-free environment. Most people clean their homes in one day every other weekend with zero plan. The feeling of cleaning your home without having a plan makes cleaning unorganized and stressful. Where do you start? How much do I clean each room? How many more tasks do I have to do? When you clean by the seat of your pants, you lose the ability to think clearly and enjoy the process of your space slowly becoming clean and clear.
Make a cleaning plan every week and stick to that plan. If cleaning your whole house in one day stresses you out, pick a few rooms to clean every other week and rotate them each week. Set the task you plan to do for each room. Maybe you will be cleaning the floorboards this week and the windows next week. Knowing where you are going to clean and how you are going to clean will help you clean more efficiently and with a clear mind. Don’t clean in a fog. Clean with a plan and with purpose.
Clean with mindfulness
The best part of cleaning is the transformation of your home from a dirty, stinky, and cluttered mess into a sparkling, clean space you love to live and work in. The process from dirty to clean is a wonderful sensory experience, so take your time and enjoy the transformation. Find cleaning products you like that feel good to use and smell good, too. Enjoy the feel of a cleaning cloth gliding across your beautiful stone countertops. Appreciate the distinction between the areas you have mopped and areas you have not mopped yet. Light a scented candle, enjoy the scent it brings to the room, and enjoy the crackle of the wick. Take your time and enjoy the steps you are taking to make your home clean. Most importantly, when you are done, take a seat in your favorite room and enjoy the cleanliness of your space and the clarity of your mind.
Perfection is not your friend
If you are looking for dirty areas in your home, you will find them, even if those areas aren’t dirty to anyone else. We can spend all day cleaning our homes until they are absolutely perfect, but a relentless pursuit of perfection is not ideal for stress-free cleaning. If cleaning starts to become stressful or tiring, take some time to rest and appreciate what you have done, and start again when you have relaxed and centered yourself. It is also important to clean with the perspective that your home is going to get dirty, and you are going to have to clean again. Don’t stress yourself out over cleaning a home that you are going to clean again next week. You don’t have to clean your home perfectly. Clean in the moment and stop when that moment becomes stressful.
Ask for help
We all need help from time to time, and if you feel like your cleaning responsibilities are too much after a busy work week, then don’t be afraid to ask for help. Ask your family or friends to help you out every now and then. Most people want to help those close to them, and helping a friend in need benefits their mental health, knowing you are in a clean and clear space. If altruism isn’t enough, you can always nudge your friends for help by offering to buy them dinner or drinks afterward. Friends and family can also give you a new perspective on cleaning. They may do things differently and learning their methods can make you more efficient in your cleaning. If cleaning is stressful for you, call for backup and have your friends and family help you out.
Cleaning can and should be a beneficial experience for your mind and body. It is a chance to reset your home and clear your mind. Don’t let cleaning stress you out. Clean with mental health in mind. Make a plan, enjoy the experience of cleaning, don’t be a perfectionist, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Do these things, and you will clean in a way that promotes a healthy space and, more importantly, a healthy you.
—Ryan Knoll is the owner of Tidy Casa. a home-cleaning and maid service in Phoenix and Tucson. Knoll and the team at Tidy Casa provide home-cleaning services to over 600 clients in Arizona.