15 Tips on How to Get Motivated to Clean Your Home

It is easy to let your home turn into a cluttered, messy house when you have a busy lifestyle. But, it is also just as easy to keep your home clean and tidy if you approach it with a motivated mindset and the right tools to keep you on track.

If you are having trouble getting motivated to clean your home, don’t worry. I have 15 tips for you that will help you get started and keep your home clean all year long.

How to get motivated to clean your home

Below is a list of my 15 best tips to teach you how to get motivated to clean your home today.

1) Create a Cleaning Playlist

If you enjoy music, create a cleaning playlist that gets you pumped up and ready to clean. I find that upbeat music helps me get in the cleaning mood and also makes the task go by faster.

Plus, it’s always nice to have some tunes to jam out to while you’re doing such physically demanding work. I personally feel that deep cleaning my floors by vacuuming and mopping in one day is just as strenuous as a full-body workout at the gym.

So whether you like to jam out to acoustics, or heavy metal, try creating a playlist that gets you pumped up for some great cleaning and housework before getting started.

2) Get Dressed for Cleaning

I have found that having a specific outfit I wear for cleaning helps me get into the mindset of hard, dirty housework. I usually have light, loose clothing that I wouldn’t mind if it gets stained or ruined from bleach and other chemicals while deep cleaning.

3) Create Cleaning Goals for Each Living Space

A tool that can help you get through cleaning your entire home each week is to set goals and expectations for yourself. For example, you don’t just go to the gym and aimlessly use random machines and classes.

You plan ahead, make goals, and decide your workouts for each daily season ahead of time. Cleaning your home is very similar, you will want to create goals for each room and area of the home, and each day work towards meeting those goals.

Some goals like organizing a pantry, or under the sink, can be daunting, so just remember to take things one step at a time and create goals first to motivate you to get started.

4) Start a Daily Cleaning Routine

A quick (15 minutes or less) daily cleaning routine can be the perfect cure for a messy house. If you struggle with always having dirty dishes in the sink, shoes, and toys on the living room floor, and general clutter in your entire house, then you will need to decide on the 5 things you want to do each morning and night to prevent feeling completely overwhelmed when it is time to clean.

This can be as simple as making your bed right when you wake up, emptying the dishwasher while your cup of coffee is brewing, wiping counters after breakfast, and starting the washer with a daily load of laundry before doing anything else for the day.

Then, each night right before bed load and set the dishwasher to clean overnight, wipe the kitchen counters again, and pick up any items off the floor, then put away clothes from the dryer and you are ready for tomorrow.

This may sound too simple, and that’s probably because it is. However, once you begin to tell yourself there is no option of missing a day of daily 15-minute cleaning tasks, those weekends of doing 5 loads of laundry and making everyone help out will be long gone as you have empty baskets on Saturday morning.

The true secret to a tidy home is good daily chores that are non-negotiable. You will find it easier to get deep cleaning done throughout the week, and notice all the dishes that used to stack high in the sink and are nowhere to be found!

5) Print a Cleaning Tasks Checklist for Every Room

Creating a deep cleaning to-do list for every room of your home can help you see on paper how much needs to be done each week. This checklist should include things like cleaning showers and toilets, vacuuming and mopping, and dusting each room.

Once you have your game plan, you can print off the checklist, and when it is time to clean that room you can check off all the tasks you get done. If you miss or don’t have time for something one week make sure to get it done the following week to stay on top of things.

6) Build a Cleaning Schedule for Your Entire Home (and stick to it)

Now that you have a cleaning playlist, goals, and strategy you can put it all together to make a cleaning schedule for your entire house. This schedule should include daily, weekly, and monthly cleaning tasks to cover every area of your home.

This may be the best tip on how to get motivated to clean your house as it will help you understand what areas you are missing and how to have a more clean house in no time.

7) Always Have Cleaning Supplies Handy

Another great tip on how to get motivated to clean your house is to have little portable cleaning stations around the house. The best places to keep these portable cleaning totes is the laundry room, under the kitchen sink, in bathrooms, or in a cleaning closet.

When you are ready to get messy and deep-clean the house, you can easily grab a portable tote with the essential cleaning solutions and items you need to get started right away. Another great benefit of doing this is that when you have a spill or mess you can quickly grab your cleaning tote and get it tidied up immediately.

8) Use Cleaning Products That You Love

If you love the way your house smells after mopping it is much easier to get motivated to mop the floor (my least favorite cleaning activity!) Pick a floor cleaner, bathroom cleaning products, and surface cleaners that make you feel great and give your home a welcoming feel.

If you hate the smell of bleach, then use natural alternatives, and don’t use bleach products when cleaning. This way you can enjoy the process and don’t have to struggle through the entire deep cleaning session.

9) Create a Pinterest Board for Cleaning Motivation

If you have a Pinterest account, get started pinning ideas of tidy homes that are designed and decorated just like you want your home to be. When you don’t feel like cleaning your shower or making your bed open up the app and take a look at the beautiful inspiration to help get you motivated to stay on track.

10) Make Cleaning Fun for the Whole Family

If you have a family, especially if you have a large one, you can find ways to get every single family member involved in tidy housekeeping. Give each person a designated area to keep clean and once a week has a competition to see who can do all their chores the fastest! The winner gets to pick the next movie night, or restaurant the family goes to.

If you have children under 6 then get them motivated to tidy up by rewarding them with a trip to the park or a small, inexpensive (dollar store) toy to reward them weekly for keeping up with their areas.

11) Read Books on Housekeeping

Not everyone is a geek like me, but if you are you may enjoy reading some housekeeping or home economics books to help you understand more about what is involved in keeping a tidy home. Even the local library has books on cleaning and gardening that could be of use for inspiration and motivation.

There are magazines at the checkouts of almost every store too! These can be a great resource for cleaning motivation, as you flip through country living or good housekeeping you’ll become inspired to make your home more tidy and clean.

12) Replace Old Cleaning Equipment

There is nothing that will crush inspiration like having to use a tool that doesn’t do a good job. If you dislike your vacuum you will not want to clean it, and if your dryer makes a terrible noise you will not want to run it every day.

So start with the cleaning items you dislike the most and replace them as you are financially able to. Make sure you do go research on the new products you buy and don’t go cheap because you want to have something you’ll want to use regularly for years to come.

You may be surprised how much you love mopping after you purchase a high-quality, easy-to-use steam mop instead of an old, dirty mop and bucket. Or how much a new robot vacuum can help you keep up with pet hair and dirty floors if you get a high-quality one that can be run every day.

13) Declutter and Organize Overwhelming Areas

If you are really trying to clean your home each week and find yourself feeling completely overwhelmed by so much stuff to tidy up every day. I have a secret for you… you have too much stuff. Too many toys in the playroom will not make your kids want to tidy or play in that room.

Instead, go through every item in the room with your children and decide what to toss or keep (or donate). You may be surprised by how much your kids are actually not using and how quickly everything can be picked up when there isn’t too much stuff everywhere.

Other times you may not have too much stuff but you never know where anything is when you need it. This means you need a little more organization in your home. The best way to conquer this issue it to visit your nearest dollar store or discount store and get some plastic bins and storage containers for organizing.

Get closets, under sinks, toy rooms, and garages tidied up once and for all. Go through every room and find a home for every single item. Once everything has a home and place, never leave it lying on the kitchen table or floors.

This is no easy feat, and it can take months to get everyone in the house on board with the clutter-free home idea. However, after the initial work of implementing organization, you will find that you are cleaning faster than ever before and you feel inspired to invite people over to your house more often.

14) Donate and Sell Unused Items

If you have a lot of items in your home that you decide you no longer need but there really isn’t anything wrong with the item itself, you can have a yard sale or donate those items to charity.

This can be rewarding as you can sell old books, clothes, shoes, and decor that you don’t need anymore and instead get a little money to purchase something you need (like that new vacuum or washer!)

We have a community yard sale every 6 months in your home association and my son always gets excited to sell his unused toys and lemonade, and he usually makes enough to go to the store and buy 1 expensive toy for himself.

15) Stay Motivated

This should be the easiest tip to follow once you have your home tidied up and your cleaning goals are starting to come into form. However, it is sometimes easy to fall out of a good routine due to life circumstances.

If this is the case, remember to try to stay motivated and do the cleaning in the home every day in order to feel motivated. If you lose motivation and momentum it can sometimes be very difficult to get back into a habit once it is lost.

So try to stick to your to-do list and ask for help if you are falling behind. Having other family members or close friends help you out can be a great motivator and help you prevent a messy home from coming back.

FAQ

How to get motivated to clean?

Try setting small, manageable goals for yourself and rewarding yourself with something you enjoy after completing each task. You can also declutter and organize your home so that cleaning becomes easier and less overwhelming. Finally, stay motivated by doing a little bit of cleaning every day.

Where to start when cleaning a messy house?

Start by decluttering and organizing your home. Then, focus on one room or small area at a time and start cleaning from top to bottom. Stay focused on that one area until it is clean, and if you find items that don’t belong in the room then place them in a pile and wait to sort them until after you have finished cleaning the task at hand. This will help you stay on track and get more accomplished at the end of the day.

How do I keep my house clean with kids?

It can be difficult to keep your house clean with kids, but it’s important to set a good example for them. Try to declutter and organize your home and give your kids chores that are appropriate for their age so that they can help you out and learn essential life skills like tidying up after themselves.

Why is my house always messy?

There could be a few reasons why your house is always messy. Maybe you’re not decluttering and organizing regularly, or maybe you don’t have a cleaning routine. It’s also possible that you have too much stuff and need to get rid of some things that you don’t use often. Whatever the reason, try to identify the source of the problem so that you can find a solution.

How can I stay on track with laundry?

Do a load of laundry every day so that it doesn’t pile up. Instead of separating items, try running all the laundry on a cold, gentle cycle daily and dry and put away clothes before bed each night. This will help you to prevent overfull washer loads and drying for hours as well as help you realize how many clothes you may have that you don’t need anymore as you always have your favorites clean and ready to wear.

How can I keep up with cleaning my house?

Cleaning your house is the same as any other personal goal. If you have goals at work or fitness goals you know you need to have a plan and routine in place to reach those goals. Try making house cleaning non-negotiable and don’t let yourself avoid chores just because you don’t feel like it. The more you get done each day the more you will realize cleaning isn’t difficult when it is done regularly, it’s when it gets backed up that it becomes the most overwhelming.

Final thoughts on how to get motivated to clean

I hope these tips help you get motivated to clean your home! Let me know how it goes or if you have any other questions. Good luck!