Why I Hate Cleaning the House (and how I find a better attitude)

I admit it! Housecleaning is not one of my favorite activities. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who hates cleaning the house. 

What is it about cleaning that causes us to dread the thought?

Five reasons perfectly normal people hate cleaning the house:

• You are never finished. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could clean the house once and it would stay that way? (Bwa-ha-ha) We know that will never happen, which may lead to a lack of motivation, or a load of frustration. Or even feelings of burnout.
• Your ideal image of a clean house isn’t achievable. Perhaps you had a parent or other role model whose house was always spotless. That’s a tough act to follow. When our housekeeping expectations are beyond the reality of our time, energy, and priorities, we end up beating ourselves up. Or else we fall into procrastination because we can’t face once again failing to fulfill our perfectionistic ideals.
• Cleaning the whole house is an exhausting endeavor. You’d love a clean house, but you don’t have the energy to get there. Who has the motivation or the energy to face an entire day of cleaning? It’s so much easier to keep putting it off.
• You don’t where to put all your stuff. Those cute storage systems are too expensive, and they never seem to work for you anyway. After all, decorator bins and expensive shelving can’t load themselves. If you had the time and motivation to find a designated home for your things, you wouldn’t have this problem in the first place.
• You’ve been taught, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” And who wants to live with a guilt trip that big?

With so many strikes against it, is it any wonder so many of us avoid housecleaning? Unfortunately, I have yet to discover a painless and effortless solution–short of hiring a maid to do it for me.

So, I’ve learned to do the next best thing, to shift my mindset. Here are a few observations that will help you achieve a cleaner house with a better attitude.

A clean house is functional, not photo-worthy.

The goals of cleaning should be safety and sanity. Stop comparing your house to those gorgeous photos in glossy magazines. The goal is to stay on top of clutter, chaos and actual dirt. You and I are not interior decorators. We are busy people with only so much time to spend on the house. If you can find what you need when you need it, the laundry gets put away each week, the kitchen sink isn’t piled with dishes, and you can walk across the living room without tripping, you’re doing OK.

Forget perfection. Consider what level of tidiness that enables your household to function well without undue stress or chaos. That is your goal.

You don’t get gold stars for having the entire house pristine all at once.

Unlike the washing machine or the dishwasher, house cleaning doesn’t require a full load for optimum efficiency. It’s actually a good strategy to do little bits here and there.

Forget the concept of whole-house cleaning. Cleaning can be accomplished in ten- or twenty-minute segments, such as the wiping down the bathroom counter or dusting a room or two. This clean in small segments strategy has several benefits, such as:

• You can fit it into under-utilized moments like when you have fifteen minutes before an appointment.
• Small chunks of cleaning means the chore won’t exhaust you.
• It enables you to accomplish small cleaning tasks when you notice them, instead of doing it later when you “have time to do the job right.” Read more about that here.

As an example, I struggle to wash windows because the motion quickly begins to bother my shoulders (which have rotator cuff issues). This makes window-washing overwhelming and I will happily put it off forever. Instead, I give myself permission to do it in bite-sized chunks. I tackle them one room per day. When I manage to stick with the plan, I can have the whole house’s windows cleaned in a week or two.

Even when you are hosting a party or expecting house guests, there are private parts of the house your guests don’t need to see (which means you don’t need to panic-clean them).

Remember why it matters

Why do we wash the dishes, do laundry, and take out the trash?

1. Because our home would get pretty disgusting if we didn’t.
2. Because these are small acts of love and service we perform for those we love.
3. ??

You and I can shift our thinking away from how much we dislike mundane tasks like housecleaning and instead think of them as acts of kindness. That shift of focus improves my attitude and gives me a new and better motivation to accomplish them.

In addition, this mindset shift from guilt to service can help me prioritize my cleaning efforts. Because the goal becomes how to make my home a welcoming haven for family and friends, not a pristine showpiece or proof that I deserve God’s approval.

If there are cobwebs in the corners, oh well. My husband doesn’t care about them, but he does feel loved when I make him dinner and fold his laundry. So I focus my housecleaning energy on what matters most.

In summary

When I keep these concepts in mind, I can maintain a better attitude and I find the motivation to keep up with what I decide are the priority tasks. Like most of life, it’s about taking small steps with the right mindset.  

Which of the reasons above do you struggle with the most when it comes to housework? Which of my mindset shifts will help you face the chore with a better attitude?

Related Posts

Why are you keeping that?

 A different kind of home makeover

My 5-minute cleaning strategy

Post updated 7/23/2024