Happy Saturday!!! Its time to do a quick thorough cleaning so that you can enjoy the rest of your day…but first let me give you a few tips and encouragement…
Here are my top 10 tips for cleaning on a Saturday
There are so many ways that you can clean. If you aren’t in the mood to do it or you have other things on your mind, it could be a long and boring process.
You could get sidetracked and be ineffective in you cleaning…no one wants that.
Over the years, I have observed my own cleaning habits and realized that there is a way to motivate myself and use these 10 tips to get it done, quickly and thoroughly…
Tip #1 Decide what you would like to do for the day
Since you are reading this, it can be assumed that you would like to or have to clean today. However, I suspect that you don’t want to spend your entire day doing it. So, what else would you like to do? Maybe you would like to read a good book, spend sometime with family, go out for a nice meal, or even watch a good movie.
By knowing that you would like to do these other things today, you will motivate yourself to clean faster and get the job done.
Which leads to tip 2
Tip #2 Decide how you will reward yourself for cleaning thoroughly and quickly
Our human minds are generally motivated by some sort of reward, whether it be by a positive reward or negative reward.
Yes, I did say negative reward. Let me explain…
When you give yourself something to encourage an activity, that is a positive reward. For instance, you would like to read 20 books, so you decide that at the completion of reading those 20 books, you will give yourself a budget of $40 total or $2 per book that you read, to buy books. (I like reading and reading analogies.)
Then there is the negative rewards, which was probably the statement that placed a question mark over your head in the first place. This means that you take something away in order to encourage a positive action or when you are doing something undesirable. Using the same analogy above, the negative reward would be that for every book that you did not read, you would take away $2 from the overall book buying budget of $40.
The reason why I am suggesting this is that you will find that if you have a few things that you would like to do after you are finished cleaning. If you have not met your own expectation, rewarding yourself in this way will help you to stay motivated. You will either gain something or lose something based upon your cleaning actions.
Tip #3 How long will you clean?
It is important that you decide how long you will clean. Give yourself a start time and an end time to get all of the cleaning done for the day. Will you clean for 2 hours? What time will you start? What time will you end?
Remember, it’s Saturday and we should be spending time with family and/or friends, doing things that we enjoy. If not, you should at least be spending sometime doing something that you enjoy.
Tip #4 Make a list of rooms that you will focus on
It is very unlikely that you can clean your entire house thoroughly and quickly in one day. This is why you need to decide which rooms you will focus on cleaning thoroughly and which ones you will do a light cleaning.
You may decide that you will thoroughly clean your bathrooms today and then lightly clean your living room and dining room.
Write these things down and remember that the objective is to clean quickly and thoroughly. The rooms that you lightly clean, like your living room, can be thoroughly cleaned on another day of the week.
Be sure to check off the rooms that you have cleaned as you do them.
Tip #5 What are your focal points for each room
Every room has a messy point where you normally drop things down. It can even be a space that collects a lot of dirt, paper, or trinkets. This should be one of your focal points for that particular room. For those rooms that you are lightly cleaning, at least decide to tackle those focal points.
Tip #6 Clean in increments
This is a tip that I acquired from the Fly Lady over 10 years ago. I hold on to this tip because I have found it very helpful. Her tips are so helpful, you should check out her site.
Decide the increments that you will clean in. I recommend using the 15 minute increments. I use a stop watch and allow it to sound automatically. You can use your phone, kitchen timer, or find an online timer.
When you are cleaning in increments, you give yourself time to focus and refocus on various tasks while cleaning. You offer yourself a bit of adventure and stop yourself from getting board with the task. You might even speed up, knowing that you are supposed to be finished with a specific task in a certain amount of time. You will also begin to notice how much you are getting done with each time that the alarm sounds. This will also motivate you to continue.
Tip #7 Take breaks in between the cleaning increments
As I stated above, I recommend that you clean in 15 minute increments. Do this three times and then when your alarm goes off the 4th time, on the 45 minute mark of the hour, take a break. For more clarity, understand that if you start at 10am, you will clean until 10:15. Once the alarm goes off, you will refocus. Do that again at 10:15 and again at 10:30. Once your alarm sounds at 10:45, give yourself a break.
At your break, sit down and do nothing. Studies have shown that if you take 15-20 minutes to do nothing and rest, you will be thoroughly replenished and rejuvenated.
*Perhaps my word for the day should be thoroughly…*
Tip #8 Aim for clean not immaculate
This is a tip that I have had to tell myself over the years. I clean my house all week-long and there are many times where I wonder why my husband seems to do it faster than I do. I have learned from his wisdom and I want to share it with you.
Everyday is not a day to clean thoroughly to the point where the house is spotless and immaculate. That being said, we are aiming for clean and that is a personal standard. I am however saying that if today is not the day to focus on the kitchen, don’t begin to pull out the refrigerator and stove to clean behind them.
It’s Saturday, remember the plan back in Tip #1…that’s why I had you do it.
Tip #9 Play some music, watch a movie…
This tip is something that I highly encourage. Although it says play some music or watch a movie, there are so many options for things that you can do to help you clean.
The purpose in doing this is so that you are not thinking about the mound of laundry that you are folding. Who likes the repetition of grabbing, folding, and putting down? I know I don’t. However, I do like to do it while I am watching a movie, listening to an audiobook, watching a YouTube video, or listening to some music.
You will find that this tip will help you get your cleaning done quicker that you thought.
Tip #10 Try not to stress and have a little fun
I know that you just read that tip and wondered if you were still reading the same article.
Yes! I said it…you can clean and not stress. You can also have a little fun while doing it. See how long it takes you to do the tasks that you have set up. Make it a game for yourself. Enjoy the music or videos that you are listening to and watching. As your house begins to look the way you want, smile and realize that you are doing a great job. Remember the rewards? This is the time to remind yourself of them and to do your best.
Have a Happy Saturday!!!
My hope for you is that after reading this, you will be ready to tackle that Saturday cleaning, so that you can then have fun with your family and friends, read a great book, or go out to dinner. I hope that you have found encouragement within this post. As you apply the tips that I have given you, decide which ones you would like to tweak a little and which ones work best for you. Come back another day and tell me how it went…
Until next time, Happy Saturday!
Thanks so much for these tips! I love the idea of cleaning in increments and taking breaks in between.
Glad that you found it helpful. I love those things too. It makes cleaning feel less like a chore and more like a challenging activity. Thanks for commenting.