Don’t Know How to Get Started Cleaning? Try This Trick

I hate to admit it, but after the events of last year, my home became a bit of a depression nest. We’ve finally come out of it, but knowing where to start when everything needs to be cleaned can be overwhelming. Here’s the trick I used to fool my brain into thinking we were playing a game.

Before I get into my trick, I want to share some things that have helped reclaim our house from the clutches of messiness.

1. Every Messy Room Has Just Five Things

I gleaned this advice from K.C. Davis’s How to Keep House While Drowning. Every room has five things:

• Trash
• Dishes
• Laundry
• Things that have a place
• Things that don’t have a place

Keeping this in mind has made it easy to go through a room in stages instead of focusing on everything at once.

2. Interval Cleaning Is My Friend

Do not—and I do mean it—do not marathon clean! Rachel Hoffman’s book and website, Unf*ck Your Habitat, are invaluable resources for de-depressing a home. Instead, work in intervals. I like the 20/10 and 45/15 intervals best, but you could also do a 60/20. It is important to take breaks, thoroughly enjoy them, and clean. That way, you don’t burn out while cleaning.

3. Taking Before and After Pictures for Every Interval

This is another tip from Rachel Hoffman. Take a photo before you start your interval and one when you’re done, whether cleaning for 20 minutes, 45 minutes, or an hour. This helps you see your progress even when it doesn’t feel like you’re making any progress. I can’t tell you how many times this has helped my morale – especially in kid rooms where they’ve taken every toy off the shelf and every item of clothing out of the drawers for sport.

4. Establishing a Routine and Starting it Today, Even if Things Aren’t Perfect

The Clean Mama routine has resonated with me. Even just following her five daily tasks initially makes a big difference after a few days. I’ve added my spin on things since, but it’s a life-saver. I can now tell how my mental state is by whether I’ve made the bed or not. I get that many people don’t think a made bed is a big deal. I’m hoping to write a post soon about why I think it’s important. The biggest reason I like getting my bed made as a first step of my cleaning routine is I then have a place to fold laundry, sort things, etc.

5. Dividing My Living Space into Zones and Keeping a Running “Hot Spot” List

These are my two suggestions. When I first got started on tackling my depression nest, I felt super-overwhelmed still by even thinking of the different rooms of my house as single areas to be cleaned. So what I did was I made a really bad sketch map of each floor of my house, with the rooms, and I started breaking it up into zones. The linen closet upstairs was zone 1. The entry closet next to our front door was zone 100. Lest you think I live in a mansion, let me assure you we don’t. I tried to break everything down into what I could finish or close to finish in just one to two 20/10 intervals.

I also started making a list of places where clutter likes to accumulate, which would need attention before I got to that zone. Things like the entry table, coffee table in the family room, side tables, etc. I call these “hot spots” and keep a running list. If I see the fridge starting to look shady, I add it to the list. Again, I try to keep any hot spot to something that can be cleaned in only one interval.

A Quick Look at My Routine Before I Share My Tip

I mentioned above that following a routine and starting where you’re at is possibly the most important and impactful part of starting to clean and keeping things clean. This is part of where I start when I don’t know where to start.

Dailies

These are the things I try to do every single day:

• Making the bed – and encouraging the kids to make theirs, even if not done perfectly
• Dishes – at least one load of dishes is washed, dried, and put away.
• Laundry – at least one load of laundry is washed, dried, and put away. I try not to start a load of laundry if I’m unsure if I will have the energy to fold it and put it away. Otherwise, it becomes part of the chairdrobe.
• Counters – I check and wipe down counters.
• Checking floors – I check floors and sweep or spot mop as needed. Having a steam mop has made spot mopping super easy. My dog loves to leave her hair in the laundry room where she sleeps. I try to sweep it up as soon as I let her out, as I also start a load of laundry at that time.
• Decluttering at least a hot spot.
• Cleaning at least one zone until done.

Weeklies

For this, I just follow Clean Mama’s routine. I have adjusted it a bit to fit our needs.

• Monday: Bathrooms, laundry room, and entry
• Tuesday: Dust, clean kitchen
• Wednesday: Vacuum
• Thursday: Wash floors – this is where I also will bring out the carpet shampooer or spot cleaner if needed
• Friday: Catch-up day/special projects day if I can (we do Girl Scouts on Friday nights, so often Friday is just a day off)
• Saturday: Sheets & Towels
• Sunday: Special projects day/catch-up day and office reset day

My Trick to Getting Started

Sometimes, I need to trick my mind into getting started. On those days, I use Wheel of Names or a random number chooser. I will either enter the name of a room, the numbered of zones needing attention, or even various hot spots needing attention. I then spin the wheel and let it choose for me. I like Wheel of Names because when it selects something, confetti goes up in the air, and there’s cheering, which gives a nice dopamine boost. Then, I set the timer and get to work for that interval – and focus on only one of the five layers of things in that zone/hot spot for that time (sometimes I’ll randomly select that, too). You’ll be surprised at how much you can get done in just 20 minutes when you focus solely on that one thing.

Bonus points if you’ve stocked up on a treat beverage or stacked some books up to reward yourself when you finish your interval.

I hope that this helps you when you’re feeling overwhelmed by a mess. I had a hard time knowing where to start and searched for lots of help on where to start cleaning when I was ready to start banishing the mess. Do you have a favorite trick for getting started? Share below in the comments.