Life gets crazy at times. Our to-do lists pile up, things come up from our work and personal life, and it feels as if we can barely keep our heads above water. When life gets crazy, we put things on the back burner. Unfortunately, the first things usually put on the back burner are taking care of ourselves and our space!
Messiness Mentality
When my space is a mess, and I am in a bad place mentally, I feel like I cannot control anything in life. I come home after a long day, just to a big mess waiting for me at home. A mess that I do NOT have the time, energy, or mentality to deal with. Especially since it has been steadily getting worse day after day. It becomes a terrible cycle, with the mess being overwhelming and having more and more of a negative impact on my mentality.
What can I do? I can realize this relationship between cleanliness and mental health to change the cycle! Keep reading to find out how my cleaning schedule helped my mental health and four steps to make a cleaning schedule for yourself!
RELATED: Cleaning and Mental Health: Crazy Connections
Why I Started
1| No Surprises
Some surprises are wonderful in life! Realizing you have no clean clothes to wear or dishes to use is not one of them though. With my cleaning schedule, I have an excellent idea of when the chores will need to be done. I will not suddenly see my pile of laundry and think, “AGAIN! Didn’t I just do laundry?” I know ahead of time when chores will pile up, and which chores they are, because I see them on my schedule!
2| Sense of control
Before my cleaning schedule, I felt like my chores were controlling me. I would see the mess taunting me, demanding my attention. I felt like I lost control of my space because I let it get to this point. But with my schedule, I am back in control! It is important to note your schedule does not control you (more details on being flexible later on in the article). For example, I know that today is laundry day. I can choose to not do the laundry today, but I know that today is when I typically do laundry to stay on track.
3| Stay Ahead
As I mentioned in the intro, it is far too easy to put ourselves and our space on the backburner. With my cleaning schedule, I stay ahead of the game. I have a system in place to help make life easier for myself and my mental health. I am doing what I can so that when my mental health is suffering, I do not have a mess to worsen it.
4 Steps to a Cleaning Schedule
1| How often to clean what?
First you need to know how often you need to clean. When I first decided on making a cleaning schedule, I started tracking myself: When does the laundry pile up? How many loads will it take to clean it all? When do I run the dishwasher? Be mindful of when things are getting messy, but not overwhelmingly so. There is a sweet spot, if you will, of seeing when your chores are needing attending to, but in manageable size. I wrote an article on the benefits of tracking our habits and mood and even made this tracking PDF that you could use for this step!
2| Make the Schedule
After tracking, you are able to make a schedule that best fits your cleaning needs. The schedule needs to coincide with your personal life and cleaning needs. Keep in mind your daily routines while making the cleaning schedule. Maybe vacuuming the house after your long Tuesday workdays is not the best plan. I was surprised when I started making my schedule because of how manageable cleaning became. Why does cleaning seem so manageable now? Because I have a plan! I can evenly space out my cleaning routines so that I am not doing every chore on the same day.
3| Be Flexible
Your cleaning schedule is not set in stone, and that is okay. There is no perfect cleaning schedule that everyone can follow. There are times in life when there is absolutely no way we can get the laundry done on laundry day. That is okay. You are not a slave to your cleaning schedule, it is made to help you. You can switch laundry day around, split it up into two days- whatever works!
Try different routines to see what you like best. Be okay with changing your schedule. At my old apartment, there was a window above the sink with a lovely view so I preferred to do dishes in the morning. However, my kitchen now is a pretty dark place and doing dishes at night and waking up to a clean space is much better for myself.
4| Stay Motivated
Now that you have your cleaning routine, you have to put it into action and stay with it! After you clean, pause and reflect. How does it feel to have a clean space? To have been the person responsible for its beauty? Write down your feelings. I personally feel accomplished, proud, and more appreciative for my space! You can even take a photo to remember how beautiful your space looks clean to help you remember why you made this routine in the first place! To help more with staying motivated, read my 5 tips for motivation here!
Your Schedule
The most important part about your cleaning schedule is that it is YOURS. Whatever works for you is what makes it right! You can schedule whatever you want! I even have a section of my habit tracker for a “15 minute clean”. I found that just picking up my space for 15 minutes makes such a difference- so I use it! Maybe it works if you do your laundry just one load at a time. Maybe it is better for you to run out of socks first. If it works for you, do it!
Do you notice a connection between your space’s cleanliness and your mental health? Do you have a cleaning schedule? Please comment to tell me your tips and your thoughts on my article! If you know someone who could benefit from this article, please show you care and share the bear! Be sure to sign up for my emails and follow on social media to get the most of the positive world of Brightside Bear!
