If you have no motivation to clean your house, there are reasons for feeling that way.
In order to make changes and get your house clean, you have to understand why you lack the motivation. So today, I’m sharing 3 reasons you have no motivation to clean and what you can do about it!
Why You Have No Motivation to Clean Your House
1. It feels overwhelming.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with all the cleaning in a household. Instead of focusing on all the cleaning that needs done, pick the 3 most important things to clean.
Make a list of all the cleaning tasks you want to get done. From that list pick the 3 that you would like to do first.
They don’t have to be big tasks. In fact, it’s best to pick something small to start with.
Do those 3 cleaning tasks and cross them off your list. Once those are done, pick the next 3 things to clean.
You don’t have to tackle your list in one day. Maybe you’ll want to only do 3 things each day. That is better than doing none, but not overwhelming.
If you have absolutely no idea where to start, read this for a step by step guide to cleaning an overwhelmingly messy house.
2. You lack the energy to clean the house.
When you have no cleaning motivation, it may be that you haven’t been practicing self care. You’re constantly taking care of your kids, running the errands, and other responsibilities.
If you’re not taking care of your needs, you’ll run out of energy.
When you are short on energy, cleaning the house is one of the last things you feel like doing.
Instead, start incorporating basic self care habits into your life.
- Get the sleep you need.
- Drink enough water.
- Be more active.
- Eat nutritious food.
- Get dressed every day.
When you do things that energize you instead of draining your energy, you’ll feel motivated to clean your house.
3. You have no daily cleaning routines.
If you are not staying on top of little messes each day with daily cleaning routines, those little messes become huge, overwhelming messes. It’s much harder to get motivated to clean big messes than it is small messes.
For example, if you put off doing the dishes all week, you’ll have an enormous amount of dirty dishes to wash at the end of the week. However, if you stay on top of the dishes each day, you’ll never have a giant pile of dirty dishes that you have to talk yourself into doing.
When you establish simple daily cleaning habits, you deal with small messes before they get out of control. Some of the most important daily cleaning habits are laundry, dishes, and general tidy up.
You can read more here: 4 Daily Habits for a Tidy Home.
If you understand why you have no motivation to clean, you’ll understand what to do about it. Now, let’s create a motivating cleaning plan!
Cleaning Plan of Action
1. Get dressed.
Before you start cleaning, get dressed in something other than your pj’s. Put some shoes on and possibly an apron. This way you’ll be less likely to quit.
2. Start with a small cleaning task.
Refer to your cleaning list. Pick the easiest task or the one that sounds the most appealing. Start with that one.
You’ll be more likely to finish something small and easy. Then you’ll gain motivation to do the next task.
3. Decide on the first step.
Once you know which task you’re starting with, think about what is the very first step you need to take. Sometimes you lack motivation simply because you don’t know where to start.
So get very specific about what you need to do.
4. Think about what your clean home will look like.
Once your home is cleaned, it will look better, feel better, and function better! A clean home is such a great feeling.
Visualize your clean space before you start.
5. Remember why you are cleaning.
You’ll be more likely to follow through on your cleaning as you understand why you are doing it.
There are probably a few reasons why you want a clean home. Here are a few reasons to get you started.
- a clean home is healthier
- a clean home is comfortable
- a clean home is welcoming
- you need clean dishes to eat
- you need clean clothes to wear
6. Get help from other family members.
If you live with others, that means you’re not the only one making messes. But if you are the only one cleaning, you feel like you’re cleaning up after everyone else. Think of ways you can get your family members involved.
7. Be realistic about the time it takes.
I used to have not motivation to clean because it seemed like it took me forever to complete. But one day I decided to start timing myself as I completed each cleaning task.
I discovered that mopping the floor only took about 3 minutes. Cleaning up after supper only took about 20 minutes.
In my mind those tasks took longer, but in reality, they didn’t take that long.
Start small. Do one easy cleaning task. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to do something else.
Pour yourself a nice glass of ice water and drink it! Water does amazing things to the body and will give you an instant energy boost. Then make it a habit to take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, staying hydrated, and fueling your body with nutrients.
Look at the mess in small, doable parts. Instead of looking at the entire, overwhelming mess. Focus on cleaning one room or section of a room at a time.
One thought on “How to Get Motivated to Clean When You Have No Motivation”
Hello Emily! I know this is an old post so I am hoping it’s monitored 🤞I also want to apologize for this being soooooo long! 😖🤦♀️
I am a 44 year old stay-at-home mother to 3 daughters (8, 10 and 14). I have been a SAHM since 2013 when my second daughter was born (it was a rough pregnancy with extremely painful heartburn and indigestion 😖).
When my oldest was young, I did everything around the house up until she was about 8 years old. When my oldest was born in 2009 I didn’t feel well, I was always tired and hurting. In 2010, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, after that, I started taking care of myself. From 2009 to 2013, I had 5 different diagnoses. After 2013 (when my second daughter was born and I became a SAHM) up until today, including the 5 medical conditions, I now have a total of 18 diagnoses! 😔 A month ago, I found out I have degenerative disc’s, narrowing of my spinal column and 2 bulging disc’s along with advanced arthritis in my spine.
Before I get anger thrown my way about being a stay-at-home mother.. I have always believed that SAHM’s have one of the HARDEST jobs in the world being everything to this new little life. But I also believe that it is NOT for everyone!
I was on the fence about becoming a SAHM because (at the time I was 34 years old), I had worked since I was 14. I never relied on another person to take care of my bills and such. I was a very independent person!
I have always been a person who could never, ever, sit still. When I sit still, my leg would be bouncing or my hands would be fidgeting. And then the depression sat in after 2014 because I wasn’t working, I had bills but my husband was standing firm on the idea I stay at home with our 2 daughters (at the time).
A few years ago, it didn’t last long at all 🙄 We had what we called ‘family cleaning day’, which was Saturdays, where we would all spend most of the day cleaning the house. That lasted a month and a half 😑
Over the years, as soon as our daughters were old enough (and safe!) We assigned them chores. Just 3 chores, dishwasher, sweeping and mopping. Now for my younger 2, it’s also cleaning out our dog’s pen and my oldest has mowing.
Every single day it is a battle to get them to just do the dishwasher, sweeping and mopping! It is like pulling teeth!! 😖
My husband has been working 7 days a week (10 hours Monday through Friday and 8 hours on Saturdays and Sundays) for the last 3 years. He ‘tries’ to get to bed by 8pm because he gets up at 3am to get ready to get to work by 5am and doesn’t get off work until 3pm (Saturdays and Sundays he works until 1pm).
With my major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and my MAJOR avoidance of conflict, I keep my emotions inside which isn’t good. I use to love to cook homemade dinners, now I’m barely able to get enough energy to throw spaghetti in a pot of boiling water and a jar of spaghetti sauce 😔 I am so mentally and emotionally drained and stressed that, unless I HAVE to leave the house, I stay in my pajamas all day long.