9 Ways To Make Spring Cleaning Less Horrible

Written by Jaymi Naciri Posted On Friday, 14 March 2014 21:28

1. Make it a group effort. Cleaning is a team sport. Enlist your kids, your friends, or any particularly nice strangers you happen to come across. Splitting up the tasks and having someone to talk to (or whine to!) will make it easier and make it go faster.

2. Make it fun. Cleaning and fun don't have to be adversaries. I mean, it's never going to be a picnic, but it doesn't have to be misery either. If you're tackling a big job, take your time and enjoy the process by reminiscing while you clean. Come across photo albums? It's ok to take a break to look through them and share stories. Taking small moments to appreciate friends and family and remember good times will make taxing tasks a little less so.

3. Make it a treasure hunt. If you have kids helping, turn your Spring cleaning into a game they can't resist. If you have some idea of what items are in the boxes/closets they are helping to clean out, make a list of items for them to find and cross off (and if you have no Earthly clue, be more general: red items, things made of paper, things in the shape of a box).

4. Make it a race. You can do this room by room or break it up into smaller chunks. First one to have their bathroom sparkling or their closet cleaned out gets a prize.

5. Make it competitive. Nothing motivates people to get moving like a little healthy competition. So devise a competition with prizes involved (Extra allowance money for your kids? Extra loving for your husband? A big night out for the whole family?) for the winner. And then watch them make an effort like never before. Need a little motivation yourself? Make yourself a deal to buy yourself a present for a job well done.

6. Make it a workout. Put on your comfy clothes and your sneakers. As you're cleaning, incorporate some exercise. Instead of sitting on the floor to clean out a box, stand, bend, and stretch. Take items to the trash one item at a time so you take more steps. Set an alarm so that every 15 minutes you take two minutes to run in place, do jumping jacks, or work your abs.

7. Make it a dance party. Same sneakers. Same workout clothes. Music turned up to 10.

8. Make it easy. If you set your expectations too high, you'll probably end up disappointed and half-done and sitting in a mess you created because you insisted on cleaning out every drawer and cabinet at the same time. At least that's how it generally works for us. If you're not the type who can move through tasks from beginning to end without distraction, take the easy way out: Turn on the TV and watch your favorite show. Get up on commercials and clean for the few minutes until your program returns. It may take you all day, but at least you'll get caught up on your DVR.

9. Make it profitable. How much stuff do you have that is stacked in boxes, stuffed into closets, or sitting unused in the garage? Now is a good time to clean it out and make some money on stuff you're not using anyway (and who are we kidding - you probably don't even remember half of what you have in the recesses of that hall closet anyway!). Schedule a yard sale, snap some pics and put it up on eBay or Craigslist, and whatever doesn't sell can be donated for a tax return.

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