It can be challenging to focus or relax when you’ve got a lot going on in your mind. Sometimes you feel like your days are even more chaotic if you see that your house is messy and cluttered. 

Cleaning and organizing your home are effective mental grounding technique that helps distract you from overwhelmingly stressful and distressing thoughts and emotions. Believe it or not, accomplishing household chores and seeing your home neat and clutter-free can help you achieve a sense of calm and control or that positive Zen feeling. 

In this article, Elizabeth Shields of SuperCleaning, a professional cleaning company in Louisville, shares an expert guide on how to excellently master the art of organizing and cleaning your home to maintain your Zen and happiness. 

Start with small cleaning projects

Cleaning can be meditative and therapeutic. However, undertaking a major cleaning project can have the opposite effect on some people. Instead of spending a weekend trying to do a whole house cleaning project by yourself, create a cleaning checklist that breaks it down to room by room and task by task. 

Kickstart your cleaning spree by taking on the easiest items, like loading clothes in the washing machine or the dishes in the dishwasher. Ticking them off your list will make you feel more accomplished and fuel your motivation to continue.

Be realistic with your cleaning goals

If you only have 20 minutes to tidy up or feel worse for wear already because you’ve just gotten off work, then maybe it’s not the best time to declutter your wardrobe or deep clean your kitchen. Pushing it will only make you stressed, hate cleaning, and dread doing it even more in the future. 

Here are some examples of quick 10-minute cleaning tasks if you only have time and energy to do short burst cleaning.

• Strip down your beddings, throw them in the washer, and replace them with fresh linens.

• Walk around the house with a basket and pick up random items lying around the house, like clothes or dirty clothes.

• Clear and wipe the kitchen counter.

• Declutter and organize your dresser.

• Clean your stovetop or kitchen sink.

• Declutter expired food items from your fridge or pantry. 

Do it for the process, and don’t expect perfection

On the other hand, don’t expect perfection or be too obsessive about cleaning. Acknowledge the fact that it’s never going to be spotlessly clean 24/7, and that’s normal, especially if you share the home with a partner, children, or pets.

Make cleaning a routine instead of a one-time thing

Incorporate cleaning as a regular part of your daily life to ease the pressure and stop yourself from procrastinating. Use cleaning as a welcome distraction whenever you’re feeling anxious. Look around and check for areas usually ignored for a routine cleaning such as your gutter. For another example, if you’re worried about having a dirty home because you know you’ll have a hectic week ahead because of work, you got sick, or someone in the family did, and you have your hands full from taking care of them and have no time to clean, go ahead and hire a professional house cleaning company. That way, you still enjoy a clean and calming home without a sweat. 

Guest Contributor: Elizabeth Shields