How To Make Spring Cleaning Fun (No, really!)

I hate cleaning my house. I truly do. And it’s impossible for it to just stay clean after I clean it up because….

I’ve read all the parenting blogs about how to get kids to clean up by making it into games for them… and it really works!
We:

• pretend we’re on “fast forward” “rewind” or “pause” as we’re putting things away in the playroom
• use sorting laundry as a color matching game
• pretend we are emergency vehicles shuttling toys from around the house back to the playroom (Rohan actually created that game)

The kids aren’t really the problem when it comes to hating cleaning…. it’s me. I can’t effin’ stand it. Until I can afford someone to come clean for me every single day (dare to dream, Dani?) I have to find little tactics that help ME get through weekly cleaning, and even worse… spring cleaning.

I have found a few things that work for me with my dread of cleaning, adhd/squirrel syndrome and laziness. The women of LINC and I will be discussing some great hacks for spring cleaning today on Twitter:

RSVP here and join us so you can have a chance to win some great giveway prizes.

Anywaaay….

Here’s what I do to make me not want to jump off a building when it comes time for spring cleaning:

Dance through it –

I ask John to wrangle the children, and I put my earbuds in and my pandora station to the most ratchet or most dutty dancehall channel I can find…and go to town. If I’m wining down to the ground I may as well wipe down the cupboards while I’m down there. (Bonus: burns extra calories… can you say win win?)

Set A Timer –

This is my fave. I do stuff in 10-15 minute increments. And then I give myself a 10 minute treat. So, I’ll work furiously until my alarm goes off, and then collapse where I am and play on social media for a few. This tactic has taught me that it only takes 15 minutes to totally clean my bathroom (excluding mopping the floor). #funfact lol

Play Games –

Folding laundry while watching jeopardy? Yes please. While I’m pretending to know answers… “ahhh yess War of 1812…i was just about to say that!”…  I get all the clothes separated, folded, socks matched up and everything put away without boredom.

Learn Something –

I love audio books for cleaning up time. There was something kind of “inception-ish” when I was listening to The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up as I was… Tidying up.. 🙂 I now have the Pimsleur approach dvds for Spanish that I’ll be listening to on Friday as I clean up for Kaya’s birthday party.

What do you do to make cleaning fun?