- The cleaning service is coming over – I have only ever hired a cleaning service a handful of times, but every single time I am so embarrassed by my house that I actually clean up before they arrive. I have had friends tell me they put away their personal affects – especially after one cleaning service threw everything away without asking – but I go a bit further. I do all the dishes, even wipe down my kitchen counters! What am I paying them to do again?
- Expecting company – I can’t have people seeing my dirty dishes in the sink! I don’t have people over very often (thanks to living out in the country away from many people), so when they do come over, I want to impress them! I prefer to have plenty of notice so I can actually clean my house, versus the “sprint and stuff” method when I get 20 minutes notice. Ya know, running around the house, stuffing papers and shoes and laundry in one room that will be “off limits” to the company.
- Sickness – Killing germs after everyone in the house was sick puts me on a cleaning rampage!! Die germs, die! I do not feel sane until I have steam-mopped all my floors and sprayed every last inch of the house with Lysol.
- Something is lost – I get downright psycho when something is lost. The other day it was my pink ruby ring. First, I pick up and organize the enter house. Then I move to vacuuming and dusting every last inch of the place so I can look in all the nooks and crannies and find that lost object. Think Indiana Jones with a duster. (Frustratingly, my ring was located inside the kids’ toy cash register, a place I never dust!)
- Anger – I’m so mad, I don’t want to talk, and the dirty house is just adding fuel to my rage. When I’m feeling upset, I start scrubbing, running (sometimes literally) around the house and throwing dishes in the sink. I clean house – and fast! For some reason, doing it fast gets my heart pumping and burns off that rage.
- Jealousy – I will visit a friend’s house and marvel at her spotless counters, crumb-free floor and dustless photo frames. I drive home and start cleaning. Forget the fact that she probably either has a cleaning service and/or employed motivation #2 above.
- A blog post – If I am writing a post that I have to take a picture of my kids in my house for, (like a product review) it has to be clean! How dare I show what life is actually like here. Nope, we live in an orderly and pristine home.
- Proving you can do it – Nothing grinds my gears like hearing someone tell me they don’t think I can do it. So I clean, clean, clean, just to prove I can. Then, I invite them over, and the next day live in my piles of laundry. But I proved them wrong, dadgummit!
Which ones do YOU relate to most? All of them? Or is there something that motivates you to clean that I left off the list?
I cracked up at # 7, so true! even when thigns are in order, they always look a bit messy in photos, drives me NUTS! I just went on a purge binge, less to clean!
LOL!! I was wondering how many bloggers could relate to that one 🙂
Hi fabulous Annie! I can so relate to all of your motivations! Envy of a new friend’s spotless house recently sent me on a cleaning/dusting rampage (never mind that she hasn’t even unpacked much of her stuff since they moved in, and she has a cleaning service). For blog posts, I rely on close-ups if I can, or a shot out the window…great light, and no glimpse of the 500,000 cheerios on my kitchen floor!
Hi Jo 🙂
I am so glad I am not the only one that gets jealous of clean houses! I was nervous writing that cause I was like, “seriously? You have issues.” hehehehe
I hate cleaning the house and I miss having a cleaning service. Desperately. Seems like no one else around here knows how to clean either. Sigh.
I really want a cleaning service too! Even if all they do is mop my kitchen floor and vacuum in the corners of my living room and clean the top of my stove!
definitely company coming over! although when it needs done and I DON’T have motivation, I tend to do the ’15 minutes’ method, set a timer (or look at the clock) and see how much I can get done.
I love the 15 minute method! I also go by the “3 song method” – Putting on my favorite 3 songs and cleaning/dancing to make it more fun. Sometimes it really works!
Ha! Great list… yes, when I am worried or angry I clean like a mad woman. Also, when I know my MIL is going to drop-in in 10 minutes I probably defy physics with how much I get accomplished. Also, I have been known to have a pristine kitchen and living room when working on a blog post. Either because of photos I need to take for it, or as I procrastinate the actual writing of the post!
Hello fellow-angry cleaner! LOL!! Makes me laugh cause it is so true!
I totally relate to something is lost. My daughter’s room is like no man’s land. Things go in there but never come out. I am amazed at the things we find in there. Some how she can find something in that mess. My kids idea of clean are totally different than mine.
I am kinda scared about how messy their rooms will be when they get older! I remember my siblings and their rooms….cause ya know I was always perfect *sarcasm* hehehehe
HAHA this is true and yet so funny, I’m always cleaning before taking photos for a post. And after visiting a friend my house also seems 10X messier than it really is.
I think you are right – my house always *seems* messier after being a friend’s house. Another thing I suck at? Decorating. My friends have these cute picture frames, stenciled walls, rugs that tie the room together….I have randomness LOL
I definitely relate to all of those. The sickness one is the big one for us right now it seems.
I hope you are all getting better! Cleaning just makes you feel like you are starting out fresh, new, getting rid of all that nastiness!
Every point is so damn true! Sometimes, when I am shortly before my period, I have this need to clean everything around me even when it was cleaned the day before…Or in case, like you said, when something is lost. And we lose a lot of things quite regularly…;)
I didn’t put “PMS” as a cleaning motivation! LOL! It really affects EVERYTHING, doesn’t it?
I am almost never motivated to clean my house unless we have people coming over. I swear, with four males in the house, as soon as I clean it, it’s filthy again and I always feel like I waste my time.
It’s a tie between company and sickness!!
Very funny! We just do the best we can….pets and kids make it an impossible task almost
Impossible. Such a perfect word to describe it! Yes, it really is a practice in futility!
Haha, I remember when the house cleaners would come when I was a kid. My mom made us clean the entire house first!
I think having company over is the most motivating for me.
At the top of my list currently would be 5 & 8. But I’ve probably been motivated by the others at some point (minus the blog posts). I used to live with a roommate who actually was diagnosed OCD and her room was spot less, organized, and not-a-wrinkle-on-her-bed-or-a-notebook-out-of-place clean. I walk into her room for a minute and turn back around and start unconsciously cleaning things up in mine.
Anger and proving “THEM” wrong are great motivators though. I like that adrenaline rush. And the cleaning process does calm me down.
There really is something fun about the adrenaline rush I get when I clean while angry LOL
#2 and #3
I find myself cleaning is someone is sick, or we have company coming over! I love this post! Too funny!
Thank you Janet! I wrote it after my daughter was sick and my kid lost his toy. I was like, “wow, the house has not been this clean in a long time.” LOL
Mainly #2 and #5. I always clean if I know company is coming. (I’ve even been known to stay up until 1 or 2 AM to get the job done if I know I won’t have time the next day, or if my guests are coming early.) And yes, being upset about something makes me clean…I also bake to relieve stress or frustrations.
I can’t bake. I know my husband wishes this was one of my stress relievers…but it isn’t. I’m just not good at it.
Company coming and something being lost are my two big ones! i get so frustrated but tht becomes my distraction to actually clean lol… i can relate to #7 bc if im taking a pic to put online then everythng has to be nice.
When you have ten minutes to clean because someone forgot to tell me they invitrf guests.
Something is LOST!!! Yes. good motivation.
Love this! I need some motivation!
I can relate to most of your motivations! All in all, I hate to clean and have stopped feeling guilty about it. I am a “clerical” type person and do not enjoy “physical labor”.