7 Ways to Make Cleaning More Fun and Less of a Chore

If you love listening to podcasts or audiobooks, save your episodes and chapters for cleaning sessions. If possible, select a podcast or audiobook that you only listen to when you clean. This way, you’ll look forward to your cleaning sessions, because you can find out what happens next in the show or story. You may find yourself planning more frequent cleaning sessions with this trick.

If you need a good beat to dance to while you clean up, you’re not alone. While you may be able to find pretty good cleaning playlists on your favorite music app, you don’t want to waste any time skipping over songs that aren’t quite your jam. You’ll be far more pumped up to start cleaning if you build your own cleaning playlist, tailored perfectly to your music preferences.

A tiny vacuum for crumbs on tables and counters, a multi-pronged duster to get between window blinds, or a power scrubber for grout — whatever nifty cleaning gadgets that could make cleaning easier and quicker for you will make the process more fun and satisfying as you clean up all the dirt and grime in the nooks and crannies throughout your home.

You’re a bit overdue on folding laundry and calling your family...so why not tackle both at once? Call a friend, your parents, a sibling or anyone who you enjoy catching up with, and chat away while you wipe down the counters or dust the picture frames around the house. You’ll be so focused on the conversation that cleaning will be mindless and even a little fun.

One way to trick yourself into enjoying cleaning is to make a game of it. Set a timer for whatever amount of time you can spare, whether it’s 5 minutes or an hour. Then, see how much you can do in that time. In only 5 minutes, you could pick up clutter off the floor and counters or you could wipe down the stove and kitchen sink. In an hour, you could thoroughly clean an entire room.

One of the best ways to get cleaning done in a hurry and actually be excited about it is to invite over some guests. Set a date for a dinner or watch party, the sooner, the better. You’ll actually look forward to refreshing your space for guests, maybe even cleaning up and setting out candles or fresh flowers to welcome them to your sparkling-clean space.

If you find it especially hard to get the cleaning done, you can help yourself look forward to the chores, or at least getting them done, by treating yourself afterward. Plan to buy a beautiful bouquet from a local florist, order lunch to be delivered when you finish up, take yourself out for coffee or go buy those shoes you’ve had your eye on for weeks.