When it comes to the necessities of cleaning it’s often hard to get motivated. This universal feeling of knowing that we need to do something but finding its reality lacklustre is common, and during the act of cleaning things itself it doesn’t always get any better. However, there are many ways of looking at one thing, and there are people who have put their lives to illuminating the ways in which simple mundane tasks can actually be stimulating. Luckily, cleaning is one of them!
1) Planning
The idea of planning when it comes to house cleaning is not one that has to be boring as it sounds. To plan is to think, and to have a flexible plan is to have many. When it comes to cleaning why not stage things out like a play or haiku. The play with its different parts, and the haiku with its short and precise rules that create poetry. Most importantly, the cleaner must clean how they wish, and do the job required, but in this there is possibility for anything whilst in the action of it, and anything in how this fits into a larger plan to what they would rather be doing. It’s then that the mind escapes from mundane paradigms, and can equally pour more effort into what’s going on, so that the next action has more connection to what you like doing. While dealing with things like a moving checklist, small removals or man with van companies his is important to so that things tie together.
2) Realising that Anything can be Play
This is an idea that can be taken in any way you like, and comes from the British philosopher Alan Watts. Alan suggests that instead of instinctively looking at a task that we find lacking in stimulation as dull, that we actually view it as play. This simple concept can shine on almost any activity when we really aren’t feeling that into it, such as housework, daily duties, and the requirements of routine that are often looked at dimly. If we have the task of doing some cleaning, and especially so when the task is something that we don’t feel like doing, this perspective is gold, and may lead to some interesting thought that takes you onto something you prefer!
3) Cleaning Products
The actual product in your hands while cleaning can have a character of its own. The fact that you found a cheaper and better product in one shop over a more commercial brand is one to create cheer! As is any humour that comes to mind while cleaning, as this is probably the only thing that can improve the situation and task at hand. One of the things that always helps with any situation is connecting to the physical elements of it and placing your own ideas into it, this can be done with a mop, a brush, a cup – which is a way of reversing what we are taught a person cleaning is, and a way of empowering mood, which can lead to, again, situations where we see ourselves doing things we’d prefer to be doing.
4) Leave Your Mark
This means leaving none of course… There are different types of cleaners, whether this be a person doing it in their own home or in a premises owned by another person, the point we are lastly getting at however is that the task at hand is never all that there is… The ideas of focus can be misleading, as they often suggest that to minimise our thought into one place creates productivity, but when it comes to routine tasks this can’t be further from the truth. The best way to clean creatively is to clean well and to leave the situation with many thoughts parallel to what you really want to be doing. If this is cleaning then you’re already singing, or if you’ve cleaned ready for something else there’s a song there too! All of these cleaning ideas can be linked to any cleaning situation, whether it’s during relocation, removal, and especially house movers.