Moms, how do you stay focused while cleaning your home?

Question

I seem to have trouble focusing on just one room at a time. For instance, I'll have laundry to put in the kitchen so when I go in there, I may start emptying the dishwasher or take out the trash. Then, on my way back into the house, I'll see that the garden needs the weeds pulled out, so I'll start that.

I feel like a character in the "If you give a mouse a cookie" book!!

So, how do you stay on task? Any tricks or tips would help!!

Answer 1

Set a timer for a certain amount of time for a given room/ task.  This will keep you on track.  It helps to motivate kids too!  :)

Answer 2

Just try to stick with one room as much as possible and clean it entirely before moving on to another one.  If you see another task in another room that needs to be done, keep a notepad in your pocket and make a note of the things that you need to get to later.

If you are decluttering a room, have a basket handy, as well as a bag for trash.  If you see items that belong upstairs, such as coats or shoes, place them in the basket to take upstairs later.  That will help you focus on the task at hand instead of running up and down the stairs repeatedly.

Have some kind of carryall or bucket with the cleaning supplies you will need, and carry that from room to room.  That way, you will have everything you need--wood cleaner or polish, Windex, all-purpose cleaner, sponges, rags, etc.--without having to run into another room to get it.  When you are finished cleaning one room, take the carryall with the cleaning supplies (as well as the trash bag and basket for upstairs items) into the next room and get cracking on that.

I personally find it makes more sense for me to clean all of the rooms on a particular floor one by one, but when it comes to vacuuming, I will wait until all of the rooms are clean and then vacuum all of the floors once the other tidying is done.  I will then go back through and mop any of the floors that need it.  Then I do the same for the upstairs rooms.  Depending on the layout of your house, that might work well for you, too.

Answer 3

First, I put on music. I do the big tasks I dislike in one room, then the small things. Just make sure you take it room by room. You can remind yourself by putting on a certain genre of music or artist and if you find yourself in the bathroom when you were doing kitchen work listen to what's on and it can remind you. I just think of the things I don't want to do, tackle those, and then move on to smaller things.

Answer 4

Gosh, there's something wrong with that? That's how I clean. Drives my boyfriend nuts. Seriously, I get the stuff that catches my attention done first and when my guy gets home I ask him to catch up the other things.