People with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) will have a strong need or compulsion to clean or perform cleansing rituals to feel in control. When they can't keep up with these things, they feel like their lives are falling apart. The good news is that there is help for those who fight OCD. Why do you clean but the house always looks like a mess? Chances are that all the answers come down to your belief that you should do the same things that are causing you so much stress.
Are you the kind of person who hates a messy house? Do you clean regularly and are you pedantic for keeping things clean and tidy all the time?. Another clue that you have too many things is that your stuff is too difficult to put back into the spaces you've searched for them, so you (and others) too often leave them out. I don't mean this in a remotely sarcastic way. There are certain times in life when our routines are disrupted and we cannot maintain order in our homes as we would otherwise.
Maybe there is a newborn in the house or a family member is in the hospital. This is a very common and important obstacle to maintaining a tidy home. If you simply have too many things crowded inside your walls, it will be almost impossible to maintain a state of organization and clean up efficiently. As Shifrah Combiths wrote in Apartment Therapy, you must get rid of things to live within the parameters of the physical space you inhabit.
My mother has been misplacing her keys for decades, but I attribute the problem to the fact that there is no logical place to put her keys when she walks through the front door. Installing a hook on the wall would fix it instantly. Having a place that is not only correct, but also intuitive to store things makes cleaning that much easier. If you never want to use a coat rack, get a wall mount or hook.
If you never wear shoes upstairs to your bedroom closet after wearing them, make a place for them downstairs. With five children, Shifrah is learning a thing or two about how to keep a fairly organized and fairly clean house with a grateful heart so that it leaves plenty of time for the people who matter most. Still clean and tidy, but it's out of “we might catch something if I don't clean it” or because I can't get in through the door of my 4 year old son's room. Clean houses are not only miraculously cleaned, tidy people have a protocol to keep things in good condition and in order.
I know this list because these feelings used to be the feelings I once longed for; and they only came after I had cleaned or tidied my house every night, just the way I like it. A lot of times, one spouse doesn't really understand how much time and effort the other is putting into keeping the house clean. Maria Ping, 35, a nursing student and mother of two in Chicago, even cleans her house before going on vacation. After work, I cleaned the house and cooked dinner, and when the kids went to sleep, I did laundry even though that meant my husband had to watch TV alone.
Maybe you're using cleaning products the wrong way or just have bad cleaning habits, but all you need is a little ingenuity and creativity. Have you ever stopped and considered “WHY” you need to satisfy that “itch”, of course, outside the obvious reasons of hygiene, teaching your children to clean up after themselves and simply wanting to be able to walk through the house without stepping on a dreaded piece of lego. Depending on the size of your home and the severity of the mess, you may spend 2 to 3 hours a day cleaning. Feeling less stressed about cleaning the house or having to continue after everyone starts reevaluating their standards.
If having a clean house is one of your goals, but you feel that all you do is move on, read on. Setting a solid schedule will help you prioritize areas of your home that you aren't cleaning enough and give you a break from places you're currently over-cleaning. Even worse, all that food and grease will accumulate and it will take even longer to clean them (these products will clean your house, right away). It can seem overwhelming to clean every week or even every day, but keeping abreast of the dirt in your home will eliminate the weekend hours you spend thoroughly cleaning your home.
If you find that your cleaning tasks take longer than expected, there may be things in your house that you clean more often than necessary. . .
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