My living room frequently looks as if the Wizard of Oz tornado took a wrong turn down Sesame Street. And much like the Wicked Witch of the East, one will find me defeated, lying under a mountain of toys with only my slippers visible. My toddler is an expert in chaos, leaving a trail of destruction through our house by 10 AM each morning. The vision of mountainous messes makes me all the more appreciative of when things are tidy and reminds me of why I love my clean house.
Everyone’s idea of clean varies, but the benefits of a clean house are undeniable. The pros range from having a clear path to ensure you don’t break your neck to feeling marginally better when your child picks their snack up off the floor and pops it back in their mouth.
As a disclaimer, this does not mean cleaning your home when you are tired or have pressing matters to address. Each mom knows what they need at the moment. So, if cleaning is the thing that saves your sanity, go for it. If not, carry on!
Since I love my clean house, I move heaven and earth to make it happen. Visualizing how great I’ll feel after cleaning maintains my motivation to follow through with chores even when I may not feel like it. Of course, keeping the benefits in mind also helps, so here are the 9 Reasons I Love My Clean House!
9 Reasons I Love My Clean House
1. Sense of Control
Holding the tv remote is one of the rare moments I feel a sense of control as a mom. Even then, my toddler is always close behind to try and snatch it, laughing gleefully the moment it’s in her hands.
Toddler time does not move the same as earth time, and sometimes I swear my child is a dimension-jumping superhero with the speed that she trashes spaces.
By the time I’m cleaning up the house in the late afternoon, the day becomes more manageable, and I get a boost of confidence that I can also tackle other non-domestic challenges. Sometimes cleaning is the small win needed to feel a sense of control, which is one big reason I love my clean house.
2. A Focused Mind
One time simply staring at a dot on my living room wall in a daze of ignorance was enough of a mental retreat to save my sanity. Thankfully, you don’t have to wait to find a dot on your wall to focus! Unless you have a burning desire to find one, and if so, be my guest.
A racing mind is common in today’s fast-paced world, particularly for moms with young children. Who knew you could go from an engaging conversation with Skye, Marshall, and Chase from the Paw Patrol crew to grabbing your child’s mouth in a desperate attempt to stop them from swallowing a Yahtzee dice all in the span of a few minutes?
Cleaning, while not exciting, offers peace and focus in its predictability and mundaneness. Some even consider it a form of meditation!
3. Accomplishment
No one has handed me a large trophy as they chant my name upon my completion of cleaning, well, except for me, but I don’t need the external validation anyway! Another reason I love my clean house is the sense of accomplishment.
Cleaning is a task that brings immediate satisfaction. I dust a surface; I see a difference! I vacuum my floors; my home is ready for the cover of Better Homes & Gardens! Well, if they had an issue titled “Moderately Appealing Homes, But What IS That Stain?” Wear and tear happens on a rug, and I’m not Martha Stewart!
4. Physical Movement
The vibrant dance routine I put on while cleaning is rivaled only by one other performance, specifically this one by Robin Williams in Death to Smoochy.
While certain repetitive motions while tidying up make me creak and crack a bit, cleaning can be fun. As I’ve mentioned, perspective plays a significant role in how we see tasks.
Do we have to do it or get to do it? I choose the latter, and as such, decide to make the physical movement involved with cleaning into a show-stopping musical number. Getting physical activity is another reason why I love my clean house. Where else do you get to be the star of the show while also getting exercise?
Moving your body also helps with stress, so if you’re looking for ways to live a less stressful life, read my post 11 Ways to Make Life the Opposite of Stressful.
5. Cleaner Air
There is always a team of spiders in a house that coordinates effectively enough to transform your otherwise clean home into an escape room of cobwebs. Then there are the layers of dust with depth that would make a seven-layer dip jealous.
Despite best cleaning efforts, there is always something getting dirty seemingly on its own, so it only makes sense that air quality would decrease.
Another reason I love my clean house is the fresh-smelling air! Sense of smell is tied heavily to memory. So when making memories in my home, I want to have it connected to a good smell versus a bad one!
6. Declutter
Having a toddler means neverending navigation of oddities collected and uncategorized that may or may not result in injury, annoyance, or shock at how they’ve accumulated all these things.
Too many toys can negatively impact your child’s creativity, so use that knowledge as an excuse to clear out the stuff! It’s better for your space and your child’s development. For more information on this, check out Too Many Toys!–5 Steps for Dealing with Toy Overload at Respectful Caregiving.
I love my clean house and the decluttering it allows. It also promotes looking at what you use and don’t use critically. And since I want to avoid ending up on Hoarders, I make decluttering part of my cleaning routine.
7. Change Space/Reorganize
In a similar vein to decluttering, cleaning allows time for reorganizing. Changing a room’s setup can renew joy in a familiar space. From moving your couch to the other side of the room to switching out art prints on the walls, reorganizing offers a fresh perspective and a sense of novelty that can make all the difference!
Plus, we need to unearth the dust trapped behind big furniture at some point. Otherwise, you may find a disturbing degree of debris that has created a microcosm.
8. Use My Ridiculously Expensive Vacuum
I will not reveal how much my Sirena vacuum cost, but I will say I got it during a super sale. That said, I am obsessed with this vacuum to a point that initially concerned my husband. But investing money in something affects the way I view it. For a person as frugal as me, I treat my vacuum like a person in my house, and yes, her name is Sirena because it says it on her, and why confuse her?
Using my expensive water vacuum entices me to clean more frequently (to get my money’s worth), plus I also get great satisfaction when I see the dirt trapped in the water basin after I finish.
**This is not an affiliate thing, and I have no connection to Sirena other than their vacuum is fantastic! While there are likely cheaper versions of a water vacuum on the market, the HEPA filter in the Sirena and all the other included attachments are well worth the investment.
***I may still be obsessed with my vacuum…
9. Spending Time with Family
There’s something about relaxing after a long day in a space where you cannot see your floor. It’s frustrating and leaves one feeling the opposite of relaxed. Another reason I love my clean house is creating a space that I can enjoy with my family after a long day. And let’s be honest, all days with a toddler are long!
Those are the 9 Reasons I Love My Clean House!
What motivates you to clean your house? Also, does anyone else use a water vacuum? If so, drop a comment because I could talk about them all day.
Happy Cleaning! 🙂
