8 most effective motivations to clean your house

1. The cleaning service is coming over  - I have only ever hired a cleaning service a handful of times, but every single time I am so embarrassed by my house that I actually clean up before they arrive.  I have had friends tell me they put away their personal affects – especially after one cleaning service threw everything away without asking – but I go a bit further. I do all the dishes, even wipe down my kitchen counters! What am I paying them to do again?
2. Expecting company - I can’t have people seeing my dirty dishes in the sink! I don’t have people over very often (thanks to living out in the country away from many people), so when they do come over, I want to impress them! I prefer to have plenty of notice so I can actually clean my house, versus the “sprint and stuff” method when I get 20 minutes notice.  Ya know, running around the house, stuffing papers and shoes and laundry in one room that will be “off limits” to the company.
3. Sickness - Killing germs after everyone in the house was sick puts me on a cleaning rampage!! Die germs, die! I do not feel sane until I have steam-mopped all my floors and sprayed every last inch of the house with Lysol.
4. Something is lost - Ask Josh and he will confirm – I get downright psycho when something is lost. The other day it was my pink ruby ring. First, I pick up and organize the enter house. Then I move to vacuuming and dusting every last inch of the place so I can look in all the nooks and crannies and find that lost object. Think Indiana Jones with a duster. (Frustratingly, my ring was located inside the kids’ toy cash register, a place I never dust!)
5. Anger - I’m so mad, I don’t want to talk, and the dirty house is just adding fuel to my rage. When I’m feeling upset, I start scrubbing, running (sometimes literally) around the house and throwing dishes in the sink. I clean house – and fast! For some reason, doing it fast gets my heart pumping and burns off that rage.
6. Jealousy - I will visit a friend’s house and marvel at her spotless counters, crumb-free floor and dustless photo frames. I drive home and start cleaning. Forget the fact that she probably either has a cleaning service and/or employed motivation #2 above.
7. A blog post - If I am writing a post that I have to take a picture of my kids in my house for, (like a product review) it has to be clean! How dare I show what life is actually like here. Nope, we live in an orderly and pristine home.
8. Proving you can do it - Nothing grinds my gears like hearing someone tell me they don’t think I can do it. So I clean, clean, clean, just to prove I can. Then, I invite them over, and the next day live in my piles of laundry. But I proved them wrong, dadgummit!

Which ones do YOU relate to most? All of them? Or is there something that motivates you to clean that I left off the list?

Written by the fabulous Annie @ Mama Dweeb

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