Mental Health Cleaning

Have you ever gotten so overwhelmed by the state of your home that it's just hard to function with things in such a mess? If you think my home is always tidy, you'd be very, very wrong, LOL! Recently I've had a flare up of my chronic illness, and things had just gotten so out of hand. I had a bunch of other things I needed to be doing. But once I was feeling a bit better, I NEEDED to tidy up my house just for my own mental health! It was getting hard to function or do anything else without thinking about the mess. I've made a checklist so you can follow the same process if you'd like, and if you want to know what I do when things just get too far out of control, keep reading, or watch the video here!

My basic rules for this type of cleaning are:

I have to go in order.
I have to fully complete each step before moving to the next one.
I can take breaks and don't have to finish it all at once, but I can't go do other things. So if I need to lay in bed for a bit to rest, I can, but I can't go do other work. This prevents distractions!

Get dressed, down to the shoes!

I get fully dressed, and I put on athletic shoes. There is something magical about wearing shoes. It signals to my brain that it's time to get going and work! I also put on an apron sometimes, and I tie up my hair so it doesn't get in my way.

Put on headphones and something I want to listen to.

This makes it fun! I'm allowed to listen to whatever I want. Usually I choose an audiobook or podcast, but I want it to be something I'm really interested in so I get excited about it. For you it might also be music. Choose whatever is most motivating for you and makes the task the most enjoyable.

Put away the clean dishes.

Whatever is clean and sitting on the counter needs to be put away first. I often have dishes draining dry, so I put all those in the cabinets where they belong.

Unload the dishwasher.

Assuming it has clean dishes in it, this step comes next! Put these dishes away in the cabinets as well.

Wash the dirty dishes.

This part can take longer. First I load the dishwasher with the dishes close to it at the sink. Then I will go round up any other dirty dishes on counters, in other rooms, etc. I'll load the dishwasher until it's full, and then I hand wash if there's anything that won't fit.

I know hand washing might seem a bit crazy to some, but I actually don't mind it. I get to listen to my book, and it's just kind of a time to zone out. And then once the dishes are done, everything else goes a lot faster!

Run the dishwasher.

Pro tip– you always want the water to be hot when your dishwasher starts. So, I always run the hot water at the sink until it's hot before starting my dishwasher. It takes a couple minutes to warm up in my house.

Then focus on the kitchen and dining room.

In my house these rooms are connected, so it makes sense to do them together. They both get messy together. Your home might be different, but at least focus on the rest of the kitchen.

I clear off all flat surfaces, including the floors if you have any items on the floors. I bring a laundry basket in. As I pick up items, I either put them in the laundry basket or put them away. In order to put them away, I have to know immediately where it goes. If I'm not quite sure or have to think about it, I put it in the laundry basket. This makes the process soooo much faster!!

Next focus on the living area.

This is usually the next biggest problem area for most people. In here I follow the same process with the laundry basket.

I always start with the couch so there's somewhere to sit. Then I move to the floors and the areas around the couch. Often I'll vacuum and/or mop in this area because the floors are usually a bit dirty.

Optional steps: Floor cleaning and laundry baskets.

By now your home is probably already feeling a LOT better! If you have more time, you can clean the floors and empty the laundry baskets that you filled earlier. If you don't feel like it, though, at least things should be feeling under control and MUCH less chaotic!

After I do a mental health cleaning, my home isn't usually “perfect,” but it's probably 95% there, and that's good enough for me! When I walk out of my bedroom, things just aren't as overwhelming. It makes simple tasks like cooking a quick meal seems so much more doable. Especially when I'm not feeling well, I feel so much better if my home isn't in so crazy. It really does make my mind feel more relaxed!

Here's my before and after: