Enjoy Yourself while Cleaning

If you would rather be reading than cleaning, here's a great idea: audio books. Just visit your local library or bookstore and look for a tape or CD of that great romance or suspense thriller you've been meaning to read. Pop it in your player and you'll be too caught up to notice how long you've been mopping. Some libraries even have audio books online that you can download to your mp3 player.

Listen to music you can sing along to. Pretend you're dancing instead of cleaning. You can turn your cleaning routine into an aerobic workout by changing little things like doing lunges while mopping, raising and lowering yourself on your toes while cleaning counters or stoves, and doing squats or jumping while waiting for the toilet or shower cleaner to work. It can keep you from getting bored and help you get more exercise out of your housekeeping time.

Treating yourself well while cleaning may seem like an impossibility, but you can spoil yourself with many kinds of beauty remedies while you work. Put a thick, overnight hand lotion on under gloves before you clean to give yourself a moisturizing hand treatment while you clean. Other at-home beauty treatments, like masks, pore strips, or hot oil hair treatments can easily be set up before to work while you are cleaning.

Making a goal for what the house will look like after you're finished can help give you something to look forward to. Planning to change things around the house like how the furniture is positioned or where new photographs can be placed can make cleaning seem like a step in the fun and exciting process of redecorating instead of a boring chore.

Buying and using new cleaning equipment and fluids can make cleaning more fun. Keeping all of your equipment in one container and moving it with you from room to room can save you from walking back and forth from a closet to get different cleaning materials.

If you have a significant other, invite him or her over to clean with you. It's a good way to make the job go faster and to see if he or she is marriage material. Talking to someone while you clean can distract you, so having a hands-free set on your phone is a great way to let you keep in touch with family and friends while getting through household chores.