How to Happily Do Housework Without a Prescription

We’re so long from the days of the happy housewife vacuuming in pearls that the jokes are stale, but strangely, the crumbs on the carpet are as fresh as ever. Fitting housework into a busy, active life is a modern challenge, but one you can meet with a smile (and a clean bill of health on a random drug test) by learning how to happily do housework without a prescription.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Broom
• Cleaning products
• Treats
• Audio books
• Audio player
• Music
• Beverages
• Headphones
• Vacuum
• Mop

1. Set aside a specific time to do housework each week. Or make a list of jobs and pick away at it over the week. Either way, roll up your sleeves and jump right in! Skip the half hour you usually spend grousing about the mess and pick a place to start.
2. Add sugar to sweeten the deal: Put on music or wear headphones with a favorite book on tape, CD or mp3 player.
3. Reward your efforts: Pour yourself a beverage, open a bag of candy or bring chips to snack on between tasks.
4. Make a list, even if you’re just taking a few minutes to make a dent in the pile. Make the list realistic so you can feel successful, rather than a failure, in this ongoing, endless task.
5. Clear the decks before you clean. You’ll be less frustrated, and spend more energy cleaning than cursing out your cohabitants.
6. Vacuum first. If you have to cut your cleaning short, you’ll have something to show for it. Stop to look at the good job you did. Take a swig, pop a chip in your mouth, and move on.
   
7. Scrub a dub dub, make a date with the tub. Plan on cleaning the bathroom on a day you can reward your work with a long, hot, sweetly scented bubble bath.
8. Give yourself a happy reason to push a mop: Plan a dinner date with friends, a breakfast with relatives or a coffee date with your mom, knowing you’ll want the house to look good.
9. Buy yourself flowers weekly or cut some from your garden, as the crowning touch to your clean home. You deserve it.

Tips & Warnings

• All those home-care magazines that advise keeping all your cleaning needs in one portable container are right; spending time finding supplies is a drag. If you don't have small children or pets around, keep cleaning supplies in the room you need them, tucked out of sight.
• Cleaning around a crowd of unproductive others is frustrating and leads to volcanic eruptions and scenes of domestic upheaval. Requiring others to clean or get the heck out of your way (and maybe out of the house) is a reasonable request. Alone time is alone time, even if you’re cleaning out the fridge.
• Libraries have a wide selection of audio books; pre-order titles to keep on hand when the housework needs to be done. Old favorites are especially pleasurable while doing housework because you don't need to hear every word to enjoy listening.
• Buy special treats for yourself that you save for housework time, and those who help during housework time.
• Remember that housework is exercise too; vacuuming, mopping and strenuous scrubbing all fit into any program fine. Wear a pedometer to count those calories used.
• Don’t try to motivate yourself by inviting critical relatives over for tea; they will only frustrate you and deflate your sense of accomplishment. Invite only nonjudgmental types who will accept you no matter the condition of your grout-work and never look closely for dust.
• Setting high standards can lead to dissatisfaction, and are unnecessary unless you’re in the cleaning business. Studies show that women, especially, are choosing time with children and spouses over housework, so if you have cobwebs on the ceilings, moldy cheese in the dairy drawer and haven’t tried out all your vacuum attachments, you’re not alone.
• If only we could wave a wand and have the housework done! Sigh. But happy is an attitude as much as a condition, so choosing to make housework a happy job is the first step to making this must-do a can-do.
• Don't let resentment take you over like a malignant spirit if you feel you're doing the lion's share of the housework. Communicate your needs before you boil over and hurl insults or are reduced to tears.

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