When it comes to maintaining a clean and tidy home, some people take pride in the results of their efforts. Others enjoy specific chores, such as vacuuming or doing the dishes. Then there are those who grit their teeth and suffer through these tasks – or put them off as long as they can.
Why do some people find it so hard to motivate themselves to get – and keep – their home organised and clean? Research has found that hesitation and indecisiveness are among the biggest impediments to dealing with household clutter . And if you give in to that indecisiveness or hesitation, clutter and messiness may lead to even more indecision and procrastination, creating an unfortunate self-perpetuating cycle. “If you have a chaotic home environment where things are in the way or in different places from one day to the next, it’s much harder to form habits that will work for you because you’ll have to think about something that should be much easier,” says Wendy Wood, professor emerita of psychology and business at the University of Southern California and author of Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick .
“Good habits are more likely to develop if we set up a home environment to make daily habits easier.” Owning cleaning tools you enjoy using helps make the process enjoyable. Credit: iStock Indeed, one of the optimal strategies for gaining control of home maintenance is to make cleaning and tidying more automatic so you don’t have to .
