Cleaning your home is not the most fun of tasks. While there’s a tiny population of people on earth who enjoy cleaning, the rest of us probably do it out of begrudging necessity, or because things around the house have started producing odours that they really should not be. Whatever the case is, for those of us who don’t get our jollies by sorting socks according to colour and length, cleaning does not always have to be a horrifying and painful task. Here’s how.

• Put yourself on a ‘Carrot and Stick’ system.
  Okay, so you hate cleaning. That’s fine, but you know your house needs to meet a certain minimum livable standard. Try planning out a system of rewards. Cleaning your living room, for example, could be worth a 6 pack at the Beer Store. Cleaning your kitchen and bathrooms could be worth splurging at that new tapas place that opened up around the corner. Step the reward up proportional to the amount of housework you get done.

• Have a jam session while cleaning.
  Get your Spotify DJ skills on and put a playlist together. Your usual workout mix is fine, or whatever music gets you the most hyped up to do things. Just make sure it’s roughly 20-30 minutes’ worth of music.  We can all take a lesson here from our mothers who grooved along to bachata, rock’n’roll and soul train while cleaning. Get your tunes on, power through it, and have a blast while doing so!

• Fight Small Battles.  Don’t hurt yourself trying to tackle your whole place unless you live in one of those 120 square foot sky-boxes. It’s totally okay to tackle one piece of cleaning each day. Setting a cleaning schedule with a fixed day for each cleaning task is a great way of keeping your time spent on cleaning manageable. Size depending, cleaning a room shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes of work.

• Entertain. Let’s face it, there’s nothing quite like the thought of guests coming over to kick even the laziest of rears into gear. The last thing you want is for people to find out that your home looks the way it does (sometimes), so why not have a few friends (or family) over, to give yourself a reason to clean? Bonus points if you’re inviting your in-laws or parents. If it’s not spotless, you’ll hear about it!

• Get Help.  When all else fails, call for reinforcements. Having a friend come over to help (use of bribery is permitted) gives you both a conversation partner for the clean-up, and someone to enjoy the clean with after. Especially if the nature of your bribe involves Netflix/Board Games/Video Games and your choice of drink. Pro Tip: Having a friend help with the cleaning can be a great way of cutting down on clutter. If someone you’re close to calls you out on your steadily growing pile un-used junk, it’ll probably end up in the trash sooner rather than later.

As always, if the mess is just too big to handle yourself, give cleaning services like Maids In A Minute a try.