Dearest loves,
There are many activities that we have to do on a daily or weekly basis that can be perceived as repetitive and dull. Perhaps you procrastinate over cooking or doing the laundry. What household task do you avoid until it’s embarrassing not to do it? How to enjoy housework, is it even possible?
If this sounds like you, here are some tips on how to enjoy housework more and get things done.
ENJOY HOUSEWORK – CONSIDER OUTSOURCING
The first place I start when thinking about housework is whether any part of it can be outsourced to somebody else. That might be a cleaner, a gardener or something else that suits your need. Before you say you can’t afford this, do the calculation. Work out how much time you would be spending doing these things and if appropriate what loss of earnings the time spent cleaning is causing. For example, if you run your own business, how much could you make in the 3 hours it takes you to clean the house? If it’s more than the money for a cleaner – it’s a no brainer.
It’s not necessarily the case that you will be able to afford to outsource anything, and that’s OK. It’s about looking at the possibility. You may even be able to do a trade with somebody – maybe you have a friend or family member who finds ironing therapeutic but hates something that you love. Get creative and see if you can swap.
ENJOY HOUSEWORK – CREATE SPECIFIC TIMESLOTS
One of the key reasons housework and other things we procrastinate on are so frustrating is that we often don’t plan time for them. Then we spend time worrying about when we’ll do them. This is such an unnecessary cognitive load and can make us feel exhausted before we even start anything.
See if you can create a specific time slot for certain tasks. I personally reserve Tuesday evening for dealing with all my paperwork and doing a quick tidy up of the house. I also put laundry on pretty much immediately on the mornings I am working from home so that it can get done while I do other things, rather than me forgetting and letting it pile up into an uncontrollable mess.
ENJOY HOUSEWORK – PRACTICE MINDFULNESS
So you’ve outsourced or swapped what you’ve could and you’ve put aside Thursday evenings for the ironing. Now it’s Thursday and you have to do the ironing. BOO! No, actually. How about you play with the idea of practicing mindfulness with it. Mindfulness is the practice of bringing yourself into the present moment. We spend a lot of time thinking about the past and the future, but in reality the present moment is the part we forget to enjoy.
So think about mindfully ironing. Paying real attention to the process. Noticing all your senses as you work. It might take a little longer, but you’ll probably find yourself feeling relaxed afterwards – as though you’ve just spend 30 minutes meditating or practicing yoga, but you’ve actually being doing the thing you dread and hate. Rinse and repeat with all household tasks and see what a difference it makes for you.
If you’d like some help getting more mindful then join me in Blissful Life Yoga for access to tens of kundalini yoga videos + meditations all designed to bring you more into the present moment. It even includes a sacred space meditation that you can practice and make your home a sanctuary.
I’d love to hear how you get along.
P.S. Don’t forget to check out Blissful Life Yoga – you can sign up for quarter, half-yearly or annual access. I’d love to see you in there.
