3 Mindful Cleaning Practices to Declutter Your Home

Photo by Sarah Brown on Unsplash

There’s no worse feeling than waking up to a cluttered, messy home. In fact, over 58% of people said that having a messy home causes them to feel anxious or stressed. That said, it’s all too often that people get overwhelmed either through work or parenting that results in them having little energy leftover to clean with. This is where mindfulness comes in handy.

With mindful cleaning practices, you can transform cleaning from an unwanted chore into a relaxing daily ritual. Using the mindful cleaning tips below, your house will be decluttered in no time.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

Before we cover our mindful cleaning tips, it’s important to go over the benefits of mindfulness in the first place. If you aren’t familiar with the term, the word “mindfulness” essentially means the state of being conscious or aware of your actions. While it’s easy to daydream or get lost in thoughts and worries about the future, mindfulness brings you back into the present moment to focus on the task at hand.

Mindfulness can yield an assortment of benefits such as:

• Reduced feelings of anxiety and depression
• Improved cognitive ability.
• Increased feelings of self-compassion.
• Improved heart and body health.

Mindful Cleaning Tips

Cleaning can be dull and mind numbing when you treat it like a chore, but when you bring yourself into the present moment, it becomes an enjoyable and therapeutic experience that can improve your mental health. To that end, here are some of our favorite mindful cleaning tips.

1. Declutter with Intention

When you’re decluttering your living space, don’t feel as though you need to be in a rush. It’s easy to get caught in a loop of glancing at the clock every five seconds, willing the chore to be over, but that only makes the process feel longer. Instead, take your time and reflect on each piece of clutter that you clean up.

You may even want to go through your house and reflect on each one of your possessions, including old clothing or shoes that are gathering dust in your closet. Contemplate whether these items bring you joy or whether you could do without them. If you decide that they no longer bring you joy, either throw them away or donate them.

This practice is particularly helpful when you consider that your living space is representative of your state of mind. The more you clean, organize and let go of possessions that no longer serve you, the more at peace your mind will feel.

2. Pay Attention to Every Sensation

As you make your bed or do your laundry, paying attention to every sensation helps put you in a calmer state of mind. For example, when you’re doing laundry, recognize the softness of your clothes. When you retrieve them from the dryer, feel their warmth. When you’re folding your clothes, pay attention to the neat lines that are made with each fold.

Paying attention to each sensation may sound simple, but it’s surprisingly difficult. When you’re washing dishes, for example, try to zone in on the way the warm, running water feels. Soon enough you’ll likely find yourself thinking about work, or how you can’t wait to watch TV later, or how you wish you were done cleaning.

When this happens, simply take note of your intrusive thoughts and return to paying attention to the present moment. If you aren’t experienced with mindfulness, this could be challenging, but given enough time and practice, you’ll find your mind gets sharper and the chores become more enjoyable.

3. Clean With Gratitude

One of the best ways to improve your mood in the long term is to practice gratitude while you clean. When you’re wiping down the kitchen counter or dusting the entertainment center, take note of the little things you are grateful for. After all, not everyone has a kitchen space or a home to call their own.

While it’s easy to get caught up in dreading our day-to-day chores, it’s fortunate that you have access to a home that you can clean in the first place. For this reason, it’s important to practice appreciating the little things in life that you take for granted.

Conclusion

When you mindfully declutter your surroundings, you also declutter your mind. Using the above mindfulness tips to guide you through your cleaning routine, you will be feeling less anxious and more at peace in no time. For even more mindful cleaning tips, check out Angi’s infographic below.