Bringing Delight Back to Domestic Drudgery: How To Make Chores Easier
When it comes time to do your weekly or monthly chores, do you find yourself thinking, “Didn’t I just do this?”
You’re not alone! Between busy schedules, family life, and the million little things competing for your attention, staying on top of household tasks can feel overwhelming.
Don’t let tedious and monotonous chores get you down. There’s good news. With a few simple strategies, smart shortcuts, and realistic expectations, you can make chores easier, and maybe even a little more enjoyable.
Let’s break it down and take a look at:
What makes chores a struggle
5 bases to cover to make chores easier
How Tidy Up Portland! can help
Why Am I Struggling To Do Housework?
Many people struggle with chores simply because they see housework as something negative.. Add in the constant busyness of life that includes work, and it’s easy to see how chores quickly get pushed to the bottom of the list.
Another major roadblock is not having a realistic plan. Without a clear, manageable system for tackling chores, everything feels chaotic and unending. Having a simple, feasible plan can completely shift your mindset.
With the right structure, housework stops being a source of frustration and starts feeling like something you can finally stay on top of. Part of that structure may include tasking those chores out to a professional cleaning company. Whether you need weekly tidying, bi-weekly cleaning, or monthly deep cleaning, Tidy Up Portland! has a variety of cleaning packages to meet your needs.
How To Make Household Chores Easier: 5 Bases To Cover
Chores don’t have to be a constant drain on your time, energy, and happiness. With the right mindset and a bit of proactive planning, keeping up with housework can feel far more manageable. Even though it takes intention and a willingness to try new approaches, the payoff is huge:
A cleaner home
Less stress
The sense you’re no longer fighting an uphill battle
Here are five key things to keep in mind that can make chores easier, lighter, and a whole lot more doable.
#1: Devise a Plan
Having a plan for how to do your chores is the first big step in how to make chores easy. But if your plan is too complex and not practical, you can end up more frustrated than you were before you got started.
Having a realistic and doable plan can change your whole approach and mindset toward your chores. One approach is the 6/10 cleaning rule.
What Is the 6/10 Cleaning Rule?
Cleaning a house involves a lot of rooms and a lot of items. Sometimes we become overwhelmed just by seeing the size of the task.
Or maybe you don’t feel like it’s really clean unless you’ve covered every inch of every single room in one go around.
This is when the 6/10 rule can relieve some of the burden, leaving you with a tidy space and sanity all at the same time.
Here’s how it works:
The 6/10 cleaning method divides household chores into six daily tasks and ten weekly tasks to create a manageable cleaning routine.
Do these six quick daily tasks to keep messes from piling up for easy maintenance:
Make beds
Wash dishes
Scrub the sink
Wipe counters
Vacuum floors
Do one load of laundry
Complete these 10 tasks weekly for deeper cleaning. You can complete them all in one day or spread them out throughout the week:
Wipe out the fridge
Wipe out the microwave
Tidy the pantry
Mop floors
Clean bathrooms
Clean sink drains
Dust furniture
Wash bedding
Tidy the car
Clean pet bowls
#2: Declutter Every Room
Decluttering is one of the simplest and most effective ways to make household chores easier. When you let go of the things you don’t use, need, or even like, you instantly reduce the amount of work required to keep your home clean.
The rule is simple: the less you have, the less you have to:
Pick up
Wipe down
Wash
Store
A room with only the essentials is a breeze to clean, while a space filled with random items multiplies the time and effort it takes to tidy up.
The same goes for closets bursting with clothes you rarely wear or kitchen counters crowded with gadgets you don’t really need. By clearing out the excess and keeping only what you truly use and love, your daily cleaning becomes quicker, lighter, and far less overwhelming.
You love the idea of decluttering but aren’t sure where to start? Try these decluttering tips:
Pick an area to declutter and work on it for 15 minutes.
Resist the urge to bring unnecessary things into the house, especially after you’ve already worked hard to declutter a space.
Work in layers. Start at one corner of the room and work around the space doing surface-level pick up. Then go around again and do deeper decluttering, like opening and organizing drawers and closets.
Work on something while you’re waiting. Are you waiting for the water to boil to make the pasta? Clean out the utensil drawer or do a general tidy up in the kitchen.
Enlist some help. Pick a friend you trust who isn’t as attached to your stuff as you are to help you know when to say goodbye to some of those things that are causing clutter.
What Is the 80/20 Rule for Cleaning?
The 80/20 rule for cleaning is a simple approach where you aim to keep only about 80% of your space filled with belongings while leaving the remaining 20% intentionally empty.
The open space gives a place for your home to “breathe” and helps prevent clutter from creeping in. The empty 20% also:
Offers visual relief
Makes rooms feel calmer
Gives you flexibility when new items enter your home
Leaving intentional empty space keeps everything easier to clean and easier to manage, dramatically decreasing stress. When your home isn’t filled to the brim, you always know where things belong, which means fewer frantic searches and fewer arguments about misplaced items.
Psychologists even note that open, uncluttered spaces support calm, focus, and a strong sense of control.
To experience the calm and have peace of mind, let Tidy Up Portland! Work with you to give you that little bit of extra breathing room. Contact us today to get a quote.
#3: Prepare Your Mind
If chores feel like the enemy, shifting your mindset can completely change the experience. Viewing housework negatively turns every task into a burden, making even simple chores feel heavier than they are. But what if cleaning could become a small pocket of peace instead of a source of stress?
With the right mindset, chores can actually be a chance to unwind, meditate, and reset your space and your mind. Here are a few ways to transform your relationship with chores and lighten the emotional load they carry.
Set a Timer
Timing your chores can completely change how you feel about them. A task that seems big and draining, like emptying the dishwasher, often takes far less time than you think.
Setting a timer can also add a lighthearted challenge to the cleaning when you race to beat the clock. Setting a time for 20 minutes to clean the bathroom boosts focus, energy, and motivation, making it easier to power through repetitive or dreaded tasks.
Listen to What You Love
Listening to music, podcasts, or audiobooks can turn chore time into something you actually look forward to. Keeping your mind entertained with something positive can make the work feel lighter.
Whether it’s nostalgic hits, fast-paced pop, or a dedicated “cleaning playlist,” the right soundtrack can make even dreaded tasks feel more fun — and you might even find yourself dancing while cleaning the shower.
Aim for Harmony
Have you ever cleaned out and organized a closet or drawer and felt such pride that every time you walk by that closet or drawer, you stop and open it to take one more peek at the order you created?
Many people find genuine satisfaction in the order that chores can create. There’s a certain joy in neatly loading the dishwasher, arranging closets and drawers, or doing laundry.
When chores become a way to bring structure and calm to your space, they stop feeling like mindless tasks and start feeling like small victories over everyday chaos.
#4: Clean As You Go
Cleaning as you go keeps messes from piling up, saving you time, energy, and that overwhelming feeling of facing a big cleanup later. Here’s how you can practice this tip in two rooms of your home:
The kitchen: Wash dishes and wipe spills as soon as they happen and clean pots and pans while you cook so you don’t have a mountain of dishes to clean after dinner.
The bathroom: Wipe the sink when it’s dirty, give the toilet a quick swish, or scrub the shower right before you use it.
#5: Schedule a Periodic Deeper Clean
If keeping up with chores feels like too much, hiring a cleaning service like Tidy Up Portland! to handle your deep cleans can be a game changer. Whether you bring them in weekly, biweekly, or monthly, their team can take care of the heavy stuff so you don’t have to.
Our Deep Cleaning Package is designed to give your home serious attention, going beyond what your regular “clean-as-you-go” routine accomplishes.
By combining your ongoing household chores with more infrequent professional help, you’ll lighten your load without sacrificing a clean, comfortable space.
Make House Chores Easier With Tidy Up Portland!’s Home Cleaning Services
If things still feel overwhelming, consider letting Tidy Up Portland! take the reins on your chores. Our team offers flexible deep‑cleaning and maintenance packages (weekly, biweekly, monthly, or one‑time) to help keep your home clean and orderly.
Tidy Up Portland! also offers eco‑friendly, tailored services and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, making us a reliable partner for keeping your home both sparkling and easy to maintain.
Scheduling is super easy. You can book your clean right online through our website.
Give yourself a break, and let the pros handle the mess so you can enjoy a cleaner home and your sanity.
