7 Deadly Sins of Every Housework Hater

By Julie In Blog

The Seven Deadly Sins Innocently Committed By Everyone Who Has Ever Hated Housework And The Secret Weapon To Reaching Domestic Nirvana

I used to think if I worked really hard to keep a beautifully clean home, did it just the way my mother taught me, I’d learn to love cleaning as much as she did. I tried. I really tried. I just never got very excited about crawling around on the tile floor with bleach and a toothbrush trying to keep my grout sparkly. That stuff that grows in the toilet when I wasn’t watching just irritated the heck out of me.
So I came to terms and hoped that, while I might not enjoy doing it, ultimately it would all be worth it. Not so. While I was working so hard I discovered that the working hard part is why I hate cleaning so much.
Then I found a secret weapon and learned it’s not about working hard. It’s about working smart. I’m convinced the biggest reason most people hate housework is that they fail to avoid these 7 common mistakes.
#1 USING THE WRONG TOOL
If you’re cleaning your kitchen using manual labor and scrub brushes, you’re using the wrong tool. If what you’re using to clean your bathroom requires harsh, smelly, expensive consumable disposable chemicals it’s definitely outdated. If your tool involves rubber gloves, comes with a poison warning label, you’ve gotta get into this century.
Steam machines for household cleaning are the best replacement for all those lousy cleaning chemicals. Not since the automobile replaced the horse and buggy a have we seen a more needed invention. Steamers actually get your stuff cleaner in less time and with a lot less effort. So stop picking up a manual labor tool and expecting to get state of the art results.
#2 FOLLOWING BLINDLY
Are you using exactly what your mothers and grandmothers used? Are you rushing out to buy whatever the big chemicals companies are advertising on TV? Are you using products that make your hands red and make you cough until you can’t breathe? Stop the status quo and start doing your own research. You’ll learn that each and every one of those squirt bottles full of chemicals, de-greasers and disinfectants are OUT. A good quality residential steam cleaner is IN. It will last for years and the only consumable is water.
#3 LISTENING TO THE WRONG MESSAGE
You know you hate the smelly chemicals and you agree it’s time to look for a healthier alternative. In an effort to green up your clean up you buy those new green cleaning chemicals made by the same big chemical companies who sold you the harsh smelly stuff for all those years. Now that may be a step in the right direction but think about the whole thing. The new so-called green stuff still has to be produced, packaged, shipped, consumed, disposed of properly and the plastic bottle has to be recycled. I don’t know about you but that sounds pretty pale green at best. In fact it’s every bit as harmful to our environment as the old, not-green stuff. And to add insult to injury, that stuff still requires manual labor…squirt it on and keep wiping until you get it all off. If it’s consumable and disposable instead of sustainable like a steam machine and microfiber cloths, you are only partially there.
#4 FAILING TO OUTSOURCE
Asking for help can give some of us a rash. It’s almost an admission of failure for us superwomen if we have to call for help. I know how emotional this issue can be for someone who measures herself against what she can accomplish. But the fact remains, cleaning our homes is a big job especially when it just keeps getting dirty again daily. At some point you must delegate. Even if it’s to your kids or your spouse…you need help. They help make the mess so if they are part of the problem, they need to be part of the solution.
If you are a stay-at-home mom, you deserve help. If you work outside your home, you deserve help. Martyrdom is not all it’s cracked up to be so don’t feel guilty. Hiring someone who is better at it than you are, can do it faster or cheaper is smart money.
Find someone who is willing to tackle the stuff you just don’t have time for or really hate doing. Life is short and the resentment that can build when you continue to do things you hate is crazy. I hereby give you permission to ask for help!
#5 POOR ORGANIZATION
A place for everything and everything in it’s place sound silly but really it’s a very simple, effective solution to about half the battle. Clutter can quickly spiral out of control if not watched daily.
Even if you think clutter doesn’t bother you, it does. It’s nerve-wracking and the cause of subconscious short tempers. It fosters the “why bother” feeling about beginning a cleaning project of any kind.
Clutter is easy to tame if you adopt a few simple procedures. Put laundry baskets where your family drops their clothes. Designate space for their backpacks, shoes, coats, keys, cell phones, etc. They probably won’t change their habits easily but you can orchestrate a simple plan and avoid total chaos.
Sort the mail near the recyclables can so you can keep up on junk mail and the newspapers. If you have a habit of making piles and moving a pile from one place to another STOP! Handle it once and know where it goes. This applies to dishes, groceries, homework, cosmetics, books, clothes, bills, etc.
#6 LACKING A PLAN
“I’ll get around to it” is a recipe for disaster. Some day just never comes. Make an actual appointment with yourself (and anyone you can enlist to help) for a specific time on a particular day and stick to it. Give yourself kudos for cleaning out closets every time the season changes. Do not shuffle through coats and wool sweaters to find shorts and tank tops. If your community has a charity drive, participate and move your junk onto someone who can use it. Hoarding is a disease that creates dis-ease.
#7 EMOTIONAL SABOTAGE
If you fail to acknowledge it, this is the one that will beat you every time. Our emotions run the show and if you don’t believe that, tell me why diets never work long term. If you believe you are a bad, lazy incompetent housekeeper – you’re right. If you think it’s pointless, expensive, degrading – it is. If you feel resentful because no one will help or sad that no one notices – you are caught in emotional sabotage.
If you have always thought housework is just a plot by the man to keep you down, well, I’m here to say…it’s possible to turn that around…if you’re willing. Take a good hard look at what you think and feel about housework and make a decision about yourself. The “why” you do it is just as important as the “how.”
Not all of us suffer from all seven of these deadly sins but I can imagine several of them hit a chord with you. The beauty of being human is that we get to learn from our mistakes. Re-read this article and take the test. How many do you suffer from and how many of them have you tackled?

Now that we know what the problem is, are you ready to find the solution? There is one product that solves every one of these issues…a Sargent Steam Cleaner. Get your hands on one today and get ready to change the way you feel about cleaning. While it may not take you from hating it to being overjoyed when you get to clean a toilet, it will take your whole idea of cleaning to a new level of control.