This Viral Hack Gives You No Reason To Put Off Deep-Cleaning

Even if your house looks relatively tidy on the surface, a few spots are always screaming for a deep clean. Think about the drawers under your bathroom sink, the clutter that’s lurking beneath your bed, and those jam-packed kitchen cabinets, especially the one that’s full of bags and an avalanche of plastic containers.

Clutter is one thing that can get out of hand, but when you let procrastination get in the way of your chores, literal dirt can pile up, too. It can be easy to ignore because, really, who wants to dust a ceiling fan? It’s something that seems like it would take forever to clean, so you put it off — and just like that, a year goes by without any change. To challenge this line of thinking, TikTok creator @christinewrutzen decided to see how long it would actually take to complete these types of tasks, and it turned out to be the perfect productivity hack.

The series, called “How Long Does It Actually Take?” shows Christine going through her home and cleaning all the areas she’s been ignoring. In a viral video posted March 3, she took on the floor of her pantry where junk had been piling up for ages. She set a timer and got to work organizing, sweeping, vacuuming, and taking out recycling. In total, the entire task only took 27 minutes.

In her comments, someone wrote, “The anticipated anxiety about the task at hand is often worse than the task itself.” Another said, “I feel both attacked and inspired [by this]” while someone else said, “Listen, you’re onto something.” Since going viral, Christine has successfully deep-cleaned multiple rooms in her home. Here, why timing your chores seems to work like a charm.

Why You Should Time Your Chores

According to Clarissa Harwell, LCSW, a psychotherapist in California, it’s super common to have messy closets and dusty piles in your home that you ignore for years, especially if you have ADHD or anxiety.

If the mere thought of the chore seems overwhelming or unpleasant, it makes sense that you would avoid it. Perfectionism can also play a role in procrastination, which is why a simple task, like cleaning a cluttered pantry, can feel like a giant undertaking. “If we can't do it perfectly, we won't do it at all,” she tells Bustle.

Of course, you might also ignore tasks that don’t “need” to happen right away, or ones that don’t seem very fun. Why clean your flooboards when you can marathon your fave TV show? It’s tough to find the motivation — but that’s where the timer comes in.

Timing a task, just like Christine does, is an easy way to trick your brain into feeling a sense of urgency, and that should inspire you to break out of a rut and take action, Hartwell says. “Sometimes it can also make it fun, and sometimes it makes it less threatening to the nervous system,” she adds. “For example, setting a timer for three minutes and telling yourself ‘I only have to complete three minutes of this task’ often allows people to continue going past the timer.”

Trick Yourself Into Doing A Deep-Clean

To try the “How Long Does It Actually Take” hack, Hartwell recommends turning on music or a podcast as an incentive to get started and then tackling one of the messier areas of your home, just to see what happens.

Set the timer — knowing it’s ticking away in the background should motivate you to keep going — and see if you can complete the project in one go. As you can see in many of Christine’s TikToks, it’s not too hard to get on a roll. The types of chores rarely take as much time as you think they will, and they often aren’t that horrible or unpleasant, either.

If you need an extra boost to get up and moving, Hartwell suggests body doubling or cleaning with a friend or other witness nearby so that you’re less likely to give up and quit halfway through. On Aug. 8, Christine essentially body doubled when she cleaned a friend’s bathroom in another viral TikTok. While the task did take a few hours, they were able to organize all of her hair products and toiletries — something she’d been wanting to do for the better part of a year.

For one last trick, Hartwell says it’s a good idea to treat yourself once you’re finished, either by relaxing or doing something fun as a reward. That way, you’ll be incentivized to make it to the finish line and complete a true deep-clean, even if you really don’t want to.

Source:

Clarissa Harwell, LCSW, psychotherapist