Nobody Wants To Clean This

Many years ago, when I was young, broke, and didn’t think about how today’s choices might affect tomorrow’s me, I decided to hang out with a friend on a random weeknight. 

The plan? 

Crash at her mom’s townhouse and sleep in the family room.

This friend and I had been close since middle school, and this was well after college. 

I was comfortable there—familiar with the rhythms of her home life. 

And one thing that always stood out: her mom’s obsession with cleaning. 

This woman must have gotten a genuine rush from it because not a single thing was ever out of place.

So there we were: passed out on couches and air mattresses in the living room after what was probably a late night at the bar. It’s now 6 a.m. on a Tuesday. 

Her mom, dressed and ready to leave for work at the bank, began dustbusting. 

The hallway. The living room. Anywhere a speck of dust might dare exist. It was a quick vrrr-vrrr followed by silence, like she was hunting for invisible prey.

This went on for what felt like an eternity. If you’d asked me in a court of law, I would have sworn under oath that there was no dust to begin with.

Now, I’m not a hoarder or a slob, but I’m also not spending the last 30 minutes before I leave for work dustbusting my hallway. 

There are days I wish I could be that person. But somewhere along the way, I decided my drug of choice would not be cleaning.

So how do I get around this and avoid starring in a reality show about cluttered homes? 

Enter: habit stacking.

Habit stacking is simple. 

You take something you dread doing (like folding laundry) and pair it with something you genuinely enjoy. My husband, for example, loves playing this game Battlegrounds on his phone. 

During the game’s pauses—when he’d otherwise stare into the abyss—he folds a few items of clothing. Let me tell you, this works. 

The man is folding laundry all the time.

(Downside? I end up wearing the same outfit on repeat because it’s always clean.)

Me? 

I’m more of an audiobook or podcast girl. 

Sometimes, I’ll roll through the house with my iPad, watching a true crime documentary while scrubbing the bathroom, shaking the toilet brush in outrage at yet another serial killer.

The point is: You have to do the thing anyway, so why not make it a little more fun? 

That’s the real magic of adulthood.

 Not the “adulting” itself, but finding ways to adult in ways that work for you.

So, what’s something you dread doing? 

And how can you pair it with something you love?