Nobody likes chores. Maintaining your life can be extremely boring and exhausting. This article will explore some ways to make even your least favorite chores more manageable and even fun.
Create a Routine
Our first piece of advice is to create a routine. Having a plan helps keep the focus on getting the job done in a logistically sound order. Without a plan, you might miss important tasks and you’ll be confronted with the anxiety-breeding question, “What was I supposed to do next?” If your schedule allows, try and designate a regular time each week to do grocery shopping, clean your home, do laundry, do cooking prep, and do other mundane tasks. Be flexible and try various times until you find the best one for you. For example, grocery shopping after dinner means you’re not shopping for food while hungry AND the store is less busy. The laundromat may be packed on Monday nights but empty on Tuesdays. Once you’ve established a routine, we recommend you mix it up every few months to keep things fresh and from becoming mundane.
Make reusable lists
Create lists that lay out your routine and make sure you follow them each day. Since so many of our chores require supplies, creating an inventory list of important supplies and going through them once a month can prevent chores from going undone or delayed due to running out of something. This can also help you plan bulk purchases to save time and money. Think about each room and each task and plan bigger supply purchases. Ordering from online vendors that automatically send refills every month or two can be a huge time saver for items like dishwasher pods, laundry pods, duster replacements, bathroom cleaners, air fresheners, etc. that can be bought in bulk. It might seem crazy to spend $70 on laundry or dishwasher pods, but considering it will last you months, the bulk savings in cost and time are worth it.
Work Slack Time into your Week
Project management professionals (PMPs) are familiar with a concept called slack. With slack, each project has time built into it to accommodate delays. Maybe you were planning to do the grocery shopping on Tuesday night but had unexpected company and couldn’t make it. Having a few hours of slack time will allow you to make up the missed work without throwing your week into disarray. And if you haven’t used the slack time by the end of the week, you’ll have found some extra hours to do something fun and spontaneous, like binging some new shows, going to a movie, or taking an unscheduled nap!
Build a High-Energy Playlist
Snow White had it right when she suggested that you “whistle while you work,” although we’ve tried it and are still waiting for woodland creatures to do our laundry. Creating a playlist to accompany your routine can help the time pass quickly, especially if it’s full of high-energy, uplifting songs. With today’s streaming music apps, it’s extremely easy to create a variety of playlists for every occasion – including your chores. Most services offer a “radio” version of playlisting where you can choose a song and build an entire playlist around one song. Now, we’re not recommending that you build an entire playlist around Saturday Night Fever and busting crazy moves while washing dishes. AND we are definitely not suggesting you include Old Time Rock and Roll and polish your floors while re-enacting the Tom Cruise dance scene from Risky Business… unless you really want to.
Find a New Podcast or Listen to an Audio Book
If music isn’t your thing, another option for entertainment during your chores is podcasts. Everyone has a podcast these days (and there’s even a book with that as the title). There truly is a podcast for every imaginable topic. Connect with your fandom, learn about a new topic, or find interviews with your favorite celebrities or experts. Listening to an audiobook can also be a fantastic way to help pass the time, especially if you wish you had more time for reading. If you’re like us, you’ll soon end up listening when you’re on your way to work or traveling, because podcasts and audiobooks can be addictive!
Get Someone to Help
When Mama Rose sang “Whatever we do, we’re gonna go through it together” in Sondheim’s musical Gypsy, she wasn’t just talking about singing and dancing. Chores can be an isolating task that one does by themselves, and misery loves company! If you’re someone who would rather be socializing, call a friend to help you push through the items on your task list and then reward both of you with dinner out and a trip to the ice cream parlor. you can take solace in the fact that few people really enjoy cleaning the bathroom, so lots of people can relate.
Get Somebody Else to Do It
The easiest way to get something done that you don’t want to do yourself may be to get someone else to do it. Whether you negotiate your least desirable chores away to your spouse or partner, delegate work tasks to a subordinate, assign them to your kids, or hire someone else to do them, outsourcing your chores seems a reasonable way to shed these annoying ‘must-dos’ from your life. Our article How Professional Cleaning Service Benefits Every Day suggests the benefits outweigh the costs when outsourcing such a task. We agree.
In conclusion
We hope you took away some ideas to make chores more manageable or even enjoyable. Remember, you’re not alone – nobody likes chores. Let’s make them as fun as we can.
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