Clean and Organize Your Home: 2 Easy and Fun Family Cleaning Games

“Help! My house is a complete mess, and I don’t know where to start!” Have you ever felt this way? This can usually cause you to lose all motivation to clean, because you feel overwhelmed. You may feel like even a small effort would not make much of a difference in the mess.

However, you can motivate yourself and even have fun cleaning by trying one of these simple cleaning games. With these games, you can start anywhere and actually make a difference in the disaster. They take a short amount of time, making them easy, and they can be fun, which may help motivate you.

The “party” cleaning game is one in which you can involve the whole family. It is perfect for when you have a few minutes to do some non-stop cleaning. You need a little energy, but it will not take long. Since you are limiting yourself, you will not feel overwhelmed, because you are only cleaning for a few minutes.

The numbers game is perfect for those times that you absolutely feel like doing nothing – when your motivation level to clean is at a zero. Instead, you just do a bit of counting, and you will be surprised at what a difference you can make in a messy area by only doing a few cleaning or organizing chores. This cleaning game may seem effortless, but you will make progress by doing it.

Each of these cleaning games has:

• A Full Description
• A Pros and Cons Matrix
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• An Example or Illustration of the Game
• Additional Tips for Each Game
• Pictures Illustrating the Game

The 15-Minute Picking Up Party Cleaning Game

What is the 15-Minute Picking Up Party Cleaning Game?

My mom used to have her children join in her “picking up parties.” She would excitedly say, “Time for a 15-minute picking up party! Everyone is invited!” Then, the four of us would help her for 15 minutes while the kitchen timer counted down the 15 minutes.

It was easy, and we accomplished a lot, because we would clean without stopping since we knew the timer would let us know when the 15 minutes was up. Since it was only 15 minutes, when she asked us to do that rather than nagging for us to “clean our room” or “help her clean the whole house,” it did not seem like an evasion of our time or too much to ask of us.

Ask your spouse and children to join the cleaning “party,” and offer a “prize” of a special dessert or movie rental. Explain how easy it will be to clean for only 15 minutes!

1. Pick an area of your home that needs some de-cluttering or easy cleaning.

2. Set the kitchen timer or your watch for 15 minutes or however long you can “speed clean.” Figure out what time works best for you, or adjust the time for how much time you have available on a certain day.

3. Until the timer goes off, “speed clean” that area without stopping. (Move on to another area if you have time left in the timer).

4. When the timer goes off, stop and rest. If you have a couple items left to do, finish up. If you still feel motivated, set the timer again for another 5 minutes. Believe it or not, you can make a small difference in 5 minutes. Each 5 minute party adds up to an eventual clean house!

5. If you have the stamina and motivation later, repeat these steps. Do not wear yourself out cleaning, but do as much as you can in a time frame. If you feel up to cleaning and organizing more, just set the timer. The key here is to not overdo it, and burn yourself out from cleaning and organizing. By setting a time limit, you will not get “lost” cleaning for hours.

Below is an example of how this game works with before and after pictures of a 15 minute cleaning party.

How Does This Cleaning Game Work?

When I find myself feeling overwhelmed because the whole house is messy, I enjoy using this method. It makes the concept of making a “dint” in the mess seem possible. It is actually fun to clean and organize this way. It is basically a counting game.

For each room, I “pick up and put away” or clean in a minor way (wipe down a table) 25 things. Also, if you do not have many things to pick up and put away or clean, you can use the counting game for “spring cleaning” an area or for organizing a drawer or cabinet. You will probably find that not every room has 25 easy things to do.

As an example, if you find there are only 10 items that are easy to clean or tidy in the spare bathroom, take the extra 15 items for that room, and put them in “reserve.” Now, when you are in the kitchen, an overwhelming mess, put 15 more dishes in the dishwasher or something. Basically, carry the numbers over onto another room that needs the attention.

Do not rack your brain with math. Make it fun for you and your family, if they join in. Just do not overdo one room, burning yourself out. Once you reach your easy things to clean or organize for that room, if you still have more numbers to get to your 25, use the rest of those numbers in another room.

1. Pick a room, and begin tidying up or cleaning 25 items per room.

2. If you do not find 25 things in a room to clean, carry over the leftover number to another room.

3. Continue until you have cleaned a count of 25 items per room for the entire home.

4. Stop and rest even if everything did not get completely cleaned unless you are overly motivated.

5. If you get too tired cleaning 25 items per room, stop after 1 or 2 rooms, and then go back to the cleaning game the next time you are up and around or feel motivated to do so.

You now have the tools to use one of these cleaning games to start away on the cleaning of your messy home. Depending on how often you use a game, it may require you to use it more than once in order to get the whole house clean.

Are you feeling too sick to clean? Just play the numbers game. Only once, and then rest. Do you have an extra 15 minutes or so before an appointment? Do the “party” game, and watch how much you get done.

I enjoy always having a clean home, but there are times in all of our lives when things just get out of control. You may be out of town and come back with a ton of laundry [see article below for more on this topic], you may get very sick for weeks, or you might go through a depression [see article below for more on this topic] and not feel up to cleaning for a while. Whatever the reason may be, it is common for things to get out of control.

Just try one of these cleaning games with your family, and follow these tips in order to have your home completely cleaned and organized.

Tips to Have the Whole House Cleaned and Organized:

• Find out which game works best for you when you do not feel very motivated.
• Involve the family in the game once you understand it and can organize it.
• Do the game consistently each day, and you will see results over time.

Check out Fly Lady’s video from You Tube and her website that contains everything you could ever need to know about getting motivated to clean and organize. Do you feel like you don’t know where to start? Turn to Fly Lady. She will get you going – slowly, but surely.

Pictures: The pictures provided were mostly original pictures taken by Michele Jones and a free image from the Morgue File. The free dividers were from 321clipart.com.

Video: The video included in this article is from You Tube.

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