5 Ways To Make Your Most Hated Chores More Fun

*Collaborative post.

Keeping up with all the essential household chores is hard enough, but when two little humans that you created decide to start adding to your job list, it can get very overwhelming, very quickly. As a mother, I have two small, messy humans who leave a tornado of mess in their wake wherever they go. Whether I’m trying to find the time to crack out the ironing board or clean the surfaces, without some form of motivation or a fun incentive, it gets really boring pretty quickly.

Some people absolutely love cleaning, but unfortunately, I am not one of them. I sometimes wish that I could channel the Mrs Hinch’s of the world, but that’s just not me. Sure, I’ve been known to get excited over a new scent of Zoflora just like the rest of the world (Summer Bouquet is my favourite), but buying cleaning products is a lot more fun than actually using them. 

So I have put together this list of 5 things that you can do to make your most hated chores more fun. I can’t guarantee that you’ll suddenly love ironing piles of laundry, or that washing up will become your new favourite hobby, but it might make the time spent doing these essential chores a little less soul destroying.

1. Ironing, funky ironing boards and an hour of blissful peace and quiet.

First up, let’s talk about ironing and making sure you’ve got the right ironing board. I happen to know that some people actually love ironing. When I have asked them what it is about the essential chore that appeals to them, almost all of them told me it’s because it gives them some time to themselves. Now that is something that I can definitely understand! Doing the ironing can give you a good hour or more to yourself, making it the perfect opportunity to catch up on your favourite podcast, audiobook or radio show. Having a weekly audio programme to listen to is a great way to get you motivated, especially if you lead a busy lifestyle. You’ll be able to get a chore ticked off the list, whilst also treating yourself to some time where you can wind down and relax. 

Plus another great thing about doing the ironing is, of course, the ability to jazz up your ironing boards. The easiest way of making something more fun is to customise it to suit your personality. You can now get ironing boards in so many shapes and sizes so that they fit in with your home storage space, plus you can also pretty them up with bright, colourful ironing board covers. Being able to customise things helps you to associate positive connotations with them, so theoretically, having a decent ironing board with a colourful cover could actually make you enjoy the chore more!

2 Loud singing and crazy dancing.

I’m fairly certain that you can make anything more fun and exciting if you add a good soundtrack to it. I am a fan of the crazy dance/loud singing method of cleaning. I love a good boogy and I think it’s borderline impossible to be grumpy while you’re doing the washing up as long as you’ve got some good tunes to belt out and dance along to. There are tonnes of playlists on Spotify that have been created specifically for cleaning, so it’s definitely worth having a browse. You may even find some new tunes to add to your own playlists, or you could create your very own essential chores playlist to boogy to while you work.

3 Get your steps in.

I am forever attempting to get fit and when it comes to cleaning the house, I use it as a great excuse to get a few extra thousand steps in! You’d be surprised how much walking around you do when you’re vacuuming and carrying loads of laundry up and down the stairs. Instead of bending down or leaning forward, you can turn it up a notch by squatting. “Free Gains” are all around you, so take advantage and max out your daily step goal. 

4 Set yourself a timer and join in with cleaning challenges

It might not make it interesting per say, but by setting yourself a 30 minute goal to get everything on your to-do list ticked off, you’ll power through it and leave yourself with far more time left in the day to enjoy doing the things you actually like. There are a few cleaning related challenges and Facebook groups that help you tackle cleaning your home in an organised manner, which encourage you to clean/tidy a different section of your home each day. By the end of the week, your house is spotless and you haven’t spent every waking moment of your spare time cleaning it. I recommend visiting the Team Tomm Facebook or Instagram pages to check out their system. I’ve not used it myself, but it has been highly recommended to me by those struggling with their cleaning mojos. 

5 Reward your efforts with a well earned treat! 

If, like me, you don’t particularly enjoy cleaning, a great way to ensure that you get it done is to treat yourself afterwards. It doesn’t have to cost you anything, you could treat yourself to a cup of tea and an episode of your favourite TV show. Or perhaps a lovely bath and a pamper session. Maybe even a few biscuits from the cupboard. If cleaning is something you really struggle to enjoy, telling yourself that you can have a little treat at the end of it is the perfect way to ensure you power through. 

Those are my top 5 tips for making your essential chores more fun and interesting. If you have any extra tips, please do leave them in the comments, heaven knows I need them!