How Important is a Clean Environment for your Mental Health?

“The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.”- Marie Kondo

How many tasks do you have in your To-Do List? Is cleaning one of them? Most of us lead such busy lives that we tend to neglect cleaning our homes. Since the pandemic started, a lot of people have had to work from home or do online school. We were forced to make our homes our office or classrooms. However, having an unclean environment can greatly affect our mental health.

In order to de-stress from work, most of us run to yoga, meditation, a massage or a holiday with friends and family. We often forget that the simplest way to take care of our mental health is ensuring that our environment is clean. According to studies done by Brother, 49% of the interviewees said an untidy work space affects how they feel about going into work each day. This is a great percentage of people and all that is required to motivate them to go to work, is to keep their environment clean. 

Clutter Affecting Mental Health

Imagine waking up to dishes not cleaned, dirty clothes on the bed, and crumbs on the bedroom floor. Do you think you will feel excited to start your day and get work done? According to a study in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, people who leave their homes cluttered are more likely to fall for depression, fatigue and higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol. Cleaning is a form of self-care. In order to give yourself some peace of mind, make sure to regularly clean your environment. If you procrastinate, your tasks will just pile up and the sight of dirty dishes, clothes or dust on your floor will start to overwhelm you, affecting your mental well-being.

Cleaning Motivation

It definitely is easier said than done especially when all of your cleaning tasks have piled up and you are too busy with work or school. At the end of a tiring day, you may just want to lie on your bed and not attend to all the cleaning work. However, the tasks will always bother you at the back of your mind and you will not completely get the peace and break that you would want after work. How do you get yourself motivated to clean your space?

Motivation #1:

Create a cleaning music playlist! Uplift your mood by playing some music that will get you up your feet and feel energized to clean your home.

Motivation #2:

Cleaning with a friend. If you have a long list of cleaning to do, you do not have to overwhelm yourself with doing it all alone. You can always call a friend over to help you or even video call them to keep you entertained. Before you know it, you would have already cleaned your whole house! This can also serve as a catch-up session after a long day of work while still keeping yourself productive and getting cleaning work done.

Motivation #3:

Start small. The loss of motivation to clean can also be caused by depression or illness strikes that are out of our control. Instead of pressuring ourselves to check everything on our To-Do lists, we can take things day by day. We need to remember that small progress is still progress. You can start by cleaning your kitchen island consecutively for three days or so. After a while, you will feel motivated to clean more parts of your house. 

Cleaning is more than just a chore. Our environment affects and reflects a lot about ourselves. If we invest so much money in buying comfortable coaches, marble kitchen islands or decorative house pieces but we do not clean up after our mess, everything will be a waste. We would not feel confident in inviting people into our homes and we ourselves will not be happy living in it.

Coco Veda has vegan and organic sustainable cleaning products that can accompany you in creating better cleaning habits. These products will not only be beneficial in cleaning your homes but it is also good for the environment. Sustainability is embedded within our business model, so our entire packaging is reusable, refillable and recyclable. It is also waterless which means a bottle can go a long way and there is less waste. Choose to live in a cleaner environment with environmentally-friendly cleaning products!