The Life-Changing Magic of YouTube Cleaning Motivation Videos

Image Credit: Clean My Space

Everyone revels in a clean space. There’s something so calming about walking into a space free of mess and clutter, that smells fresh and is just overall, nice. But what’s not calming? Having to clean yourself. Tidying up may be life-changing magic, but it kind of requires you to get off the couch.

Enter the uniquely resourceful world of YouTube’s cleaning motivation videos.

That’s right, YouTube can help in finding all of the motivation you need to get off the couch and get cleaning. Just as there are a plethora of makeup tutorials and lifestyle v-logs on the video platform, there are also entire channels devoted to housekeeping and homemaking. Those channels regularly have videos featuring home gurus going about their regular cleaning and housekeeping tasks, often with energizing music and a voiceover talking about what they’re doing, why, and what products they love.

Does it sound weird? Yes. Does it work to motivate you to clean your space? Absolutely. But there is just something about watching another person cleaning their space — and making it look easy — that makes you take stock of your own environment and feel compelled to get up and clean, too.

And there are videos for every type of cleaning you can imagine. Need motivation to clean your bathroom? There’s a video for it. Need inspiration to tackle your laundry? There’s a video for it (and it might even have some great tips for getting out stubborn stains, too). There are even videos about cleaning out your car — and those videos are the only reason my car has been spotless for the first time since the day I bought it eight years ago — not kidding. Since discovering cleaning motivation videos, many, like myself, have gone from keeping personal spaces from simply livable to outright clean and tidy — a huge transformation for those with a crazy schedule (and an even crazier toddler).

But, for as powerful as a video can be there are a few additional tips that will help you get the most motivation out of your cleaning motivation.

Find a channel you like and limit yourself

It’s super easy to get sucked into cleaning videos especially when you find a channel you like (Love Meg is a personal favorite). However, you don’t want to end up watching a bunch of videos and getting nothing done. Moreover, it’s good to limit oneself to one or two videos that run for a total of 40 minutes or less. It’s enough to pump you up and get you going.

Get specific with your cleaning project

We all have that one task that we need some motivation for — for me it’s the bathroom, but your mileage may vary. To help conquer that task, look for videos specific to your project. When I’m looking to motivate for one specific job, I often go to the channel Clean My Space. Melissa Maker is actually a professional cleaning authority with a lot of great cleaning tips, instructions, and processes that make the task a breeze and will even inspire you to keep it up once it’s tidy.

Take it one room at a time

While many cleaning videos are “whole house” or “cleaning routine” type videos, you don’t have to take on your whole space at once. You can break it down into what you need to do, one space at a time. Sure, watching someone transform their whole house is amazing, but you can still be motivated from that to tackle just your kitchen. It’s okay to pace yourself.

Play the video while you’re cleaning

Personally, it can be particularly helpful to set up a video while actually cleaning. Hearing the voiceover and the music sort of tricks you into thinking you have a cleaning coach, which helps with motivation. However, there’s another bonus to cleaning along with the video — you end up limiting yourself to the video’s runtime so you’re still cleaning, but it doesn’t take your whole day. What’s not to love about that?

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Do you watch cleaning motivation videos? How do you motivate yourself to clean your space? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!