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Awhile back, I wrote about procrastination and motivation where we talked about ways to motivate yourself not to procrastinate on those tasks you just hate to do. Housecleaning is a common task that is put off by very nearly everyone at one point or another. No matter what kind of clean freak you are, there comes a time when you say “tomorrow” (ok — maybe you only say “in a minute”, but it’s the concept).

Can tools help motivate you to complete a particular task?

When writing code, having a code editor that “fills in” some of the more common mark up symbols is a handy tool to have. HTML-Kit offers some of those, and it’s become my favorite web page coding software partly because of that.

I have similar tools for blogging such as Live Writer and I would be totally lost without a calculator or cell phone.

I also use such simple things as clips to hold things together from dog exercise pens to my keys. I find the Carabiners that mountain climbers use to be very helpful in many tasks. I have also used binder clips to hold my hair back when I can’t find a more traditional hair clip.

But what about the set of tasks we lump into “housekeeping”?

I have mixed opinions on the dishwasher. I think it somewhat contributes to my procrastination of cleaning the kitchen. Since there are only the two of us, I’ll stack the dishes in the dishwasher until there is a full load as I don’t want to waste water or electricity. Sometimes getting that full load takes a couple of days. It’s probably not very healthy to leave those dirty dishes sitting in the dishwasher until a full load is attained. I might be better off not having a dishwasher and doing my dishes by hand. One of my commenters on the procrastination vs motivation post said she washes each dish as she dirties it which keeps her kitchen neat and clean at all times. I don’t think I have enough self discipline to carry it that far, but certainly washing them after each meal would be an improvement over my current slothfulness.

I purchased a front-loader washing machine a few years ago. It’s been a huge time and money-saver. It gets more moisture out of the clothes than the traditional top-loader, so it takes less time and electricity to get them dry. It also uses less detergent, bleach and softener, so saves me money on those items as well. I’ve read where the life expectancy of the machine overall is not as long as the top-loaders, but the research I’ve done on how much savings I am getting is compensation for that shorter life-span.

Another tool in my housekeeping arsenal is my vacuum cleaner. While owning one of the Miele vacuums might go a tiny bit farther in keeping my house clean and allergen free, I’m finding my Dyson to be every bit as efficient at a much more reasonable price. Not to mention the Dyson does not use bags. While vacuums that use bags may control airborne dust particles better, the simple fact of having yet another product that uses resources that are becoming more and more scarce is reason enough for me to eschew this particular brand. I also appreciate all the attachments that came with my Dyson, making it a versatile unit that cleans my car as well as it does my living room floor. It also handles the nut shells the birds like to throw out of their cage without making so much as a burp and the volume of dog hair has not stopped it’s powerful suction.

What tools have you found to be especially useful in controlling your tasks? Do you own a dishwasher? Do you feel it helps you keep your kitchen clean? Do you use a bagless or a bag vacuum? Why?

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