How to Clean With Depression

As you may know, I have Bipolar Disorder. Part of that is experiencing bouts of depression. When you’re depressed, housework is hard to do. Even when manic it can be difficult because it’s hard to focus.

I cheat a little. I hire a professional cleaner to come a few times a month to do a big deep clean for me. But in between those cleanings I have to clean the house, and here are a few things I have learned about cleaning with Bipolar Disorder and depression.

1. Don’t feel like you have to finish every job. Maybe your next task is to unload the dishwasher. Unload as many dishes as you can in 5 minutes and then take a break and sit down. It’s OK to take several tries to finish a job. If you had an illness that manifested physically no one would expect you to get everything done in the blink of an eye. Mental illness is just as serious. So it might take a little while to unload the dishwasher or to put away all the laundry or clean up. Break the task into 5 minute increments. And if you have a partner that helps you, remember that everything you do is something your partner doesn’t have to do. So it’s completely worth doing even if you can’t finish the job.

2. Do laundry daily. Just one or two loads a day helps me keep mountains of dirty clothes away. It’s tempting to take a day off, but don’t.

3. Try to keep on top of throwing the mail out (if it is unimportant) as it comes in, so you don’t amass huge amounts of paper.

4. If your house is cluttered, try to throw out 1 or 2 things every day until the clutter is down to a manageable level. Be honest with yourself about what sparks joy. I like the Marie Kondo method for a lot of things, but there are other methods you can use too. One thing I don’t take her advice on is books. I have hundreds and I’m always buying more.

5. If you’re like me and you struggle with organization, one of the most important things you can do, and I have been learning this the hard way, is be careful what you buy to begin with. It can’t clutter up your house if you never bring it home. So every time you buy something think about exactly where you will keep it. Do you have a place for it that isn’t occupied by anything else and won’t be in the way? If the answer is no then don’t buy it. For a while I had a challenge where I would only buy books and makeup because they were 2 things that I have places for. I may go back to doing a challenge like that soon. We’ve just moved and so everything is in flux right now. I’ve thrown out boxes of stuff, and still have more to do.

6. Do you have any supportive friends? Text a friend or get on your social media and post some tasks you will be doing. Accountability can be huge for some people. Putting the goal out there and telling someone that you have something you want to accomplish today can help you accomplish it. After all, when time is up you don’t want to go back to your friend and tell them that you just watched TV.

I’m not an expert. I’m learning as I go. I’m a terrible unpacker. But in terms of maintenance around the house these are a few tricks that I try to use to keep the house orderly once it has been set up.