Why Is It So Hard to Keep My House Clean?

为什么保持我的房子干净这么难?

It's time for a little self-examination.

是时候进行自我反省了。

Cleaning a house can feel like endless work. By the time you get everything organized, it falls back into a state of messiness and the whole cycle begins again. But if you're feeling particularly overwhelmed by keeping a tidy home, there could be some obstacles making it even harder for you. Consider the following list of problems (taken in part from this article on Apartment Therapy) and assess whether these are making your cleaning efforts less effective than they could be otherwise.

打扫房子感觉像是一项无休止的工作。当你把一切都组织好了，它又回到了混乱的状态，整个循环又开始了。但如果你对保持一个整洁的家感到特别不知所措，可能会有一些障碍让你变得更加困难。考虑一下下面的问题列表(部分取自这篇关于公寓治疗的文章)，评估一下这些问题是否会让你的清洁工作变得不如原来那么有效。

Public Domain¹. Unsplash

1. Too much stuff

东西太多

This is a very common and significant hurdle² to keeping a tidy house. If you simply have too much stuff crammed³ inside your walls, it will be nearly impossible to maintain a state of organization and to clean efficiently⁴. As Shifrah Combiths wrote on Apartment Therapy, "You need to get rid of things in order to live within the parameters⁵ of the physical space you inhabit."这是保持房间整洁的一个常见而重要的障碍。如果你只是在你的墙壁里塞满了太多的东西，它将几乎不可能保持一个有序的状态和有效地清洁。正如Shifrah Combiths在《公寓疗法》一书中所写的那样，“你需要摆脱一些东西，才能在你所居住的物理空间的参数范围内生活。”

2. No proper spot to put things

没有合适的地方放东西

My mother has been misplacing her keys for decades, but I attribute the problem to the fact that there is no logical place to put her keys when she walks through the front door. Installing a hook on the wall would fix that instantly. Having a spot that's not only right but also intuitive to put things away makes cleaning far easier. Don't fight your instincts. If you never want to use a coat hanger⁶, get a stand or a wall hook. If you never carry shoes upstairs to your bedroom closet after use, make a place for them downstairs.

几十年来，我母亲一直把钥匙放错地方，但我认为这个问题的原因是，当她走进前门时，没有一个合理的地方可以放她的钥匙。在墙上安装一个钩子就能立刻解决这个问题。有一个存放东西的地方，不仅正确而且直观，这样清洗起来就容易多了。不要违背你的直觉。如果你从来不想用衣架，那就找个支架或者墙上的挂钩。如果你从来没有把鞋子放在楼上卧室的衣柜里，在楼下找个地方放。

3. You don't know where to begin

你不知道从哪里开始

Sometimes you can feel like you're in too deep when it comes to clutter⁷. Let the experts guide you at this point. Read some detailed⁸ cleaning guides (there are lots on Apartment Therapy and Clean My Space). Pick up a book on decluttering; I'm a fan of Joshua Becker's writings on this topic, and Marie Kondo also never fails to inspire. It's amazing what a difference it makes when you have someone telling you exactly what to do.

有时候你会觉得自己陷得太深了。在这一点上，让专家来指导您。阅读一些详细的清洁指南(有很多关于公寓治疗和清洁我的空间)。拿起一本关于整理的书;我是约书亚·贝克尔关于这一主题的著作的粉丝，玛丽·近藤也从未让人失去灵感。当有人确切地告诉你该做什么时，你会感到惊奇，这带来了多么大的不同。

4. Not enough time or help

没有足够的时间和外援

Is your life jam-packed with dozens of other activities that make housecleaning fall to the bottom of the priority list? Don't let it! A disastrously⁹ messy house will affect your mental wellbeing and create even more stress in your life by eating up time spent searching for things.

你的生活是不是被许多其他的事情挤得满满的，以至于打扫卫生被排在了优先级列表的最后呢?不要这样!一个灾难性的凌乱的房子会影响你的精神健康，并且会消耗你寻找东西的时间，从而给你的生活带来更多的压力。

Eke¹⁰ out some cleaning time in your weekly schedule, even if it's just a few minutes each day. Make sure everyone in the household is pitching in, even children. If you're able, hire a house cleaner to come in weekly, biweekly, or even monthly, just to help you stay on top of things.

在你的每周计划中挤出一些清洁时间，即使每天只有几分钟。确保家里每个人都参与进来，包括孩子。如果你有能力的话，可以雇佣一个房屋清洁工，每周、每两周、甚至每个月来打扫一次，这样可以帮助你掌握一切。

5. You're too hard on yourself

你对自己太苛刻了

If you feel perpetually discontented with the state of your home, perhaps it's time to reevaluate your own standards.

如果你对自己的家庭状况一直感到不满，也许是时候重新评估一下自己的标准了。

This is a concept I've struggled to accept over the years. With young children running around the house (who like to play in the dirt) and very limited closet space in a 100-year-old home, there's more clutter than I'd like to see, but I realize it is a natural side effect of my current life circumstances. The time will come for more orderliness, but it's not right now.

这是我多年来努力接受的一个概念。在一栋有100年历史的房子里，孩子们在屋子里跑来跑去(他们喜欢在脏兮兮的地方玩耍)，壁橱空间非常有限，这里的凌乱比我想看到的还要多，但我意识到这是我目前生活环境的自然副作用。将来会有更有序的时候，但不是现在。