apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Precisely One Hour of House-Cleaning Music
plasticbag.org

0526_timer.jpg

We've asked you before about What's Your Music While You Clean and whether or not you Clean to an Embarrassing Soundtrack. But we just had to add one more cleaning-and-music idea to the mix, from plasticbag.org...

 
 

Tom Coates' weblog, plasticbag.org, has compiled a play list that's Precisely One Hour of House-Cleaning Music:

New concept - don't clean until your house is clean, instead merely allocate time to the cleaning process and clean until that time is over whether you finish or not. Also if you finish before the time is up (unlikely) then clean something better than you would normally.

The idea here is that the music acts as a timer of sorts, without making you watch the clock. It frees you up and gets you in the mood to do some serious cleaning. And when it's done, so are you! The list includes Sex Pistols, Air, Prince and Paul Simon among others but you could craft your own Precisely-One-Hour-of-House-Cleaning-Music sountrack, as well, if you like the idea. What do you think - would this approach to cleaning house work for you?

Image: twistedtheorysoftware.com

Tags

cleaning, plasticbag.org

Related Links

Share

Comments (11)

I set the timer on my oven, and clean until it goes off. If I'm feeling particularly responsible, I set it again, and goof off until it goes off again, then clean more, but I don't use cleaning music, just a high energy Pandora station.

posted by deliriumsama on May 26th 2009 at 9:06am
view deliriumsama's profile

Yes. I tend to listen to our nation's public broadcaster (radio) while cleaning. I find that my musical taste is fickle day-to-day, so a single cleaning soundtrack wouldn't work for me because I would spend more time deciding what track to play next than cleaning.

posted by JasmineIsDomestic on May 26th 2009 at 9:13am
view JasmineIsDomestic's profile

Nah. I run noisy vacuum cleaners, dishwashers, and laundry appliances, and wander around too much for this to work for me. (It should just give you an hour of shuffle play from your iPod, anyhow -- I like Paul Simon, but I'd give Prince and the Sex Pistols a pass... )

posted by SherryBinNH on May 26th 2009 at 9:29am
view SherryBinNH's profile

I'm all about catching up on iPod episodes of Frrrrrrreeesh Air with Terry Gross while doing my cleaning!

posted by TPW on May 26th 2009 at 9:57am
view TPW's profile

I have to clean while listening to music. Its a MUST! It keeps me motivated. Anything upbeat works. :)

posted by mron73 on May 26th 2009 at 11:34am
view mron73's profile

I catch up on my podcasts of This American Life. Which sometimes back fires because I have to sit down and have a good cry while I'm cleaning.

posted by Rolen the Great on May 26th 2009 at 12:08pm
view Rolen the Great's profile

I'm also a fan of Pandora. I will set my kitchen timer for an hour and just go, go, go. I was feeling industrious last week so I added another 20 minutes. I like a bit of hip hop, pop, etc.

posted by queenbee1230 on May 26th 2009 at 1:01pm
view queenbee1230's profile

Now that my youngest son is only at home sometimes while not in school, my house never gets dirty anymore. It's odd not to really have any sort of a cleaning schedule. I just do little odds and ends when they come up.

posted by baileyb on May 26th 2009 at 3:53pm
view baileyb's profile

That would probably work really well for me. I'll keep it in mind for when I finally get my own place.

posted by Avinony on May 26th 2009 at 9:10pm
view Avinony's profile

Before I worked full-time I used to listen to a rap compilation called "XXX Hip Hop" while cleaning. If only the neighbours knew!!

posted by dolly on May 26th 2009 at 9:43pm
view dolly's profile

I crank a CD of bagpipe music---it sets me cleaning like a maniac. Clearly not a solution for those who hate the pipes, but for me (who loves them), it does what it was originally meant to do---pumps the adrenalin for doing battle!

posted by Aulaire on May 27th 2009 at 8:20am
view Aulaire's profile

Feeds

RSS icon New York

+ City Feeds