Why is cleaning the hardest thing in the entire universe?

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Several years ago I gave this a lot of thought, and I hit upon my personal snag.
I have no idea where to start!
You know how people tell you "Go clean your room", and you walk and just stare? There are so many things that need to be done, and not one seems to be more important than the other. Someone tells me to go and clean a room and I just start losing it. There is no plan for me to follow, and no routine, because no mess is really the same. So, when its a routine chore, I write down steps and keep the paper in my pocket. For example, I pick up the trash first, clothes second and miscellaneous last. But I don't vacuum. Vacuums are scary...... And so are lawn mowers. they're evil.
Also, when you share a place with lots of other people, things change all the time. One day the spoons go on the left side, the next day the right. Books don't go on that self anymore, its for movies now! The Wii remotes go in the red basket, not the green bucket. Its. So. Hard.
But some chores I'm good at. Laundry mostly, because everything has rules. Towels are folded this way, button up shirts go on hangers and jeans get folded in specific fashion. In fact, since laundry was the only chore that did not fry my brain, I took it over for three years. I refused to let anyone else do it, because they were "doing it wrong". I was the laundry queen!

Several years ago I gave this a lot of thought, and I hit upon my personal snag.
I have no idea where to start!
You know how people tell you "Go clean your room", and you walk and just stare? There are so many things that need to be done, and not one seems to be more important than the other. Someone tells me to go and clean a room and I just start losing it. There is no plan for me to follow, and no routine, because no mess is really the same. So, when its a routine chore, I write down steps and keep the paper in my pocket. For example, I pick up the trash first, clothes second and miscellaneous last. But I don't vacuum. Vacuums are scary...... And so are lawn mowers. they're evil.
Also, when you share a place with lots of other people, things change all the time. One day the spoons go on the left side, the next day the right. Books don't go on that self anymore, its for movies now! The Wii remotes go in the red basket, not the green bucket. Its. So. Hard.
But some chores I'm good at. Laundry mostly, because everything has rules. Towels are folded this way, button up shirts go on hangers and jeans get folded in specific fashion. In fact, since laundry was the only chore that did not fry my brain, I took it over for three years. I refused to let anyone else do it, because they were "doing it wrong". I was the laundry queen!

I actually think cleaning is fun when you're doing it at your own pace. I like making stuff look fresh and pretty again. I live with my parents, probably will for a long time, so I'm "the cleaner" along with Mom and I don't mind at all. I can't stand having someone breathing down my neck while I do it though and it seems like the stuff I do is never good enough for other people, outside of this house.

Here's how I clean a really messy room.

First I get any dirty dishes and put them in the kitchen
Get any laundry and put it in the laundry room
Put any garbage in the garbage can

Then I divide the room into five parts. Four quartes and the center. Each quarter is the area in front of a wall going out a few feet. It will vary depending on the setup of the room, but just divide into those sections however it feels comfortable. Then I start in one section. I remove everything from the section that doesn't belong and I put it in it's proper room or place. After that I straighten the items left in that section that belong there. This includes picking up anything off the floor, furniture, etc. Then I work on the next section. I go clockwise, but it's up to you how you want to do it. After I do all four wall quarters, I do the center. If it's a bedroom I'll make the bed when I get to the quarter of the wall it's against.

After that I dust the furniture and knicknacks, then get the windex and clean any glass or monitors. Then I sweep and mop. If you have carpet you can vacume.

Then I open all drawers, cabinets and closets, one by one and straighten them.

If it's a bedroom and there are clean clothes in there, put them in a basket at the beginning and set them outside the door until you make the bed, then put them on there and put them away when you finish.

Thats how I clean a messy room. I hope it helps you figure out where to start with yours. Sometimes when things are really messy it's overwhelming because it is hard to know where to start, but this method helps me have a list to go down so I don't feel like I'm just floundering around.

I love cleaning - it is awesome fun Well providing it is my own mess. However I am very clean, so I don't really have much of a mess. But I do love cleaning things

You sound so organized I applaud you! I think I might use some your tips and shock everyone with my new-found, stunning efficiency

today was cleaning/laundry day. I am now sufficiently miserable and have earned the right to a good solid mope.

Because it's boring? Who, except some kind of weird perverted fetishist, or neurotic people like my mom (she screamed hysterically when there was a piece of paper and a pen on my desk... and I'm a bit obsessed with putting things parallel... no way I can beat a poster put random, it makes me dizzy... so it looked clean...), would like to put their hands in filth all day when they could just enjoy some hobby.

It's the amount of physical moving around of stuff so that you can get at all the surfaces.

That's why I don't mind doing the dishes or putting the laundry on, or some job where you can just clean what's there and then walk away, like scrubbing the bath.

Hoovering requires that furniture be pulled out so that you can get at everything - and try hoovering behind the bed when a double bed takes up most of the floor area of a tiny bedroom. We have tons of books, records, folders etc. on shelves that bf will suddenly get a bee in his bonnet about pulling out and cleaning, and then guess what, the TV, stereo, CD burner, DVD, video all have to come out and cleaned behind too, with the resultant tangle of wires. There's nowhere to put all our stuff so the place gets messy very quickly.

I don't have the motivation or the physical energy, especially after I've been at work all week. I wouldn't mind paying for a cleaner, but I know BF would only think they've come to rob and steal.

It appears the things that OliveOilMom and AutisticBelle have are lists. So one should start a list, and at least place one thing on it, I guess this will also help keep track of progress. But where do you start on the list?

For me it's the organising side of things. I don't mind hoovering and wiping up dirt, but deciding where to put everything is a nightmare. I end up changing my mind as to where the best place to store a certain item is, then get frustrated that I'm taking so long over doing something that feels like it should be simple. I moved house 6 weeks ago and still haven't unpacked half my stuff. I do like a clean tidy house though, seeing clutter all the time makes me feel a bit agitated.

Some of my stuff is still in boxes and I have moved in 2 weeks ago. Deciding where to put things is a nightmare. I shoved some stuff in, but my cupboards are full. Now the task to decide what to start throwing away... And the cycle continues.

I've never liked chores, especially cleaning. But it also drives me nuts to be in a cluttered, messy space. Over the years, I have learned some tricks that make the chores a little less annoying so that I am more likely to do them.

Since I live alone, there is no one to pester me to keep neat, but also there are not a number of other people to help make a mess.

The first cleaning chore that I found a way to deal with was washing dishes. There is the obvious problem that if you leave unwashed dishes around, it can get pretty gross and that was the first impetus to get it under control. My pattern is to always wash the dishes after breakfast. (I allow myself to skip it if I'm running late) but anyway since it is a daily thing, they never pile up too much. I do slack off sometimes and they go unwashed for a day or two, but because it's part of my morning routine, I get uncomfortable if I haven't done them so this sort of thing only happens rarely.

I am trying to get myself to do a quick cleaning of the house once a week... usually on Saturday. Right now this is working out to about every other week which is not so bad. The critical things are cleaning the kitchen and bathroom as these are the areas most likely to need attention. As much as I hate cleaning the bathroom, I found that by getting the right tools; rubber gloves, sponges, chemicals, rags etc I don't feel quite as disgusted by it. I keep all that is needed in one place where I can easily take them out when cleaning needs to be done. This helps me do the job quickly so that I can get on to doing something I'd rather do.

Where I still run into problems is in neatening up clutter. Dirt is easy to clean because I know that all I have to do is mop or sweep it up and get rid of it. Cluttered things that I want to keep create a problem because I have to deal with locating stuff and figuring out where it needs to be placed. The solution to the problem of clutter is less clear cut and easily understood than the solution to dirt.

My fantasy for dealing with clutter is a modification of a coin sorter... I throw all the cluttered objects into a bin and they automatically get sorted and placed where they ought to be with no further thought or worry on my part.

ta-dum-dum [rimshot]

inertia is very hard to overcome. an object at rest tends to stay at rest. an object in motion has to work against friction and gravity and lots of other obstructionist things way above my pay grade. all the elements are in place to deter action. why get out of bed in the morning, if all there's gonna be is toil and sweat?

Cleaning is never done so it lacks a sense of accomplishment. I have strong resentments tied to cleaning. I don't mind cleaning for myself, but because I was born without man parts, I have been automatically assigned as responsible for all cleaning and household upkeep - proclivities aside. (I'm not great at it.) I truly resent the assignment from the deepest parts of my soul, especially since I pull my weight financially.

I do all the cooking, too, but I don't mind because my food tastes better and my roommates can't remember to wash the vegetables.