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Depression and Cleaning: How to Tackle House Cleaning if You’re Struggling

Depression and Cleaning: How to Tackle House Cleaning if You’re Struggling
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Updated on January 22, 2025
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Major depressive disorder (or simply “depression”) can wreak havoc on your ability to perform even the seemingly smallest of tasks. For someone in the throes of depression, cleaning your home may feel like a monumental undertaking.

“Managing tasks, including house cleaning, can feel (and be) impossible for some with depression,” says Alyssa Mairanz, a therapist in private practice in New York City. That’s because symptoms of depression, such as fatigue and lack of energy or motivation, can significantly affect a person’s capacity to carry out routine responsibilities.

However, for some people this can be a catch-22. “A messy house can be a bit of a self-fulfilling problem for people struggling with depression. The symptoms make it challenging to care for your space, but an unkempt home can prompt depression symptoms,” says Mairanz.

Prior research showed that women who described their homes as cluttered were more likely to be depressed than those who found their homes to be restful and restorative. The women with less organized living spaces also had higher levels of cortisol, the hormone that produces feelings of stress, tension, and anxiety.

 Another prior study yielded similar findings. Researchers who conducted a survey of American and Canadian adults found that clutter had a negative impact on their psychological well-being.

On the flip side, cleaning up your space can help ease depression and generate a sense of self-worth, Mairanz notes. “Physiologically, cleaning demands physical activity, decision-making, and emotion regulation and generates a sense of achievement. All these things can lead to improved mood,” she says. One study of older adults found that those who described their home as “clean and comfortable” were less likely to have depressive symptoms.

 Like Mairanz says, these effects can be circular. A low mood makes cleaning or decluttering harder, and a messy home may reduce well-being even further.

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If you’re struggling to keep up with house cleaning duties due to depression, here are some simple ways to help you start tackling them.

Start Small

You don’t have to clean your whole house in one swoop, adds Mairanz. “Starting small sets us up for success with larger projects,” she says. “Starting with something easy like putting clothes in a hamper will help maintain motivation through positive feedback loops.” Positive feedback loops are actions that help to reinforce change. For instance, seeing a full clothes hamper can make it easier to take the next step of putting the clothes in the washer.

Try it by identifying your three most important house cleaning goals. Focus on completing the first of those tasks, then try to tackle the others one at a time.

Concentrating on just those small steps makes it easier to get started and build that inertia to keep going, says Karen Lynn Cassiday, PhD, a clinical psychologist and managing director of the Anxiety Treatment Center of Greater Chicago. “It’s like jump-starting a car when you have a battery that doesn’t work,” says Dr. Cassiday.

Reframe Negative Self-Talk

“People with depression will start to criticize themselves and say, ‘I’m so lazy,’” says Cassiday. This negative self-talk can actually end up hindering your productivity rather than motivating you to get things done, she says.

If you notice that you’re speaking negatively to yourself, it can help to immediately replace those thoughts with positive ones. Positive self-talk can help increase self-esteem and boost motivation, which in turn can lead to improved productivity, adds Cassiday.

Some strategies for positive self-talk include:
  • Be encouraging and gentle to yourself by looking at negative thoughts objectively. Then respond with a compassionate evaluation of what is good about yourself.
  • Don’t say anything to yourself that you wouldn’t say to someone else.

Don’t Wait Until You Feel Good to Get Started

When people with depression have good days and they struggle less with their symptoms, they may use those feelings as motivation to complete a task, says Cassiday. For example, they may clean their kitchen because they know it will bring them a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment later on.

But you can’t rely on feeling good as your motivation strategy all the time. Part of the reality of having depression is recognizing that there will be some days when you don’t feel good — but you’ll still need to get things done on those days, too.

“So we have to teach people to first learn to ignore the part of themselves that says, ‘I need to feel good in order to do it,’” says Cassiday. “You can’t wait for feeling good. You have to think about something that’s really important, which is that action that creates motivation.”

Prioritize High-Impact Cleaning Tasks

Cassiday recommends choosing tasks that create a “high impact” first to help you better recognize the value of your efforts.

What that means: “A bed takes up a large chunk of space in a room, so if you actually make it, it has a rather large effect in terms of the aesthetic appearance as compared to, say, picking up five pieces of trash,” she says.

Ask for Help

If a family member or friend can assist you with cleaning duties, the extra help may jump-start your motivation.

“People with depression tend to withdraw and self-isolate. Reaching out to a friend or loved one is a big step toward combating depression and can have immediate effects, not just on the physical space, but also on the emotional,” says Mairanz.

If possible, Cassiday says, do your best to ask for help before you feel embarrassed by a mess. For instance, if you haven’t been able to fold and sort laundry for a few weeks, it’s a good idea to try to reach out for help before the situation becomes unmanageable.

Also, if you have the resources, hiring a cleaning service may be a valuable option.

Track Your Wins, No Matter How Small

Actually write them down, Cassiday says. Include cleaning-related accomplishments as well as other wins. She calls this a “what I did list,” as opposed to a “to-do list.”

“When people are depressed they tend to vastly underestimate the effect and value of their efforts,” Cassiday says. “This helps you see that you are actually getting somewhere.”

Give Yourself Grace

You may also need to adjust your expectations when it comes to keeping your living space clean. Realize you may not have the energy or focus that you used to — and that’s okay, says Cassiday.

It’s important to remind yourself that a messy or disorganized house doesn’t mean you’ve failed in any way. “You are not alone with having a hard time with this, and it’s nothing to be embarrassed about. We all go through ups and downs with our mental health, and our space is often a reflection of that natural process,” says Mairanz.

The Takeaway

  • Depression can significantly impact your ability to perform daily tasks like cleaning, but a messy house can worsen depression symptoms. That’s why it’s important to stay on top of it even if it feels challenging.
  • To help yourself clean when having depressive symptoms, start small. Don’t tackle everything at once. Instead focus on a few of the most important smaller tasks.
  • Try to reframe your negative self-talk, give yourself grace, and count the wins, no matter how small.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it.
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Seth Gillihan, PhD

Medical Reviewer
Seth Gillihan, PhD, is a licensed psychologist in private practice in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, who helps people find personal growth by making important changes in their thoughts and habits. His work includes books, podcasts, and one-on-one sessions. He is the the host of the Think Act Be podcast and author of multiple books on mindfulness and CBT, including Retrain Your Brain, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Made Simple, and Mindful Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

He completed a doctorate in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania where he continued as a full-time faculty member from 2008 to 2012. He has been in private practice since 2012.
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Julie Lynn Marks

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Julie Marks is a freelance writer with more than 20 years of experience covering health, lifestyle, and science topics. In addition to writing for Everyday Health, her work has been featured in WebMD, SELF, Healthline, A&E, Psych Central, Verywell Health, and more. Her goal is to compose helpful articles that readers can easily understand and use to improve their well-being. She is passionate about healthy living and delivering important medical information through her writing.

Prior to her freelance career, Marks was a supervising producer of medical programming for Ivanhoe Broadcast News. She is a Telly award winner and Freddie award finalist. When she’s not writing, she enjoys spending time with her husband and four children, traveling, and cheering on the UCF Knights.

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Resources
  1. Depression (Major Depressive Disorder). Mayo Clinic. October 14, 2022.
  2. Saxbe DE et al. No Place Like Home: Home Tours Correlate With Daily Patterns of Mood and Cortisol. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. January 2010.
  3. Roster CA et al. The Dark Side of Home: Assessing Possession ‘Clutter’ on Subjective Well-Being. Journal of Environmental Psychology. June 2016.
  4. Chen Y et al. Association Between Housing Environment and Depressive Symptoms Among Older People: A Multidimensional Assessment. BMC Geriatrics. April 17, 2021.