Why Should You Turn Household Chores into Fun Games?

A short piece about simple but vital reasons

I used to — and sometimes still do — have thoughts about household chores being something I have to do but don’t want to, except, possibly, for doing laundry. I must admit that, especially in the past, I often used laundry to escape from something I was afraid to do, either a big project of my dreams or something I described as having to but not wanting to do.

Realizing that household chores are a part of a big wish — to keep our home clean, healthy, beautiful, and cozy — was the first big step in embracing the necessity to do something about them. So the visible result is the big price here. Plus, the free and simultaneous exercise was an attractive bonus.

Another epiphany came with the awareness that it is effortless to turn household chores into fun games for ourselves.

When you try to motivate a team — your family or colleagues — there are games developed by others, such as Chore Wars, that you can employ.

But when it is just for you, then all you need is to look at your player’s (your) immediate wishes and needs. If you would rather dance right now than wash up or fold laundry, then put the music on and dance while doing the chores, or count how many plates you can wash or pieces of clean laundry you can fold while one song is playing.

If you are afraid to “drown” in a chore for a longer time, then you can put a timer for five, ten, or more or less than that minutes, attend to the chore eagerly, assess what you managed in those minutes, record your score, and then move to the next activity game. And if you like winning titles, you can create some fun ones, such as “The Super Cleaner” or anything else, and earn it when you finished a bigger chore.

There are no limits to creativity here, and you don’t need to invest much time into creating something like that for you. Short, silly, immediate ideas that make you grin are the best and most effective candidates to help you turn your household chores into fun, for you, games.

I am more and more in awe about the amazing possibility of turning whatever I am up to — whatever I might think of that — into fun and super enjoyable games.

Thanks to turning household chores into games, the household work became much smoother with time and fewer complaints, especially the duties I thought of as tedious and annoying, like cleaning and tidying a house with two small children.

Another great thing is that giving “one point at a time (or in a day) only” for my escape-to activities like laundry helped me limit these activities and make sure that I also attended to other tasks I wanted to accomplish.

That possibility to turn anything into fun, for me, games and all the necessary tools I have to turn the next moment in my life into an enjoyable one, whatever I might be up to, is the best and the most important reason of all.

Life is short, so why not making each moment of it as joyful and fun as it can be?!

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this little story. It is an extended excerpt from my book Self-Gamification Happiness Formula: How to Turn Your Life into Fun Games.

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P.S. To stay in touch and keep updated on the possibilities of turning life into fun games offers, join my e-mail list, Optimist Writer.