Clean-spiration

As I've mentioned before, I don't mind cleaning. In fact, I find it kind of relaxing. And I really, really enjoy it when the house is clean.

Plus, one of the bonuses of living in a small house is that it takes a lot less time to clean.

Sure, sometimes I go for my lighter cleaning routine (vacuum, dust, and clean the kitchen and bathrooms only) versus a full-on deep cleaning, but I rarely skip cleaning entirely.

Even though I'm in the minority of people who don't completely loathe cleaning, I still often need some inspiration to stop my relaxing-drinking-coffee-and-surfing-the-internets Saturday routine and start cleaning instead.

That inspiration comes in the form of cleaning and decluttering shows. There's just something about seeing people clear out, clean and fix up a dirty, cluttered home that really makes me want to clean.

First it was Clean Sweep on TLC. Then came Sell This House and Sell This House Extreme on A&E (yes, that was a real estate show, but it still involved clearing out the crap, as well fixing and tidying up things, so it worked for me). Then after both those shows stopped being syndicated, I found Clean House on Netflix.

But then, horror of horrors, Netflix dropped Clean House from its instant streaming service. And Hoarders never really worked for me because those shows seem to be less about helping people clean up and more about finding the grossest houses possible.

I began procrastinating my Saturday morning/afternoon cleaning into the evening and beyond.

Luckily, I found a nice stash of episodes of How Clean Is Your House on YouTube so I can get my fill, for now.

But sometimes I wonder, how come decluttering shows aren't as popular as they once were in America? Are they just passe or could it be that it's easier to get sponsors for shows that encourage people, directly or indirectly, to buy a new home, remodel or go vacation shopping, rather than encouraging people to pare down and use what they have?

Am I the only one who uses these type of shows as clean-spiration? And, if not, how do you get your fix?