Why Housework is Good For the Mind, Body and Soul.

You may have noticed I haven’t written for a while (what do you mean, ‘who are you?’ How rude!), but for those of you that do miss my silken prose and highly sarcastic tongue, I’ve been cleaning the family home.

While I did think about posting a ‘before and after,’ in the same way people take selfies looking like Jabba The Hut before transforming into supermodels a week later (highly suspicious!) The fact is, I was just too ashamed. Our house was a complete cesspit!

Before going further however, I would like to make it quite clear that I don’t hold my family responsible. We now live in a culture where children have no option but to shove empty crisp packets down the sides of sofas and leave rotting plates of food under their beds. It’s just who they are as liberal left-wing citizens. I understand!

But hard as I try to fit in to this new epoch of doing anything without consequences, I seem unable to escape the conservatism of my youth. The fact is, if my mother had witnessed me drop so much as a crumb and not seen me clean it up instantly, I would be banned from eating biscuits for a month. So leaving my own house messy, especially with my mother glaring at me from her rose petaled frame on the hearth, is just not a viable option. Marigolds at the ready!

I do feel that housework should never be seen as a chore, however. In fact, once you get past the initial stages of picking up your child's skid marked pants and cheese encrusted socks, it all starts becoming rather positive, therapeutic and fun.

I always wear my headphones while cleaning, and you will often catch me holding the mop like a microphone and screaming ‘livin’ on a prayer’ at the top of my lungs; I have always loved to sing, but my deep insecurities seem to only allow this while I’m either cleaning the house or in the shower. Perhaps I should take my mop to a karaoke bar!

Then there is the nostalgia of house cleaning that can trigger so many different emotions. Going through my children's old books, I picture myself as a young father reading The Hungry Caterpillar and watching their smiles as it transforms into a ‘beautiful butterfly!’ I have asked my 22 year old son if I could read it to him again over WhatsApp, but it seems he would rather play poker down the pub than listen to his old man these days!

It can also get ultra-emotional too. Like when dusting down my late friends picture and asking the same question I have asked over and over again for the last 20 years. Why did you do it? You could have just told me you were sad. Perhaps I could have helped and you would still be here, drinking beer in the garden and laughing again. He was only 30 when he took his own life (God, I miss him!)

There is also the fitness aspect to housework. For alongside the nostalgia, emotion and singing comes some really hard graft. Scrubbing the carpets, mopping the floors and decluttering the loft, all require lots of physical energy to complete. Who needs Ozempic when you can lose weight trying to prise pizza off your kids bedroom floor with a paint scraper. No side effects either!

So there you have it. Housework’s reputation as a tedious chore would seem rather ill-founded. It allows us time to let go, reflect on the past, and look forward to a fresher future without any stains. I have enjoyed it so much that I was thinking of emptying our wheelie-bin into each room and starting all over again. But I’ll just leave it to my kids. It won’t take long before I’m singing again.

Thanks for Reading!

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Originally published at; Why Housework is Good For the Mind, Body and Soul. | by Simon Aylward | Never Stop Writing | Jul, 2026 | Medium