1.  Make a List
Slowly walk around your living area with a notepad and pen.  If it helps, imagine that you are at someone else's home and that you are helping them identify jobs that need doing.  As you work around each room jot down every job that you can see that needs doing.  Try to be as objective as possible and avoid getting into self critical conversations with yourself about what you should have done.  These kind of judgements will do nothing to motivate you and will just leave you feeling guilty and sad.  Try to focus on the positives and be kind to yourself.  You can't change what you did yesterday, you can only change how you tackle the problem today and in the future. 

2. Hygienic, Clean and Tidy
Go through your list with 3 different coloured highlighter pens.  Sort your list into hygienic jobs, cleaning jobs and tidying jobs. Hygienic jobs include washing up dirty dishes, cleaning the toilet, cleaning food preparation and eating surfaces, changing bed sheets, emptying rubbish bins and safely disposing of waste and jobs which will impact directly on your physical health and well being if they are left undone.  Cleaning jobs are jobs where you are improving the appearance of an area and will ultimately lead to it being more hygienic and healthy.  These kind of jobs include wiping down cupboards, washing clothes, hoovering carpets, sweeping hard flooring,  dusting surfaces and other jobs that will provide you with a feeling of freshness and make your home feel clean and presentable. The final jobs are tidying jobs.  These are jobs where you are aiming to create order and remove unwanted, broken or unnecessary objects from your home.  The outcome of carrying out these kind of jobs is that you will find locating items easier and save time.  It will also reduce damage to items as you will be improving their storage.  These kind of jobs include clearing out drawers, reorganising shelves and sorting out clothes or other items that are no longer needed.   

3.  Utilise Wipes, Sprays and Time Saving Tools
We are living in an age of convenience so if you know motivation and energy levels are low, making use of some of low cost wipes and sprays can make the job of taking care of your home more manageable.  A search of your local discount shop will often offer a range of affordable options.  Although they are not always the most environmentally friendly options, they will often get the job done quickly and with minimal fuss and you can look for greener options once you have established a routine. 

4. Set a Timer
Set yourself a timer with an alarm that is set to go off after 10 minutes.  Although this sounds like only a short time it will get you started.  It will focus you and you will be surprised at how much you can achieve in this time.  There is also no rule that says you need to stop at the end of 10 minutes so feel free to continue working.  The idea is to break the jobs down and make them more manageable.  Often the hardest part of making a change to your living space is getting started.  It can feel overwhelming if there is a lot to do, but by tackling a small amount at a time you will soon start to notice the difference and this will provide you with the motivation to keep going.

5. Music
Most dull tasks are improved by the addition of music.  Putting on the radio or some music will also help lift your spirits, improve your energy levels and help you get into a rhythm.  Most importantly, it will make the job more enjoyable.

6. One Job at a Time
Once you have selected a task to tackle stick to just that task until you have completed it.  It is easy to get distracted and end up with several jobs on the go at once but the danger of doing this is that you will miss out on the satisfaction that comes when you have completed a job and get to tick it off your list.  Also focusing your energies on one task at a time will make better use of your time and energy as you won't be moving between so many different spaces. 

7. Routine
Once you have completed a task, think about how frequently this task will need to be repeated.  Most jobs need doing either daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly.  Once you have reached a decision on how regularly you are going to do a job make yourself a clear action plan stating exactly when you are going to next do this job.  You can record this using an ap for your phone or computer or do this in a more low tech way like jotting it down on a calendar or diary.  You are unlikely to need to put in the same amount of effort or energy when you are repeating the task as your concern is more with maintenance rather than starting from scratch.  Initiating new routines can take time but once they become established you will find yourself doing these tasks as second nature.