cleaning job: album length

Today I will be talking about the importance of choosing the right music for the right cleaning job. Two factors are important here: Album length, and tempo.

It goes without saying that to be able to clean well to the music, it has to be something that you enjoy, if you can sing along to it all the better. Always make sure the tempo of the music matches 1, the mood you’re in, and 2, cleaning. If you’re anything like me the music needs to be a little bit motivational – this is totally subjective.

But a common mistake of mine is choosing an album too short for the job at hand. For example: Cleaning my kitchen the otherday was roughly a 2 hour job (dishes, benches, walls, and floor). If I were to have picked a short album like , Tom Petty’s ‘Damn the Torpedoes’ I would have to break for my work and choose another album. Instead what I listened to was The Smashing Pumpkins ‘mellon collie and the infinite sadness’ which filled the time almost perfectly. And because I was finished cleaning about 2 songs before the album finished I felt as though I had finished within the allowed time . Always a good feeling. Equally important is not choosing an album too long for the job. Like vacuuming the lounge does not require Handel’s ‘the Messiah’ to get through.

Of course none of this applies to those of you who make playlists or put the ipod on shuffle. Personally I like to listen to my music as complete albums, otherwise I sometimes feel that I’ve picked up a book and only read a chapter or two. But thats just me.