Because cleaning removes the accumulated impressions of the day, it is best done in the evening, after you have finished the majority of the day’s work. It is like coming home and immediately taking a shower before doing anything else.

Because cleaning requires alertness, it is best not to put it off until bedtime, when you are too sleepy to clean properly. Another reason not to postpone the cleaning is that it creates such freshness in us that if you do it too close to bedtime you may be too alert to sleep. Also, with the better state acquired after cleaning, your interactions with family members will witness many refined changes.

You can also do ‘spot’ cleaning at any point of the day, as needed. If you spill ketchup on your shirt in the morning, do you wait till evening to clean it? Similarly, if some occurrence destabilizes you during the day, you can take a few minutes and wash away its effects right then and there. Then you will not have to carry around the
heavy burden of that stain on your consciousness for the entire day.