I bought a book today that is subtitled "the procrastinators guide to housekeeping." But what I want to know, cherished digsters, is what you do to keep the motivation flowing.

I don't like any kind food-related dirtiness, so the kitchen gets cleaned pretty much immediately. The dishes may sit for a day, but everything else stays clean. The bathroom stays pretty clean too.

I'm not talking about throwing away your furniture or your Picassos, of course. And keep in mind, I was the kind of slob who had intelligent life growing in my bathtub grout till about two years ago, so I really know what works for us naturally laid-back types.

*Take everything you haven't worn in a year to a consignment shop -- I bet it's half your wardrobe. You really, really won't miss it. Include stuff you're hanging onto for kinda sentimental reasons (not your grandma's wedding dress, but maybe that sweater your first boyfriend bought you?)Throw away the stretched-out undies, unsaleable stuff. Two things will happen. Your closets and drawers will be neater. And you'll HAVE to wash laundry to have clothes to wear, so you'll have less laundry lying around.

Apply this tip to exercise equipment, tupperware, out-of-style home acoutrements, books that no longer mean anything to you ... Everything. Donate the useful stuff, and toss the rest. Just do this, and you'll notice your entire house and life is lighter and airier.

*Get in the habit of cleaning as you go. After you've peeled the potatoes and put the chicken in to roast, rinse off the knives and mixing bowls and put them in the dishwasher (or wash 'em by hand). After your morning cereal, do the same thing. After you read the paper, put it in the recycling bin. After you fold the laundry, put it away. You get the idea. It becomes automatic after a while, and it really doesn't take any more time.

I swear, these two things (the first self-imposed because I refused to move my entire mountain of crap yet again, the second acquired because my lovely fiance does it and it seemed like a nice way to keep the house clean) have turned me from a slob into someone who isn't ashamed to have somebody stop in by surprise.

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Originally posted by swede:
After you fold the laundry, put it away.

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I'm trying to change, but I would really need an extra hour each day and a dishwasher.

A few of my lazy tricks:

- I don't fold my clean underwear. I just throw them in my upper drawer (which is usually separated in sections with cardboard boxes). Otherwise, I would throw them on my bed to avoid folding them, then on my computer chair at night, then back on my bed... until they fell on the floor with the dirty ones.

- I have three linen bags for dirty clothes: one for dark, one for light and one for delicates. When I get fed up of clothes laying on my floor, I take one of the bags and fill it with clothes. So I turn piles of dirty clothes into three neat sorted bags. And when I do my laundry, the bags go in the washer too so they're always fresh (much cleaner and less risky than garbage bags)

- I have boxes and baskets for a lot of things. Eg: I have a "bedside basket" for all those things that would otherwise clutter the floor around my bed. (Hairbrushes, cream tubes, matches...) The basket itself is a mess, but at least it's contained to a single area which I can easily hide and avoid stepping on.

- I have as little dishes as possible, so it can't really get out of control. Otherwise, the only thing that will stop me will be the lack of counter space.

I'll stop here cause my appartement is really a mess right now, even according to my standards, so I'll try to clean things up a bit before guilt kills me.

Edited to correct tons of stupid late-night spelling mistakes.

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Originally posted by BionicGirl:
OOOOOooooooooohhhhhhh... you're supposed to FOLD the laundry. Hmmm.

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Getting rid of stuff you don't use is the best thing you can do. It's so liberating - and it makes room to get your life organized. Same for clothes. This is challenging in my house though, because C. is a pack rat in the worst way.

Back in December, I cleaned the house top to bottom. I got on my hands and knees and scrubbed baseboards, I cleaned the walls, and got rid of a ton of junk. Then I rearranged the living room. It was like living in a new place. It's kept me motivated enough to keep it clean. Not spotless, but bearable, and certainly much better than it's been in the past.

i always have to have my kitchen clean, though. counters are clean and uncluttered, stove top is cleaned without splatters from cooking, and no dirty dishes in the sink.

clean/pick up as you go along. this is key, i think. been trying to get hubby to do this... he is a big slob. very messy and unorganized.

i use baskets/containers for just about everything. the clear plastic kind, so you can see what's inside without opening it up and digging around. those tackle boxes and craft boxes with the little compartments do wonders.

There's just lots of wonderful.

But now I'm addicted. More?

(Edited to change "helpdul" to "helpful", which in my opinion is much more true and less of an unintended insult. . .)

OK, that FlyLady site is going to be my (and Sean's) salvation. We have set up a system, based on the FlyLady system that I've mapped out in a calendar (when I get back to work, I'll post it or something for those of you wanting a tool to use) that lists three columns: day, zone, done?. (Zones are sections of the house you work through on a week of the month basis - e.g Zone 4 is Living Room - go to www.Flylady.org to get the low-down on the whole system)

In the Zone column I have mapped out the Zone for that portion of the month and listed, where I know them, the general tasks for cleaning that section. In the Done? column I'll check off whether I worked 15 minutes in my Zone for the day (and that's the crux of the program - 15 minutes everyday, working as fast as you can on something and dropping it when the 15 mins is up will lead to a consistently clean home) and it lists whether Sean and I have a big thing going on that night of the week to help us with our meal planning (I love to buy food but most of it goes off because I won't be able to make all the meals I plan because we aren't even home for dinner 3 nights a week.)

At the bottom I have listed out a list of chores to do in one hour every single Sunday (our major cleaning day) that covers the basics of keeping the house dust free and tidied up.

During the week, if you notice that things get out of hand you can do what FlyLady calls a Hot Spot Fire Prevention where you go to the spots in your house that are always the big clutter magnets (coffee table, hall shelf, chair in bedroom...) and clear it out in 15 minutes or less.

General major Rules: Give everything a place, a home, and always return it there when done with it.

Routinely re-assess sections of your house with this idea in mind: what would it look like if it was perfect - and then do that!

Routinely de-clutter by running through the house with a bag and a box and throw 27 things in the bag to throw out and 27 things in the box to donate.

If you don't use it or haven't for the last six months (barring seasonal) - THROW IT OUT OR DONATE IT

When donating a box of stuff - put the box in the car, don't leave it sitting in the room/apartment - you're more likely to get rid of it right away if it's not inside your home.

I too reformed - I think it was a growing up thing. I have only recently discovered the "five minutes as soon as you get home" trick several people have mentioned, and it really does work. You can actually get on a bit of a roll once you start putting stuff away.

I also second the basket idea - keeping all your junk corralled won't turn your house into the epitome of minimalist chic, but it will keep you organised.

I have very strict rules about what's allowed to be on any given surface - the fruit bowl is the ONLY thing with permanent residency on the coffee table, and clearing away all the glasses and remote controls and clutter at the end of each day makes the sitting room look under control. That mess is cumulative was one of my biggest discoveries.

You have to make it easy for yourself to keep tidy. Our house is 3 storeys, and I tend to get changed while wandering around between my bathroom (1st floor) and bedroom (2nd flood). I know my bad habits well enough to realise that if I take something off and there isn't a laundry basket within 3 steps, I'll probably drop it on the floor, so I have 3 laundry baskets dotted around the house. I also keep a pack of those cleaning wipes (like Wet Ones, but for tiles) in each bathroom, so if I decide the sink needs a clean, I don't have to go wandering off looking for a sponge, cleaner, etc. Same with keeping a broom on the top floor - keep your tools to hand.

I'm proud to say that I've been able to keep my dirty dishes under control for the past three weeks, which is quite a success since my efforts at keeping the kitchen clean usually last only a few days.

Last week my boyfriend, who hadn't been over in the week previous, during which time I start flyladyering, put a spoon in the sink. I was like "hey, no spoons in the sink!" and paused for minute "wow, that's um, a really drastic policy change for me, isn't it..."

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Originally posted by crowjoy:
I have to share my giggly self satisfation with my very own flyladyish strategy! I use those dryer sheets and when I fold the clothes I take the used sheet and dust something with it. Since I am practically always doing laundry something is getting dusted at least once a day. Amazing. It's become a game to find something I'd never think to dust and dirty up that dryer sheet. Makes it easier to rationalize using them too.

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That is a GREAT idea!

And then I had an idea. We're going to box up most of our dishes and stow them in a closet. There's only two of us, after all, and we don't need eight dinner plates and 20 mugs. We just keep using them and using them until we run out and have a mountain. But if we have less to go throughgthen that can't happen. And we can get them out if we have company. YEAH!

My theory is that a clean kitchen will make us keep everything else clean. We'll see.

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Originally posted by Jezabel:
Um...so...I guess you aren't supposed to fold it at the laundrymat, but then leave it in the basket and throw the dirty clothes on the floor, then get dressed out of the laundry basket till it's empty, picking dirty clothes up off floor and placing them in the empty basket to return to laundrymat?? Probably not...sigh.

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Originally posted by Dewgirl:
I signed up for the FlyLady but unsubscribed right away again. I couldn't deal with the multitudes of emails reminding me to do stuff I do anyway (like get dressed?)...but I did take away from it several suggestions of things I don't normally do...like the 15 minute pickups and such.

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I placed filters to get rid of those annoying reminders (It just helped me feel real bad when I came home at night and saw the thousand things I might have done if I had not been in a computer lab trying to get that stupid robot working)

If I do have guests coming over and have some time beforehand, I just rush around and do little spot checks of the worst places, like the mail dump on the counter, dining room table that's never used for eating, and the bathroom floor that attracts hair.

My tip for keeping the toilet clean is to use one of those little bleach tablets. The water in our area (Milwaukee) tends to make things orange, but with the bleach tablet I don't have to clean it every week.

And not plopping down in front of the TV is a really good idea. I've been very guilty of this lately but I to check what's on and make sure that I don't just sit there watching something I don't care about just because it's on. Sort of like when you can't find the remote and you're too lazy to get up and change the cannel.

Vinegar and baking soda are great for cleaning everything. I use vinegar in my dishwasher as anti-spot rinse. Baking soda and soap make a good non-scratch cleaner to get rid of soap scum.

geez, I could go on forever, but I won't.