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Mine isn't.  I've always been a terrible housekeeper.  My desk tends to be the same way--it's either totally cleaned off, or a total disaster.  I recently started the flylady program at flylady.net and am so happy with my house that I'm thinking of applying it to my desk.

Ok, what is the flylady program?  Is there a way you can give a short description before I try to find out if I can access it from behind my firewall?  My house is no where near as organized or clean as my office for one main reason - my husband.  Any help is better than none!  

You can probably get to it from behind your firewall--I did.  I heard about it on a moms' list I'm on.  Flylady assumes that your house is so messy you can't have anyone over without at least a day's advance notice--definitely describes my house!  She sends you several emails a day, reminding you to do certain core tasks.  As these tasks become habits, and you don't have dirt on every surface, she has you add things like slowly decluttering your home 10 minutes at a time.  Some of her tips are more for working women (like me), some for stay-at-homes but I find that those can be adapted to my schedule without much trouble.  Her motto is "baby steps" and "you are not behind, just jump in."  It's kind of refreshing for me, because I tend to see the whole house as a post-tornado zone that won't be helped by my piddly efforts.  



Note: this is *not* commercial as far as I can see--it costs nothing, you give them no info but your email address (I use my web email rather than work email address).



After a week, I'm already in a couple of routines that are making the house more habitable.

No, and I'm a FlyLady dropout.    

You've GOT be kidding!  



I need a WEEK's notice before I'll let anybody come over!



On the other hand, hubby and I both work MORE than full time and when we come home we've made a promise to take care of each other first, THEN the house.  Meaning, that if one of us comes home after a horrible day, it's more important to give each other 15-30 minutes of attention rather than jump right into cleaning the bathroom, much as it may need it.  



Fortunately, we have about the same tolerance level for clutter, so it gets to a certain point and we're both itching to get it cleaned up.



 

We just got ourselves a cleaner. I love my cleaner! she is so fantastic! She does three hours a week and does the kitchen and bathroom every week, plus the halls and stairs, and the living room or the bedroom.

It is worth every penny we pay her - she earns 2/3 of what I do per hour, but we only pay for when she comes.

 

Organized?? What's that??      

I used to find it easier to keep my workplace organized actually, but due to lack of space it has become more difficult. Home is just chaos. No matter how many little cubbyholes, boxes, bins & categories I try to make for stuff, there always seems to be stuff that just doesn't have a place....sigh...

Used to have a cleaning lady but gave hubby and I decided to give her up.  She wasn't very good so we thought we would use the money elsewhere.  Of course, now all the cleaning falls on me.  (okay, hubby vacuumed the upstairs - only - last Friday so now he has "helped out").



Luckily, my husband is a teacher and will be home the entire month of August.  Maybe if I make him clean the house throughout the month, he will reconsider and decide that it really isn't that expensive to have a cleaning lady after all.



My house is pretty organized but not as much as the office.  For example, I don't store the canned goods in alphabetical order but everyone has their own basket at the back door for hats, etc.

Ohhh... you make me miss my maid so much.  I got spoiled for 2 years overseas while I had a maid.  She was such a great help, I wish that I'd had her for the full 3 years I was there.  It took me 1 year to convince hubby that it would be a good investment in us... we wouldn't argue over the housekeeping, I wouldn't have to do it instead of spending time with him, and we had a clean house still.  She did everything!  I originally just wanted someone to dust, sweep, mop, clean bathroom, but she refused to help unless she could do it all "the right way".    She did laundry and everything.  She came in 3 days a week and my floor was always so clean you could have eaten off of it.  With a dog in the house that really says something!    The best part - due to the difference in economy she was paid $60.00 every 2 weeks (oh heck... or was that a month?  It was so long ago now!).  For all the work, it was underpaid no matter what.  But she and I were great friends so I was able to give her extras without her having to report it.  (ie, she had a son who loved Walt Disney movies, so I'd let her borrow mine, then buy her one of her own if her son liked it).



Now I have to go home and do some cleaning on my own.  But hubby's gone for a couple of days, so whatever I do will stay for that long at least.    

If I could afford a cleaning service of some kind, I would, but if I had that kind of money I'd be staying home!  

Donna, sorry to hear you dropped out of Flylady.  I figure it's like exercise, something I'll do most of the time but occasionally will backslide on. But I have reached the point where I'm no longer willing to clean like a madwoman just because we're having company next weekend--I want to be able to dust and vacuum and that's it.  Having a schedule to follow will make it easier for me, I think.  The bathroom is already way less grungy--that happens overnight, literally, because we have hard water and it builds up rings etc. Just keeping that wiped down is making my house look so much better.

I had a maid for a year and loved it!!! Gave it up recently when my company closed, but I definitely plan to bring one back. It cost me about $50/week ($60/time if twice a month) and it only took them about 1.5 hours for two girls. Why can't I clean my house in 3 hours??? When I consider how much I make per hour divided by the number of hours it takes me to clean (more like 10!) it's worth every penny!!!



Our house was the cleanest it has been in the ten years we've been married. People could actually drop by unexpectedly and I wasn't embarrassed. Neither my husband nor I are great cleaners, and we have so little free time (basically about 25 hours a week!) that who wants to waste 1/2 of those precious free moments cleaning???



Marie

I'm really happy to hear that I am not the only one in this situation, I really thought we were really bad at keeping house but seeing these posts makes me feel much better.  I may not be organized, but it is clean, is my motto.  We have such a small house to begin with that its hard to keep organized, but easy to clean.



Chris68

I think it is just "the cobbler's children go barefoot".  You spend the whole day organizing the office, the last thing that you want to do when you get home is organize that, too.

Gosh, I feel like Martha Stewart.



The public areas of my house MUST be clean at all times... simply because I can't even open the door for the pizza boy without being mortified of clutter. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a fanatic...  I do my dinner dishes in the morning when I wake up. My bedroom is the tornado zone, we live out of the clothes dryer instead of our drawers... and for the love of God Almighty, DO NOT go into my husband's bathroom (I'm waiting for him to get some gangreen skin infection from the disgust in that room... I won't go near it, it's *HIS* bathroom    )



My desk/office is the same way... I have to have some type of order to it, or I can't focus.  

But work has been so crazy ever since dear new Bossie came on board last fall, cleaning/straightening my house is starting to be almost pleasant because it's something I can control.  Unlike people refusing to put stuff in my inbox, I can *control* what I put in my utensil drawer.  Unlike the last-minute stupid requests from people, I can control when the laundry gets done at my house (and how it's done). Etc.  The house is under control, unlike the office, which is apt to throw sh*t at my fan, no matter how I try to protect my fan, you know?

No it definitely is not. My workplace is very well organized (most of the time) my home is chaos. If I had enough money I would have  somebody to take care of  cleaning and doing the laundry. Unfortunately I fell in love with the wrong man. I should have tried to find a millionaire. To late now. On the other hand: my darling loves me even though I am not perfect and home is chaos - can anybody wish for more in life?

I must say - my house is pretty organized (as is the office) - and as for clean . . . well, my husband tells me I'm obsessed.  I tried the flylady thing for awhile - didn't care for it.  But I did find a site that I really like - good tips, ideas, etc. -- www.organizedhome.com



I'm one of those that can't sleep if the kitchen isn't clean before I go to bed and the house is at least straightened up.



What works for me is a really simple system:



Paperwork (updating checkbook, filing, etc) - Monday evenings

Clean upstairs - Thursdays

Clean downstairs - Fridays

Then once a month - I do my monthly "chores" (ceiling fans, baseboards, etc.)



This helps keep my house in order and gives me free weekends!



Obsessed in nc!

northcarolina:  the idea of not being able to sleep before the kitchen is clean sends me into conniptions!!!!  I know it's not funny, but it is funny to me!  That has neeeeeeeeeeevvvvver been a problem at my house.  (Sometimes it is easier to go to bed just to avoid the aftermath of supper after a very long day.  The old, "if I don't think about it, maybe it will go away overnight / dinner dishes elves will show up with their scrubbing bubbles" kind of thinking.)



To answer your question, dettu:  no, definitely, not yet, but thanks for the tip on flylady.  I signed up with her last night and am on a fast track to "SHE" success!  I owe it all to you.  ;-)  GE

Hey NC, I have a similar system:



Monday: balance the cheque book

Tuesday: change beds and laundry

Wednesday: ironing

Thursday: homework



It doesn't always work but it gives me something to work towards.



BTW - my three year old is currently into "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".  One day while he was watching it and I was doing housework, I made some offhand remark, something to the effect of wouldn't it be great if Snow White and all her animal friends could come by our house and clean up.



Later that day the doorbell rang and my three year old raced to the front door.  He thought it was going to be Snow White to come and clean our house.  If only!!



Even now, every once and a while he says something about Snow White coming to clean the house.

Surely you jest.    



My workplace is a cubicle.  I have to keep it tidied up (particularly since I'm in the "Amen Corner" -- the section of the office where the CEO, his assistant, the COO, and the CFO are located).



My house?  That's another story.  I have a 3-bedroom, 3-bath home ... and well, I try to keep it presentable but Martha Stewart I'm not.  Hubby and I both work full-time, and we both admit we're not exactly neatniks.  Unfortunately, we're not too fond of cleaning either.  He'd rather fish, and I'd rather do any number of things!  So we just try to do the basics and keep the clutter down.  He does help with the laundry.  And occasionally he goes on a tear and straightens up.  But like most people, we go on a frantic cleaning binge if we know we're getting company.  



Secretly, I'd love to have somebody come in about once a month and give our place a good cleaning.  But I can't afford that AND a manicure every 2 weeks and a haircolor/cut & style once a month, too.  A gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do.

Hey Radar - how funny our systems are so similar!  Except, I do a load of laundry just about every day - and ironing?  Well, I try not to if I can help it - that and mopping are my two most dreaded chores - why?  Because they are the never ending ones - as soon as you finish it needs to be done again (especially with a white kitchen floor ::shudder:



GE - I know, I'm obsessed; can't help it.  What's even worse, is when my hubby goes on a cooking spree and there's like 3 loads for the dishwasher and grease everywhere!  Yikes - talk about the stuff nightmares are made of!  I'll be in the kitchen for HOURS, it seems like.  But usually, if he's made it that bad he's willing to help!



Wandering off in search of more dish detergent . . .



nc

My lord, girlfriend, nc:  I'm about to set a live-trap for you and bring you to my house for a week.  I'll provide all of the cleaning tools you could ever desire.  I have a hoppin' new steam vac that would really turn your crank, and I'd be happy to let you break it in.  BWA HA HA HA HA    I could reeeeeeeaaaaally use the help tonight!  Mission Impossible is nearing a close.  I've gotten alot of email from Flylady and, gee, she recommends doing a lot of common sense stuff that I've just let myself get lazy and not do.  I haven't done everything she's suggested that I do today since I only just joined last week, but she has put gas on the flame underneath my bunsen burner, so to speak.  Now double checking for my golden lariat and adjusting my bustier (you know, the French word), I've got to get back on my invisible plane and back to the front!  Hasta la vista "bay-bee!"

Not last week; I just signed up for flylady last night.  One day is all.  I'm NOT behind, I've just been sidetracked.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

NC, I honestly envy your "drive".  I like things nice and neat and in their place, but low and behold every night I come home from work and the two beloved children have created yet another mess and not done a thing I asked to help (one of these days they will only a bed and a dresser left in their room).  



I used to hate ironing too, but I found out that it kinds of soothes my need for perfection.  I can watch tv while I do it and I can control just how neat and perfect its done.  And best of all, my kids can't mess up my clothes after I'm done.  They get hung on hangers as I do it and then put away.  



Now the rest of the house is debatable.  Its not dirty, but I sure wish I could find a bookcase for all of my books and I wish I had a laundry room with a closet for my washer/dryer and cleaning stuff.  Maybe one day.    

Well y'all made me feel better at least.  There's an inch of water in my hallway, due to a broken pipe, that's finally been fixed just now and the dishwasher hasn't been opened one way or the other for a week.  What do I spend my time on? well Duh, the computer. :sigh: AnD I used to be a REALLY Terrible housekeeper and have gotten so much better at it, but this week...Oy, Fergit about it!

It's time to address the water now that the pipe's been fixed. and maybe I'll get around to that dishwasher today.

Flylady? I Scoff at you! I bet you ahve a secret maid:chuckle: just kidding, please hold irate, "how could you make fun of flylady!" emails until after I've gotten the water cleaned up!

Andrea - we all know the truth.  You house ducks in your laundry room and spiders in you laundry hamper.  

for cleaning and decided to share mine with you.



Monday, Ignore dishes, ignore dusting, investigate NC's strange comment,..... Baseboards/ceiling fans. We're supposed to DUST those things?



tuesday am, Ignore Water in hallway



tuesday PM, Determine that water is not going to go away, get help, rent giant carpet sucking machine to deal with water.  Leave it sitting in hallway since the water just keeps on coming anyway, what's the point.



Wednesday, open dishwaher, determine there's not enough time to put away clean dishes. Run giant carpet sucking machine for an hour. Revisit to find that the water is STILL coming, and will not stop until the neighbr's water heater is empty.  Calculate the time it will take for forty gallons of water to trickle into my carpet. Become Scarlett O'Hara and worry about it "tamarra".



Thursday, Determine that the small foil wrapped packages in the refrigerator need to be tossed.  Decide that Gladware was an excellent investment, since other containers need to be tossed as well. Determine that the water has finally stopped. Run Giant carpet sucking machine.  Calm down dog who has mortal fear of giant carpet sucking machine.  Determine that only twenty gallons of the forty have been accounted for.  

Start search for the lost twenty gallons, finding them in the adjacent hall closet, where Christmas Tree and ornaments are stored. Debate letting them dry au nautrel. Curse a great deal and empty closet.  Run giant carpet sucking machine some more.  Threaten Dog with giant carpet sucking machine out of sheer petulance.



Friday.  Ignore dishes some more, return giant carpet sucking machine to rental place. Gaze curiously at baseboards and consider calling NC to come to SC....



 

Andrea,



Shouldn't you neighbor pay for your giant carpet sucking machine?  Those things cost a mortage.



Ellen (one day and 2 1/2 hours till the weekend) in TX  

I've discovered the secret!



Hubby's been fighting a cold and conked out on the sofa after dinner for about 3 hours.  I was able to get the kitchen actually clean, the laundry actually done, and the bathroom something close to sanitary because I didn't have "hubby the human hurricane" tearing around the house.  I love him dearly, but he's one of these super-creative types who isn't happy unless he's doing 5 things at once.  (Leaving 5 different messes!)



So I've either got to give him some Nytol or do the cleaning at 3 a.m.    

My DH is a trip!  He makes these huge messes and then has a cow when I don't follow behind him cleaning it up.  Puleeze!  I've just come home from a 10  hr day and he wants me to clean his mess up.  But in his defense, he does do the laundry and cleans the kitchen after I cook on work days.



Ellen (God, please make the model airplane he bought disappear) in TX

Ellen:



I'm with you, girlfriend! I have a magnet that reads:  "Please pray for me.  My husband collects trains!"



Came home from work one day to a dark object in the toaster oven.  Upon closer examination I realized it was a model steam locomotive in there!  As my jaw dropped, DH looked at me with a wide-eyed smile that belonged on an eight-year-old and said, "I'm baking the paint!"



OK, my toaster oven is now an HO scale paint shed... I GIVE UP!







 

Didface:



Oh Lord!  And I thought mine was bad.  I would have kicked his butt for that.  Do husbands ever grow up?



Ellen (Please God, don't let my DH collect anything) in TX

My husband is on vacation this month (he's a teacher) so he is supposed to do the housework today.  Just got a voice mail from him that everything but the vacuuming is done.  Wonder what the house looks like?



Still waiting for Snow White!

 have Swiffers will travel

 

Swiffer?! Good Lord woman, I own them all, Swiffer Wet, Swiffer Dry, and Swiffer hand mitten, I just dont have time to USE them... and by the way money ceases to be an incentive for housework around the age of ten, just so you know. Well actually around the age of ten they begin to negotiate, and say things like... A dollar?! you're kidding right?



Now about these baseboards,,, you really ARE supposed to dust those things?! I musta missed that episode of Martha Stewart. And the house rule on ceiling fans is,,, when little hangy things develop, it's time to clean them, same with window blinds.



And while we're on the subject, The dearest friends I have in the world, who I never get to see anymore, spend a weekend day from time to time moving their refrigerator and stove out to clean behind them and under them.  Now don't get me wrong I love these people more than I can ever tell you, but have to consider suspect,  togetherness that involves the movement of heavy appliances.  now I ask you, is this slightly warped? do other people do this? I thought the stove and the refrigerator were protected zones, "don't move that honey you'll upset the environmental habitat." I mean do I really WANT to be responsible for the destruction of the entire portion of an ecosystem that swiffer can't reach?!



 

To my Chucktown:

The best way to clean the fan when the hangy thing begins to grow is to reverse the direction, and then get outta the way!



From one who knows...  

:dies laughing: Yeah, it's sad but I know that wink!

:rollin



but what about this refrigerator moving thing,, is this well,,,,abberant?

I have never moved a refrigerator ... just the other day I discovered the top part of my stove comes off - eeeeeeeeeww!  The lady we bought our house from said she cleaned ... guess what, she lied!  So now I'm thinkin' these things oughtta be checked out ... I'll let you know what He-Man Scott says ...  

Ohhhhhhhh, winkie:  stand back when you move the fridge for the first time and the stove, for that matter.  It truly is a whole 'nother world down there.  A world that makes you very happy that it only needs to be visited about twice a year.  A little more often for the faint of heart.

NC - the offer to come steam vac is open to you anytime!

Once a year for the appliances, or you get really nasty smells from dropped food and - gulp! - mice!

Now I don't feel so bad.  My mother will move the fridge out every six months.  I inherited mine from my grandfather and it makes this God awful noise when the fan starts up, but it works.  But when is seem to stop being as cold as it should I mentioned it to my mom.  She asked if I had ever vacuumed the vent on the front.  I was speechless since it had never crossed my mind to ever do that.  As far moving the stove, I settle for just taking the drawer out from the bottom and sweeping once in a while.  



I checked out the FlyLady site.  Is this lady kidding?  If I went around my house and found 27 things to throw out everyday I wouldn't own any knick knacks or books and my kids wouldn't have any of there stuff left.  I think I'll just settle for making it a habit to put something away or throw out the junk mail, kiddie scribbles and note taking papers that seem to grow on my tables each time I make a trip to the kitchen for snacks.  If I can get my kids to do that too,  the house might stay clean.   {I can dream, right???    }

That's one thing I don't do - is move the stove & fridge to clean (probably because hubby would absolutely refuse to move them for me!).  But I do admit to lifting the stove top & cleaning under there fairly frequently (ok, I admit it - I did it this morning -- okay, okay, I also cleaned the oven ::sigh:: the things you guys drag out of me. . .   )  But I never thought about taking that bottom drawer out, or vacuuming the fridge vent. . . hmmm



nc



 

nc - Now that I've spent the day with my new Hoover Farrington, you *should* be drooling, baby!  That sucker has brushes that whirl and twirl and beat out a jungle rhythm to get the crud out of the carpet; heck, it even has a SURGE button.  That's right!  Need more clean?  SURGE, baby, SURGE:  Hoover Inferno!  (Yes, I really do dance with the steam vac.  It's no fun, though, unless you get the left arm going like Debra Winger's in Urban Cowboy, though, too!)  Hubby and I almost coughed up a hairball, though, when we dumped the first bucket of dirty carpet water down the toilet. We feel like human beings again, and we owe it all to Mr. Farrington.  "Hoovie" has performed nothing less than a miracle to our very abused carpets today.  We are once again the proud owners of off-WHITE basement carpet, not 50-foods-stained berber!



Bethalize - Yes, 27 things at a crack:  throw them away, but it's not every day.  It's like once a week.  I think I found about 2700 things to toss on my first attempt, though.  (Does my garbage dude love me?!  You know it.)  Add to that about 25 trips to the thrift store (2700 things to give away, dontcha know), and you'll understand why there is a job for the SuperFLY out there!  The packrats are out there.  Trust me; some of us can find 27 things to throw away - - no sweat at all.

Yup, GE that would be me.  I've been cleaning cause of an upcoming event at my house this week and let me tell you, we did the back of the refrigerator thing today, inside the kitchen closet thing, those nasty doors with the many levels and pull out had to do each one today individually, man I hate those style of doors.  Clean the microwave inside and out today, and I know we threw more than 27 items out today on one table, so that should make flylady happy today.  I still have some clothes to go thru and donate, but that will be another day.



Just getting one thing at a time here and we'll get there.  Oh and did I mention I had lots of help from DH today for most of the day.  Kitchen looks livable again.  Hard to believe those kitchen floors can get SO dirty in a week too.  Between the two of us we mopped 4 times and that water was nasty when we were done.



Not done cleaning yet here...still working like a busy beaver.

100 Mile and Hour Fluff and Stuff comin up this week.



Chris68

 

I can totally go with the decluttering - but I do it every six months or so.

When I get a blitz everything has to be kept because we use it, kept because we might use it or kept because of sentimental reasons. Anything else can go.

I find that stuff moves down the ladder, and eventually I decide that if I haven't used it in two years, I never will. Call it a half-life.

That's my way of doing too Bethalize.  If i haven't used it in a while and can think of no need for it, it goes.  But each items has a phase it goes through (ie:  could use it for something coming up next month, etc.).  By doing it this way, I can have things around for a while just in case and still get rid of the clutter.  I'm not nearly as much of a packrat as I used to be.  Seemed to get better as I got older.  I use this approach when cleaning out the storage closets at work.  The last helper I had complained because I didn't take enough breaks for him...........lol.



GE: I agree there are packrats out there.  My sister and her husband are one of them.  I'm tempted to send her the FlyLady site as a helpful hint, but worried I might step on toes.  If I were her, my brother-in-law would be the first of the 27 items I tossed - he generates 90% of their clutter and does nothing to help her keep the house straight.  Doesn't work either.  But anyway......her life and her choices.  Doesn't make me love her any less.



Have a good day ladies.........off to work on shopping for school clothes.  Only 4 weeks to go and I have my lunch hours to myself again.    

 

hehehe - toss the b.i.l.?  First you'd need to coax him out of the house and into a box.  Probably need another plan.  Maybe after sis's house is in order, things could turn around completely.  Order has a strange, empowering, yet cathartic, effect on a person who has not known it for awhile.  FSWK (From Someone Who Knows!)

Ge - a Hoover Farrington - hmmm sounds like the stuff are dreams are made of    Especially with a little one running around here!



Is it just for steam cleaning?  I'm actually in the market for a new vac and am trying to figure out what would give me the most bang for my buck.



nc

Hey, nc -

Yup, the Hoover Farrington is the King of steam vacs.  It even has a hose with a rotating brush or a scotchbrite pad.  My vac is pretty old, a canister, but I like it.  It's called a Progressive, but that's all I know about it.

Lord, have mercy on me, I even cleaned my oven today, and underneath, since these posts reminded me.  We cleaned carpets again, and varnished a couple of windows and sanded them - - just one more coat to go!  I think I need to go lie down now!  Shopping done, laundry done, YIKES!  housework done?!  Going now to look out the window for a blue moon - hope you find a dandy new vacuum, nc.  GE



BTW - to whoever started this post, my desk is clean, clean, clean this weekend!  Finished up projects in time for new ones to arrive this week.