A Clean Home = A Happy Home

Deep down inside I'm a messy person. I admit it, I can be pretty lazy and as a kid I was the worst. My poor mom. The mess was everywhere. My book bag, my room, I swear it probably seemed like there was a trail of mess behind. I like to think it was my creative side. My mind was too busy thinking and creating to bother with organization. Oh excuses, I'm sure there are many of you artsy people out there who beg to disagree. Well with time I have definitely changed. Maybe it's my mix of Type-A personality and need to control over the chaos, but I love when things are clean. Especially now that I have my own house, desk, and classroom to take care of. It doesn't come easily, but I work hard to keep things organized.

My husband on the other hand has always been overly neat, almost serial killer-like in his method for cleanliness. When we first began dating I wasn't even allowed to help fold his clothes. Everything had to be done a certain way. I don't think I need to tell you that it was quite interesting when we began living together. Over the years though I like to think we both rubbed off on each other. I began to see how great it is to keep things well ordered, while Paul began to loosen up a little.

Now with our busy jobs and lives it is hard to keep chores from getting out of hand. It's so easy to come home from a busy day and want to actually clean. We usually rely on the Company is Coming Over Method.  "Oh no so-and-so is coming over in half an hour we need to clean ______ & ______ & ______!!!!" I swear we get more done in that span of time before people come over than we do in a week. Honestly I am tired of it all. I decided to sit down and finally come up with a method that works for us.

I perused many great sites and I love this idea. 15 Minutes a Day to a Clean House

Seriously?! So smart. I feel in some ways I already do try to get a little done each day, but why not make it deliberate and planned? I can handle a few small jobs every day. So I took this idea and made my own list. I tweaked it a little to better fit my needs and went from there. I also planned with Paul who would handle different items. Things go so much faster when 2 people are involved. It has really seemed to help so far. No more feelings of being overwhelmed by what needs to get done. I don't know maybe other people just do this naturally, but it takes a lot of work and pre-planning for me.

Do you have any great cleaning methods that work for you and make life easier?