by Donna Alexandria

Created on: May 10, 2008   Last Updated: June 23, 2010

Keeping your house clean can be quite a headache. You spend days cleaning only to discover a day or two later the house is right back to the way it was. This can be frustrating and disinheriting, robbing you of any motivation to start this process all over again. Naturally, you promise yourself that you will do things differently the next time. Some of us have even gone so far as to create little lists of whatwe will do, and how we will do it. We quietly crave HELP!

I believe the first thing to do is to start over with a clean slate. You can do this. You can get that monkey off your back, and restore order in your house. Here are a few helpful tips guaranteed to deliver.

Designate a place in your house for everything you own. Newspapers and magazines should have a certain place. Establish a rule where once you've read the newspaper or magazine, you'll discard it. If there are articles you would like to keep, tear them out, put them in a file folder. And make sure you have a place for those file folders too. Also make sure you establish a key place for mail, and if you get real ambitious you can create system to keep your mail organized. This will definitely prevent any overflow of clutter.

You also need to get in the habit of cleaning up behind yourself on a regular basis.

When you take off your clothes, do not throw them in the chair or on the floor. Hang them up immediately or put them in your laundry basket. When trying on clothing, only pull out one outfit at a time, and put it back in the closet immediately if you decide not to wear it. It is good to do this the night before so that if you're in a hurry for work in the morning, you won't neglect this task. Once you start leaving one item of clothing around, you will naturally continue to add to that pile.

In your bathroom, it is imperative to put everything away once you're finished with it.

Also, each night before heading to bed, put your washcloth from the morning in the laundry basket. It's easy to get in the habit of doing this if you put a laundry basket in the bathroom. If you employ this tactic, your bathroom will remain tidy cause by the weekend you won't have five towels stacked on top of each another.

Finally, if you approach your housecleaning with an immediate response, your house will always stay clean. If you see a stain on your bathroom mirror, clean the mirror immediately. Ultimately, the key is to have a proactive approach.

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