ok, at least you have your priorities straight.

Damn... I feel better too.

Wait a minute. I don't understand. You mean there are houses that *don't* look like this?

Try to keep in mind that, last I heard, Chris and Mrs Chris were fairly extensively involved in tending to infirm elders on a pretty constant basis.

That still the case, Chris?

No they are dead now but thanks for remembering! Makes me feel special!

OK OK! I did the bedroom first and will post some pics tomorrow. I was up at 4Am to get my wife to the airport so I'm dosing while watching Rachel Ray make something called Shoup or Stewp or something like that, but I just dozed off. I changed the bedding and found all kinds of things in those suitcases that we bought in South Africa and Hawaii and Alaska last year. I filled a huge trash bag with junk, you would be proud of me!!!

Thanks to everyone who posted. I'm really not an old bag man or woman with a sex change!

OK I can understand the clutter and general disorganization. I would be able to stand that.
The kitchen, dude, do something about that! I would have a serious freak out over it. Could ya'll hired a maid to come clean? Once a week even? Kitchen and bathroom only.

Yeah, I usually start in the kitchen... but I don't do one room at a time, I'm totally add about it with stuff going on in 3 or 4 rooms at once. My house is more often messy than not, we're in and out all week and usually focused on a specific task when we're here (homeschooling, making dinner etc.), but generally it can all be straightened and scrubbed in a Saturday.

CLEAN YO HOUSE...fuck yo couch...shit

I am horrified...! This is unacceptable...!

Half those wine bottles are standing upright instead of on their sides! I can hear the corks drying out. And all of them are in nearly direct light! Please, find a dark, cool closet where they can be stored safely.

Oh and also, I have that Dewalt drill bit holder too. And all the bits are in it!!!

Im pretty much ADD about cleaning too, I start in the kitchen, then will have to go put something in the bathroom...start picking up in there, wonder off to the kids bedrooms...get distracted...blah blah.

The office is the only room that I allow to be messy most of the time.

Kitchen and dining room are straightened several times a day.

When I was employed, I had a cleaner that would come in once a week and do the stuff I never had time for.....scrub barthrooms, wash floors, dusting etc.

Im seriously anal about floors, there be no mess on my floors!

I love this thread! :p

Dude a clean work bench is a sign of a sick mind.

Wow...and I freak out when my wife doesn't dust or vacuum for a few days! That would drive me nuts.

My house was a disaster area. No clear floor patches greater than 2'x2'. Then about 5 years ago, my catsitter very hesitantly told me that I should hire a cleaning lady, you know, once a month or something...

We went on a massive cleaning spree, hired a cleaning lady to come in every week (we told ourselves it would go to every other or once a month when everything was under control). We got used to a clean, tidy house really fast, let me tell you! Never did go to a reduced schedule.

Since the cleaning lady came on Wednesdays, Tuesday night was our 'tidy-up' night. We each spent about 30 minutes putting stuff away. That's the real key to a clean house, not the vacuuming or dusting. It's all in the organization. Having the nice Polish immigrant lady mop and sweep and scrub was just a major motivator for us putting our crap away at least once a week.

Now that we're in the new house, I'm looking for a new cleaning lady or service. Even though we haven't scrubbed/vacuumed/mopped/etc as much as I would have liked, the house is in good enough shape to have people over (except for all the still-packed boxes, natch!) It got to be a habit in the last 5 years, and I don't want to relapse!

The way I figure it, I'd rather work an hour or two (or three) more at my job (which I'm good at), and pay someone else (who could really use the money to feed her family!) to do what I'm not good at.