Our house looks like that (except for the mould and carpet stains -even i don't let it get that far) We keep the dishes washed, the clothes clean and most of the trash out, but beyond that..... piles of crap everywhere avalanches of the stuff. Yes we hate it -well in theory we do. In practice it only bothers us occasionallly, then we improve it a little. We don't have time or energy and most certainly not the willing to make it perfect and keep it that way. We make a room clean and tidy and publicly presentable -doesn't last 24 hours. We're never in. Our house is somewhere we sleep and keep stuff. We come in, we drop stuff where we see space, we eat, we grab stuff, we go out, we come in, drop more stuff, do to bed. rinse, repeat. Speaking of rinsing, the bathrooms don't get cluttered and do get cleaned. and the kitchen. sorta. occasionally. everywhere else is fair game. I'll clean when i'm dead. When my kids are gone. One day. I have other stuff to do right now.
I want to hire a maid service, but my hang-up is I need to get it tidy first, so they can see how i want it and then keep it that way. Problem is -aside from lack of willing and time- I don't know how I want it. nothing has a "home" yet, after 7 years....
My big yard sale is going to happen soon, though. really.
HLJ, I think $200 is arounfd the mark for a one-off deep clean of the average sized, averagely-messy house. Don't know why I think this, but I do. maybe I've seen a flyer....