I love koolaid! its amazing!!!

I know this is really not a solution feasible to most people, but prior to my current apartment which is about 1300-1400 sq ft, I had always lived in 900 sq ft or under. Having all the extra space to spread out has really helped keep my clutter under control. I've severely curbed my shopping in the past year and so that's helped keep my place neat also.

I kind of hate to admit this, but I've been really inspired by FlyLady, which I first heard about here. I find the Oprahesque, self-help tone and website's appearance a little difficult to swallow, but heck, it's free, and the core of the advice is perfect and just what I needed.

Believe it or not, there are people who quite seriously do not know how to clean. Prior to going to college, I had no clue how to do laundry (thanks, Mom, for all those years of doing my wash). I remember looking at the settings and having no clue where to put detergent. But if you don't know, you don't know!

FlyLady really breaks things down... like incredibly basic step by step type stuff (scrub sink with soap, rinse, scrub again, etc). That was really helpful to me.

What I'm trying to get past now is the tendency to buy worthless Swiffer products because that's all I've ever used, and they make everything pretty easy... you get the "feeling" that you've cleaned but in reality, your floors are as dirty as ever. I really need to bring myself to get a mop and bucket.

My best cleaning tip is to only bring stuff into your home that you love. Just having less stuff keeps our place looking cleaner.

Agree totally with ArchDarling. Love the FlyLady but really dislike the site juvenile feel. But her methods totally revolutionized how I cleaned and when. Before I never let anyone into my mess; now I'm always 15 minutes away from having a presentable house. You can get a lot done in just 15 minute increments.

Putting the Holiday decorations away has started me on the road to spring cleaning. Hopefully I'll be tossing a lot out this year.

Pick up & clean up after ones self. Takes discipline, but keep one's home organized. Also, edit your stuff. Throwing out should be on going not every 10 years.

Seconded on editing one's stuff.
I tend to clear out a dresser/drawer/closet every other month-- a tough feat living with 3 packrats in a house whose residents haven't moved in 25+ years. Keep trying to edit down chunks of junk in the house but they keep throwing up roadblocks in my ongoing attempt to make the house feel more like I place I want to be and less like a storage space. *sigh*

Great timing AP. I am already well into my first cleanup after the holiday season. Will be referring back to this post for some inspiration.

As a gift to myself-this goes double If your a couple. Hire a maid to come in once a week to do the messy time consuming stuff you hate to do .
If you spend $60 bucks on dinning out you can find a maid on CL for 3 hours for less!

I was about to start fly lady too! I'm good at keeping clutter free and do a 15 minute sweep most days (I just can't stand having stuff out of order) but I'm not very good at having time to do real cleaning beyond tidying.

I personally prefer cleaning services, but that's just me. I was thinking about calling a cleaning service in Westchester county for next week to clean the house before the Christmas party, but I could probably save a few bucks with these tips. Thanks a bunch!

Haha Never knew about the Kool-Aid trick! The only thing that stays clean at my house is my favorite Aeron Chairs ! They are probably the most comfortable chairs that I own. I want them to last a lifetime!