I do these things every day, except I am getting bad at leaving things stacked on my bedroom chair trying to break that habit. I hate waking up to seeing my chair covered with clothes and throw blanket.

Where did those pillow covers come from?

My three simple rules are make your bed, fold and put away your laundry, no clothes on the floor (and when this one is mastered, no clothes on any furniture or chairs). The rest can wait till the weekend!

Using phone time to do these chores helps make it more pleasurable.

The best advice that I've ever gotten from lifehacker is to turn off my laptop half an hour before I got to bed...this give me time to do my dishes, clean the counters, tidy up my apartment, get ready for the next day, go over what I'll be eating for breakfast and lunch the next day, prep my exercise clothes...get everything ready so I'm out the door and ready to go (I work out in the morning, so to keep me on time I have to get out the door promptly).

My every-day task is scooping the cat-litter boxes. They're all the way in the back of the house in the laundry room, so it forces me to notice anything that must be done - trash out, dirty dish emergency, laundry, whatever. Also, everybody is happier if the boxes are scooped daily.

That list caused me mild anxiety.

Though I believe myself to be very orderly, the state of car/purse/desk/home says otherwise.

I'm doing The Fall Cure and although I'm supposed to be focusing on cleaning and repairs, all I want to do is paint my entry seafoam green.

I just keep thinking that our home MUST be tidy... or else our son will pick-up some really bad habits later in life!

With that as our inspiration, we sadly remain in damage-control mode a good portion of the time. The whole home decays if we have a dirty dish backlog... therefore, dishwasher loading is the main priority. the 2nd priority is putting away toys...

I love ten minute tdies. Set the timer for ten minutes and clean off/tidy up one surface. Eventually you can progress to multiple surfaces.

The trick is finding the when.

I was just thinking today I should make myself a chore list the way people sometimes do when they have a lot of roommates. It would just be for me, but it might help me focus on the one-thing only per day and not get overwhelmed and then do nothing...!

I don't make the bed everyday, but I wipe down the bathroom everyday, wash any dishes left in the sink (no dishwasher here, unless you count ME) clean the counters, tidy the livingroom, de-fur my clothes for the day (two cats and a preference for black clothing...dumb, I know) and try to get out the door on time.

I think the "trick" is to stop the debate with yourself. It has to become non-negotiable. A daily task that is as non-negotiable as brushing your teeth in the morning is. And takes about the same amount of time.

As a reformed clean freak I say: if you can't smell it it can wait til the weekend - and if you find yourself scrubbing the light switch plates with a toothbrush once a week it's time to get help. Otherwise enjoy cleaning, colour code your washing when you fold it - then if it sits on the chair for a week it will still be satisfying in some small way and only have crockery you really love, that way doing the dishes becomes a moment to lovingly covert your own stuff. . . oh, and ban teenagers from bringing their crap into the lounge on weekends or all is lost.

Some things always wait to the weekend, like cleaning the bathroom, but I try to minimize housework by not letting clutter happen in the first place.

-Do dishes before going to bed, put them away in the morning.
-Sweeping the kitchen after washing dishes reduces a lot of what's tracked elsewhere.
-Pull out all ingredients for a recipe before you cook, then put them away as they are used. (Yet, somehow my kitchen still looks like a disaster.)
-Put out the next day's outfit while putting today's clothes away at night. This prevents early morning panics that end up in a pile on the bed.
-Bills and receipts in one pile to be filed(my personal weakness) kept near where they will be filed.
-Throw away junk mail immediately along with opened envelopes from bills.
-Magazines in one place, books being read in another. This clears my coffee table.
-School work in one stack on my desk, but put away in a binder as soon as that assignment is done.
-Towels always hung properly and the bathmat off the floor to dry as soon as I'm dressed.
-Only display toiletries currently being used every day. Shampoo, conditioner, moisterizer, toothpaste and soap. The fancy stuff just adds to clutter along with products you didn't like that sit there til they congeal. I have lidded, kitchy painted tin containers on a window ledge for q-tips, hairbands, lipstick, etc which unifies the visual clutter to one decorative theme.
-Make the bed as soon as I get out of it.
-Wood floors with few rugs eliminates vacuming and a dust mop is quick.
-I dont' know if this qualifies, but I use the huge shopping bags from the Container Store as laundry baskets. This allows me to carry two loads in one hand and forces me to put away clothes once they're dry. Then, I just fold up the bags and store them in the hamper with the clothes. The bags last forever and take up almost no space.

My home is tidy, but my desk at work is a different story.

We put on a full album of music and clean until the album's over 2-3 times a week. Rather than having one major binge, we're able to do a couple of shorter ones. Most albums aren't so long that it becomes tedious and it has the added benefit of freeing up our weekend time. Paired with the one-task-a-day, we are able to make the real binges be project time (decluttering!).

I'm pretty much a disaster at housekeeping. All of mine, including dishes, waits until the weekend unless I'm on the phone with a friend. One in particular called so she could make herself pack and we talked while she packed and I cleaned for three hours. It was just wonderful. I'll have to give someone a call again soon.

I did master the no-clothes-on-the-floor thing, but it required figuring out where I shed clothing and putting laundry baskets with 5 feet. I now have three in a single person's home but it works.

My mom raised us to never a leave a room empty-handed-- in other words if I'm in the living room headed for the kitchen, I grab all the dirty dishes, glassware, or other items that belong in the kitchen and take them with me. If you do this all the time, when you're ready for a 'big clean' everything is at least close to it's home. Or if you only have a few minutes to spare, you can get at least one room in order pretty speedily.

My trick? I married a guy who likes to clean.

I can't do anything if I'm on the phone -- trying to balance the set between my ear and shoulder aggravates my fibromyalgia. I can't say either task is daily, but I do have two rules: clothes must be folded and put away as soon as they come out of the dryer, and as soon as one side of the sink is full of dishes, in the dishwasher they go.

I have finally made progress emptying the dishwasher so that it is always ready for dirty stuff; we have a habit of loading up the sink/counters so that it becomes a double chore of unloading and loading all at once, when it could be so simple and barely a chore at all. Took me a while to realize this. A down comforter inside a duvet is so simple; just straighten the pillows throw it back on.

Prom dresses?

I always make sure I put things back in their place. But I have to make a bit of an effort to put away my clothes neatly rather than leave them piled on a chair. Doing that and making the bed in the morning make a huge difference in terms of how neat the bedroom looks. And I try to make sure there are no dishes in the sink overnight. If the kitchen is neat, then I'm more likely to make breakfast and experience a less harried morning.

I am hopeless! But learning...

Techniques I use include:
- visualise the outcome before you start, then you'll reach the finish line (i.e. SEE the completely cleared counter).
- do things in tangible time slots. The "10-minute" idea above is great. (If I have a big clean-up to do for a party, I do things in 1/2 hour time slots: I'll get the apple pie ready by 4.30; I'll clean the lounge room by 5:00 pm etc...)

I am yet to master anything else......

I pretty much live on my sofa and in my office, so I have a woven filing box (with lid) by my sofa and another by my office chair, anything that doesn't 'belong' in that room gets tossed in the box. Ideally at the end of each day I walk that box around the house and return items to their origin. Worst case the house is kept relatively uncluttered so that, should I have unexpected company (quick, pop the lid on the box!), I'm at least not embarrassed by how the house looks.

@ Lisa (Montreal): where does one find/buy/advertise for one of those?

*G*

I like the idea of turning off the computer 1/2 hour before bed. I'll have to do the same with the TV.

I made myself a chore list, with a place to check off things when they're done. It's basically the same format my parents had for my sister and me when we were younger. And in the same vein, I reward myself if I finish all of my "chores" in a week. I don't get an allowance any more, but I may take a nice long bath on a Saturday (in a clean bathtub no less) or buy the CD I've wanted for a while. I try to decide the reward at the beginning of the week and write it on the chore chart to keep myself accountable.

The system does sometimes make me feel like I'm treating myself as though I'm in jr. high, but organization and cleanliness are not things that come naturally to me, and I won't notice a mess until it is totally out of control, so I need the reminder.

I love the idea of a chore list. We didn't have one growing up just certain expectations that my mom kept track of. My husband and I are now moving into a new home and I think a chore list (maybe in an excel file to feel more adult) is exactly what we need.

I just made myself a chore list this past weekend! Three or four simple chores a day, and no chores on Sunday (to rest... or play "catch up"). If I stick to it, my house will always be clean and tidy.

The trick is sticking to it! ;)

We squeegee the walls of our tub/shower combo after each shower.

Every morning I make my bed, and at night, I don't go to bed until the kitchen is clean and clothes, shoes and coats are put away. I find this helps keep the apt tidy during the week so there is less work to do on the weekend.

I just made a list with chores beginning with the same letter as each weekday. Come weekend and it reades Saturday- Spoil myself!

Every time that you use or move something, put it back in its place. That way you never create a huge mess.

I successfully picked up the habit of always making the bed a couple years ago. I make it when I get dressed in the morning. The key for new habits is to tie it to something you already do so it becomes part of an existing activity.

HABITS. When I was 3 yrs. old, I began staying all summer with my Grama, Dad's mom. She was clean, from Prussia. I don't think she ever talked to me about tidiness and cleanliness, but children see it all their lives, and do it also. No problem. I stayed with Grama Mary until I was 17 yrs., every summer. Habits. So I just clean as I go. Don't tell me I wasn't busy. I raised 7 children alone, kept clean house, and children, and when they were older, I worked 80 hrs. week, and they kept the house tidy and clean. I spent alot of time with them when I was flipping houses. We lived in the home we were preparing. Everything, including me, was clean at end of day, before fun with kids and before bed. Brush teeth, take baths, wash hair when necessary, and everything, I mean Every Room, was clean at bedtime. I didn't think about it all. I thank Grama Mary. Not only that, my messy younger sisters and brothers, including my 7 children, saw me using MINUTES cleaning, and alas they also are clean. Habits! Amazing. I like yepella's comments. sincerely, mary

When I do my laundry.. Washers and Dryers are in the Basement. After putting my the load in the washer, I check the time they will be done, and head on back to my apartment, and put my timer on as well, then I usually do the dishes, for that time, and clean the kitchen, by that time the timer goes off and I then walk down and change over the the wash to the dryer... And go back and put my timer back on and for the next 55 minutes I can clean my Bathroom and Bedroom.. and I'm done.. so for and hour and 34 minutes,, I get everything done.. Bushed, but done...