First the house-cleaning, then the shower, I would suggest.

I like the splash of color on the wall. It contrasts nicely with the neutral tones elsewhere.

I agree with anastasia, I shower before bed, so I will do the dishes & floors in the late afternoon/evening.
I also do bathroom and shower at the same time, I clean the toilet and sink, then hop in the shower with some cleaner, whipe the shower walls, wash off any household cleaner on my hands, then get to shampooing.
i have the most trouble with reminding myself that I need to do laundry.

i used to hire a cleaning lady twice a month...on the day of her visit, i'd go crazy start cleaning the house..esp the bathrooms. lol

Just about perfect... I put dishes and trash above laundry, because it takes a lot less time for dishes and trash to get funky. Also, it tends to be an everyday thing for the dishes and a every couple of days thing for trash, whereas laundry is once a week, at most.

mine is almost the opposite.
start laundry so then I can handle dishes while the laundry is running.
when i run downstairs to change out the laundry to the dryer, i take out the trash.
then it's back to remaining dishes.
pick-up all items out of place and put on the kitchen table.
split up by room and make a run to each to put them away.
go back downstairs to get the dry laundry.
put away clothes.
clean up bathroom (as it's right next to the closet).
take a shower.
extremely efficient, and done in a flash.
2 hours tops.

I also agree w/ Anastasia, lol. Aside from the personal hygiene. I have a baby who just started to crawl and can miraculously can reach EVERYTHING so picking up and floors are top priority, laundry aka the bane of my existence is always last. Dishes get done every night. Trash is the hubby's job and he doesn't take that out until I give him the super laser death stare.

i have a cleaning lady come in once a month and I am truly grateful! I'm very neat so my place always looks clean, but I almost never actually clean (besides dishes, trash, and occasional sweeping)... I hate bathrooms the most.

However, when I have a guest in-between cleaning lady visits, I will clean the bathroom thoroughly and then hop in the shower to clean off myself!

@MonicaK, so true...I had a friend in high school whose mom made her clean her room before the cleaning lady came. And her mom would clean the kitchen beforehand. She didn't want people to think they were messy. so funny.

my list would be almost the opposite because i have a toddler, newborn, and a lab who sheds like crazy... so were straightening up constantly and the floors have to be first thing, then comes dishes, trash and laundry, bathroom is once a week and showering is last unless i have to go somewhere that day!

agree with bkrafi. husband 'normally' takes out the trash and cleans the floors so i don't have to, but only after the dreaded laser death stare.

ditto on niche. except it was my mom. hence the reason i have such an efficient cleaning routine.

Haha, laser death stare... we have a lot of those here when the mess starts piling up :p

lol- thanks for finally naming the look I give my guy about taking out the trash, picking up his hats and cleaning in general.

I usually cook and wash dishes at the same time, then clean the bathroom, then shower.

Laundry we do together on the weekends and floors and heavy duty cleaning I save for my work from home Fridays.

The pyramid is a great idea. Like others here, dishes take priority over laundry for me, but that may not be the case for large families, where you do at least one load a day. I do laundry only once a week.

I like to do the cleaning first..and i dont do it any particular order. I just clean whatever i see is dirty at the moment or even if it's not i wipe it down. Then SHOWER...
My cleaning lady comes every weekend, so it does help out a lot. :)

http://madebygirl.blogspot.com

I first adjust the window treatments and indoor lighting to the best balance. It's not cleaning, but makes a place look cleaner and more airy and cheerful in just seconds. Bed-making also makes a place look cleaner and takes only a couple of minutes, so that's another early, frequently done task. Unfortunately, my new dogs unmake the bed almost as fast.

I've never understood cleaning ladies. For me the hard part of cleaning isn't sweeping or vacuuming or washing the windows. That stuff is nearly fun in comparison to the other stuff. What I hate and dread are constant laundry, dirty dishes, and picking up all the random crap that accumulates everywhere before you can even think about picking up a broom or duster. None of which your average cleaning lady seems to do as a normal part of their job.

Laundry throughout process, kitchen, bathroom, tidy, dust, vacuum, mop, sweep patio, sweep porch/stairs, shower, make beds, put laundry away. So happy my home is small.

Floors, dishes, litter box/bathroom every day. I won't sleep until these are done. Usually I've showered before work and these are all done after work. Other tasks throughout the week include clothes/towels/sheets, THEN relax.

Another clean-first-then-shower here.

My cleaning ladies comes about once every three months. My place is mostly spotless but sometimes I just want a deep clean to feel "free". I come home to a sparkling kitchen and bathroom that looks like they never been used and I'm in heaven. I don't know about others but I clean before they arrive because I want them to concentrate on getting the crud out of sink fixtures, clean the nooks, and crannies, and get rid of anything on the stove I missed.

I've never had anyone clean my house for me. I always shower after (significant) cleaning because I usually get sweaty and cruddy in the process! Especially scrubbing showers and floors...I always want to shower after that. :)

I think everyone is missing the point about why "shower" is first on the list. It doesn't mean "take a shower and THEN clean the whole house".

It means that above all else, personal hygiene (which then includes clean laundry) is the #1 priority. If you don't have time to do any cleaning, you must still shower and wear clean clothing, every day.

The dishes and trash can wait several hours or a day......but these are more important than shelving books, stacking DVD's, fluffing pillows.

The bathroom can then wait several days or a week or so..........the floors even longer.

Having said that, I must note that I DO take a shower and get dressed in clean clothes before I clean the house at all. I know I'll get sweaty and gross and have to shower, again. But without a morning shower, I'll feel even more disgusting, start to smell funky, and feel miserable to the point where I don't want to bother cleaning.

You're so right ohjodi...I was wondering how the main point got lost.
That being said, my everyday cleaning usually ends up being the floors (dog hair) and dishes (no dish washer.) Picking up, dusting, and windows/baseboards are next, in that order. My cleaning lady comes once a month to do the windows, baseboards, extreme dusting in extreme places, and bathrooms, basically the stuff I don't have time to do with a full-time & part-time job and part-time grad school!

2 roommates and while we all do dishes and keep our stuff in the proper cabinets, no one ever wants to do the bathroom or kitchen! I couldn't live without our cleaning lady; she rocks my world. :)

I hate cleaning. I hate it with a fiery red-headed passion. Actually, it's not the cleaning, but the maintaining that I don't like.
Anyway, the one maintaining system that also helps me overcome my hatred of mornings is this (it's a system originally printed in "Hints from Heloise"):
1. put dishes to soak in hot water and soap
2. make beds
3. pick up clutter
4. heat coffee/tea
5. use toilet paper and rubbing alcohol to wipe bathroom fixtures
6. hit high traffic areas with vaccuum/swiffer/broom
7. quick dust coffee tables
8. return to dishes and wash
9. sit down with coffee/tea

I like this system for several reasons- it's quiet and doesn't wake up my toddler; I get the reward of a hot cup of tea and a rest at the end; it makes my home look put together enough for a surprise visit; and seeing the main living area cleaned up like that makes it a lot easier for me to deal with big jobs like laundry and scrubbing the bathroom or kitchen in the afternoon.

I DETEST doing dishes. I've hit upon a quick system that works for me. Fill one side of the sink with scalding hot dish water, including a boiling kettle of water. Fill it with dishes, set the timer for 15 minutes, and HURRY UP AND WASH EVERYTHING in that time, but I don't rinse....I put the scrubbed dishes in the empty side of the sink. When my 15 minutes are up I then rinse everything I just washed.

If I haven't washed everything in that 15 minutes, I pat myself on the back, anyway, and then start my system again hours later, LOL

Another trick is to wash the pots and pans first. They're big, and once they're all done and put away, what remains doesn't seem so impossible.

@ohjodi, Well put! I'll definitely save this post for reference. It contains a lot of useful ideas.

I like to clean a little bit every day rather than trying to do it all at once. So one day I might do laundry including the sheets, then the next day clean the bathroom, and the next day clean the floors, etc. Every day I spend a maximum of 30 minutes cleaning something.

I also like to clean as I go. Like after a shower I'll squeegee the walls and tub which prevents mildew build-up, and after using the sink I'll wipe the area around it and the stainless steel to prevent water spots. These little cleaning jobs take literally about a minute and saves me a lot of time later.

I have my three secret cleaning weapons:
1. Microfiber cloth
2. My homemade cleaner and
3. My magic shoes !

I prefer to invest in a few more clothes (esp. socks, underwear and shirts) than have to do laundry all the time. After cooking in the evening, I throw everything in the sink to soak, and load the dishwasher in the morning when I'm less tired. I also clean the kitchen the next morning - my cats keep rodents away