^ I have cycles of hurricane messes & spotless cleanliness also
That said, the following (which probably seems terribly obvious, but was not always so to me) helps it stay clean longer & not become such a huge disaster when it does get messy:
- Try and put stuff away immediately. Some examples: when the dishwasher stops - put the dishes away NOW. Keep the dishwasher empty so you can load up the dirty dishes as you eat off the plates & cook with utensils. If you don't have a dishwasher like me, then wash every little thing as you go. Hang up clothes right away after taking them out of the dryer. Put dirty ones in the hamper, not on the floor; it's only a few extra movements. The little extra effort NOW saves you a lot in the future.
- Create organizing systems which allow you to be lazy. Storage is hugely helpful here, the kind of storage which allows you to shove stuff into it quickly. Most decorative stuff & furniture I have doubles as storage in some way. Making storage visually appealing is a good as it appears you've left it out on purpose, or it's just furniture that happens to have drawers or a closed cabinet space. For instance, I toss my jewelery onto a decorative tree branch stand or in an open jewlery box I've decorated with a postcard & seashells. The haphazard presentation looks artful. My printer sits atop a filing cabinet (which makes it "table-like"), with one drawer filled with empty folders & a sharpie I can quickly shove paperwork into & label the folder, so I can still find it easily later, but now it's put away. My nightstand has a cabinet in it to shove bedside books, TV remotes & other stuff I stash on my nightstand. I have plastic bins on wheels filled with shoes under my bed, so I easily can kick my shoes off into them & then slide them under the bed. I'm not the kind to line my shoes up neatly in a closet like my INFJ (as he is a stereotypical J when it comes to organizing). I also have an armoire, so when I am truly lazy I can toss unfolded clothes into it instead of leaving baskets of clean laundry around. Drawers & closest require folding & hanging, which of course, is more difficult
. Basically, all of my clutter can quickly be tossed away in some nearby storage & easily be accessed later because I have so much storage it does not require much organization within it.
- Keep quick cleaning supplies around. If you do little cleanups here & there, again, it won't turn into a huge mess. It's easy to do this if you shell out a little extra for the pricey, but convenient quick cleaning supplies. The #1 mess in my bathroom is makeup on the counter, so I keep some cleaning wet wipes under the counter to swipe over the counter when I don't have the motivation to get a rag & spray bottle out.
- Make cleaning as fun/laid-back as possible. I blast music, take breaks & eat a snack (but not too long, so momentum is not lost), and promise myself I will be able to relax or do something fun afterward, which will be much more enjoyable with a clean house. Be reasonable about what you can do in time period, dividing up the house if it is large, or cleaning one area thoroughly & the other areas quickly "just for now". In my family, we call this "a lick & a promise" cleaning
. Don't be a perfectionist (this used to hang me up).
- Be efficient - I switch back & forth between different chores in different rooms to maximize the ease & speed of cleaning everything. Letting stuff soak a bit helps a lot, and in the meantime I do something else, instead of scrubbing my fingers raw. For example, it will be easier to scrub the shower clean if you spray some cleaner on it & let it sit while you do other stuff. The more efficient you get, the less daunting it will seem to clean again in the future.
- Stir your sense of shame - invite people over . I will clean like a madwoman if I know people are coming over. It's not just embarrassment at being viewed as a slob, but I also don't like people to be uncomfortable. I don't want them to be scared to use my bathroom or drink out of a glass. So inviting someone over like once a week keeps my messy habits in check, because the messier it is the harder it is to clean quickly in preparation for a visitor.