So I have this grand plan for keeping our apartment in some semblance of order. Actually I’ve had a few grand plans and most have fallen by the wayside. For example:

1. I would spend five minutes cleaning every night before I went to bed - it turns out that five minutes a day is not enough to keep the apartment clean. Oh some days it is (i.e. when Bert is away and the dog has not been inspired to destroy a tennis ball / stick / rope / plastic coke bottle / etc) but mostly all I do is put a small dent in what really needs to be done.

2. I set Sundays aside as cleaning days. This actually worked for a while. When Bert would leave for skating I would start and three hours later, by the time he got back, the apartment was fairly spick and span. Unfortunately the skating season came to an end and cleaning for three hours while Bert napped / watched tv / surfed the internet put me in a wicked-ass bad mood like you wouldn’t believe.

I have also tried to hold myself to a plethoera of little rules: never leave laundry in the dryer, always clear the breakfast dishes before leaving for work, dust the dark wood furniture at least once a week, sweep the dog-hair catching hallway at least twice a week, always take the recycling out on Wednesday even if the bin isn’t full.

HOWEVER…our apartment is an absolute chaotic mess! So my new grand plan is to clean - from top to bottom - one room a day. No matter how long it takes. I will do the big jobs (kitchen and bathroom) on the weekends and leave the easy rooms (the bedroom and entryway) on Mondays and Fridays. The rest will fit is as appropriate. Brilliant plan n’est pas?