my DH and I used to deliberately invite people over for dinner, so we'd have to pick up and clean.

Then, I used the cleaning lady as discipline--I *had* to pick up on Wed. eves, so she could work without hindrance on Thursday morns.

Lately, we've been using the real-estate showings as impetus to straighten up & clean on Friday and Saturday morning.

We're taking our home off the market, having been unsuccessful in getting a buyer during our time frame, and I'm worried a little about the place just looking trashy all the time. I'm going to have to work out some routines w/ DH and the kids.

Talley Sue, I'm sorry it's been such a long haul in getting your house sold. I had read once that when you take your house off the market for a while, people get new interest in it when it comes back on, if only for the fact that they think someone else was interested in it. Are you going to be putting it back on the market?

It's good to hear that other people use houseguests and potential buyers as an impetus to get the house in order. I guess the desire to make a good impression is stronger than the desire to treat ourselves to beautiful, clean suroundings all the time. Well, I'm not going to feel guilty about it, and like Talley sue, I'll use the urge to impress work to my benefit. These fire drills can really show you how nice your home CAN look with just some attention and energy.

A few years ago we lived in a town that was a vacation destination, so we joined an online home exchange network and were able to take some interesting vacations ourselves by swapping homes. The only difficulty was I would drive myself nuts getting every square inch of my home picture perfect. What will they think of this? How does that look? By the time departure date rolled around, I was a basket case. Now, we just book a hotel.

Of course, my home is always immaculate and tasteful. Yeah, right.

When my kids were little I told them our cleaning lady didn't believe in putting toys away or clothing, so she just threw them out. That was pretty efficient because they sure cleaned up on Tuesday nights. I cleared up also, because I wanted her to just do floors and windows, clean stoves and fold laundry. I didn't need her to pick up toys.
But recently my daughter, who has her own home now asked me if our old cleaning lady was really crazy.

I lit a fire under myself this morning and I am in a frenzy; I'm clearing out stuff like there's no tomorrow.

I have a suitcase with a broken zipper I've not brought for repairs; it's badly stained on the ouside, in the trash bin it goes. Very old towels I was hanging onto, just in case; out they go.

I just had to write this, I feel posessed by the declutter devil and I love it.