Do you know about Flylady ? She’s a little too Southern, a little too Christian, and a little too housewife-y to suit me 100%, but if you can set all of that aside, doing even just the flylady “baby steps” can make a world of difference in getting order into your life.

...been there, not done that (as in, not done the dishes until I was afraid to enter the kitchen):

Consider starting with a small change in the language you’re using to talk to yourself.

“I am a slob” suggests that you are a particular way now and forever. “I am 5 feet tall” is true about me, and is unlikely to change no matter what I do. But an “I am __ ” statement that’s about behaviour is an entirely different matter.

We can change our behaviour. Maybe not overnight, but baby step by baby step, perhaps in fits and starts, we can make different choices.

Labelling ourselves permanently because we’ve behaved a particular way – even if we’ve behaved that way for a long time – is one way that we keep ourselves stuck in that behaviour.

1. Haul all the dishes out of the sink (put them on the floor if you have to).
2. Run a sink full of hot, soapy water. Put a batch of dishes into it. Leave them there overnight.
3. Tomorrow, put on some peppy music. (I have a whole playlist on my computer just for household chores: it’s like other people’s Workout Mix.) Empty the now-cold water from the sink.
4. Look at your watch and note the time.
5. Wash that batch of dishes.
6. When you’re done, look at the time again. (For me, it was a revelation to discover that a full sink’s worth of dishes took only 7 minutes to wash. That’s roughly 2 songs’ worth. Realizing how little time it really takes helped me push past the belief that it was an overwhelming amount of work that I could never get done. Do I still avoid it? Sure, sometimes. But not because I think it’s going to consume inordinate amounts of time or energy.)
7. While that load of dishes is air-drying (far more sanitary than drying them with a towel), repeat these steps with the next load. Before tackling Load 2 the next morning, put Load 1 away. (I’ve discovered that I can do this in the time it takes the kettle to boil in the morning.)
8. Continue whittling away at this task until you’re caught up.

read through the blog unclutterer.com

a great place to learn about keeping clean.