clean up my house and keep it clean

I’ve decided to work on two goals at once. Since I’m working through my goal to Read 23 books in one year, I figured one of these books could help me accomplish this goal.
I requested a few house cleaning/organization books, and the next book I am about to start is one of these. I have chosen to read Speed Cleaning 101 by Laura Dellutri.

Tonight, I got a few more things accomplished, though I didn’t do nearly as much as I did yesterday:
I cleared off the table of the mounds of papers and other items cluttering half of our dining room table. Not only do we have use of our table now, but we also have more of our clutter gone!
I sprayed and wiped off the dining room table and chairs.
I went through all the areas I cleaned yesterday and made sure that any disarray from today had been cleaned up. (This is the key to keeping the house clean each day!)

Well, my entry yesterday sparked me to get a quick start on this goal, albeit a couple years late.
The kids’ dirty clothes were piled on the floor, so I bought a second hamper so the kids have a place to put their dirty clothes.
We had a large mess on the kitchen floor where our recyclables really had no good place to go—the storage area was far too small (two plastic drink containers and the bin was full). This resulted in plastic and cardboard spilling across the kitchen floor. To remedy this, I bought a couple plastic bins large enough to hold our standard amount of plastic, cardboard, and glass.
I ran two loads of dishes last night and mostly cleared out the sink.
I picked up the kids’ toys after they went to bed and put the toys in bins. I warned the kids that they will be expected to keep their room clean and that some toys will be disappearing as we store them and/or give them away.
So, for one night’s work, the place looks a bit cleaner, but there’s plenty of work ahead of us. We’ll see what the future holds. I’ve requested some cleaning/organization/decluttering books from the library to see what suggestions and hints I can glean from skimming them.

OK, so moving into this smaller place last year made no difference regarding the organization in our place.

I’ve got to really focus on accomplishing this goal, so I can help keep my wife’s sanity intact.

My family is moving to a new apartment, so hopefully we can shift gears on this goal and keep the new place clean. We’ll see how that works out, but I’m not getting my hopes up just yet . . .