We can't afford a cleaner so we have for some other ways. We have a monthly clear out. We help the DC with their rooms, and we check the clothes- we use a hanger thing- if you use it, you turn the hanger the other way. If, in a year, it hasn't been used, it's out. Because we have monthly clear outs, we have very little clutter. We also have three boxes which we use at any time- one fr a charity shop, one for throwing away and one for general tat which no one claims ownership of and so we can decide at the end of the month.
We have a toy tidy rule. If you aren't playing, you put it away BUT you can have things like Lego creations or a set up which you will use tomorrow or whatever to stay of course. Each night it's a scrabble round, it's fun for the DC.
We have good storage. We give sticker charts for tidy rooms at night, and on the weekends, by lunchtime too. So the possibility of 9 stickers for that one chore.
We split the housework so that the DC put washing in the basket (older ones for younger ones too) and can switch the washing machine on and put stuff in (older two only) and we try and get on top of stuff.
So I make sure that my desk area is completely tidy every day so it doesn't get too cluttered. I clear out clutter from the living room regularly because it takes five minutes due to doing it regularly, compared to half an hour if I let it build up.
We have a stop point. We can't care less. In the house, the DC, laundry and no clutter is what we do best. Hoovering and dusting and cleaning windows reserved for when only necessary. Clutter is easy if you do it as you go along, and as the DC are good about their own laundry, it means that ironing is easier. We don't iron too often, but it's relatively quick and easy.
When doing some work, do some other work too. Waiting for something to cook? Use that time to iron half the load. Or check the fridge or ask the DC to help you tidy up the house, and make it a game as mine are young.
And being able to relax. At 7, we stop. Only things we do after would be a toy clear up just before bedtime, and washing up after supper. We try and split tasks, like yesterday, I might have spent 10mins putting bits and bobs into the right places and 5mins doing the washing up, and DH spent about that time on ironing, washing up and sweeping the kitchen floor as it got messier than usual. So 15mins each but it means we don't have to buckle down and work for an 1hr.