How do people manage to have such tidy, beautiful houses?

[carrotsandcelery]

I have being doing flylady (ish) for well over a year now.

I have developed some basic routines for the morning etc so I get through the basic jobs required to run the household. eg the dishes and laundry are under control, the bathrooms are hygienic etc. Despite this the house never looks lovely really.

For short spells I can maintain the house such that I am not totally mortified if someone comes by unexpectedly. I can't keep it going indefinitely though.

Am I just a lazy mare? Is there a secret trick? Does a nice home require constant motion, or constant nagging, or throwing out everything I own?

Where am I going wrong?

DM's friend says
"better an untidy house than an unlived life".
That's my excuse anyway.

You see I have the opposite question... How can people live in messy houses. I think it's you're nature, you're either a clutter free cleany type person or your not. Fly lady might help a bit but it's just not in your nature.

And I hate this attitude that in being clean and having a tidy house that you're somehow wasting precious children time... That really isn't the case! I am not a bad parent because I clean!

The secret is lots of storage and everyone pulling his/her weight.

Don't see it as dull, either, it's a waste of time looking for stuff that doesn't have a place or has been junked all over the floor.

My secret is having a DP who's much more houseproud than me, and who actually seems to love hoovering and bathroom cleaning.

Captain I couldn't agree more.

Hate all that "oh I'm too busy/creative/academic/crazy/bonkers/mad to be bothered about cleaning"

No, you're just dirty. And the fact that my house is clean and ordered does not make me your intellectual inferior - in fact far from it.

Mess is stress and as for dirt - well, that's just sad.

I maintain for a month or two and then I find lots and lots of distractions. Even the kids maintain for a month or two then it falls apart to. An old friend used to keep her house immaculate and she'd sweep through my disaster in ten minutes like Mary Poppins talking and bantering as she did everything.
It just seems to take me awhile to do anything, except work outside the house. I love work away from the house, I'll happily clean and tidy someone else's house though. Where's the logic in that??? lol