Five Online Resources for House Cleaning

How to Get the Help You Need

I have hard time with cleaning, and always have. I alternate between avoiding it and looking for a better way to do it. As a result, I've got a toolbox full of resources for housecleaning! Here are five sources of help for the housecleaning-challenged.

Try FLYing. Marla Cilley, the Flylady, describes herself as a SHE - Sidetracked Home Executive. She borrowed this term from Pam Young and Peggy Jones, the Slob Sisters, and has used Pam and Peggy's housekeeping systems to develop her own program for decluttering the house and keeping on track with the cleaning. She calls this FLYing, or Finally Loving Yourself. Marla's website offers thousands of tips for how to manage your home, including detailed cleaning lists for each room of the house, examples of daily and weekly routines, and tips from "Flybabies" around the world. You can also join her email list to receive daily reminders and motivational emails.

A Simple Plan. Real Simple magazine has a "Keep It Clean" plan for maintaining cleanliness in just 19 minutes per day. Real Simple uses some of the techniques and routines from Flylady.net, but is more specific about what should be done each day. If you need someone to tell you what to do and where to start, this plan is perfect. Real Simple also has lists for weekly and seasonal cleaning of various parts of the house.

Clean Your House in 10 Minutes! Okay, this isn't a real cleaning job. This video on About.com demonstrates what to do if you have unexpected guests arriving soon. Strategies include eliminating, organizing, and hiding your stuff, along with quick wipe-downs and sweep-ups.

Motivate the kids. Visit MyRewardBoard.com to try out this chore chart software for kids. The program provides customizable chore charts, allowance trackers, and a reward system in which kids earn points for chores that can be redeemed for books, games, trips to the movies, or other rewards of your choice.