The days of being a slob are over. You’re no longer a bachelor, you’re married. Well, unless your wife is a slob, too, I guess.

I’m a very clean person. Well, I’m clean in that I like things put away. How they’re put away is mostly irrelevant.

One of the more interesting challenges that I faced when I first married Alison was that I wasn’t in control of the mess anymore. As much as I wanted to clean every inch of the apartment, I wasn’t able to. Well, I tried. But then she couldn’t find anything. After a while, I realized that we needed a joint plan for keeping the apartment clean. That worked until just about the time that Benedict showed up.

With both of you working, how do you get the household chores done without ruining your weekend?

• Divide the list. You both have things you like to clean and you both have things you don’t like to clean. So take a few things off of each list and get to work!
• Do a little bit each day. The laundry might take a whole day, so a Tuesday might not work. But try taking 15 or 20 minutes on Tuesday evening to clean the bathrooms can work.
• Don’t let it get out of control. There’s nothing more demoralizing than a huge mess. By making sure that no area of your home gets overly messy, it will make it easier to knock out the cleaning.

My main goal for the first part of this year is just keeping the kitchen clean on a daily basis. I put my dishes away as soon as I’m done with them and my goal is to not go to bed with a dirty kitchen.

Tags: Community