it'll change your life.

Any of you who actually know me, know that I like things nice and neat. Tidy is my thing. It sincerely hurts my heart to look around my house and see the mess that comes along with children.

Making my kids pick up after themselves? Good parenting.

Making my kids conform to my rigid sense of tidiness? Not so much.

So I live with it (gladly, I wouldn't trade my kids and their mess for anything), and I fantastize about the day that there will be no plastic toys or baby swings in my family room.

However, I recently discovered a little trick that makes my life a little better every single day.

I pseudo-clean my bathroom daily. It sounds kind of absurd, but if you clean a little everyday, you rarely have to do any hardcore cleaning. Here's the routine:

• Wipe down the sink/countertop/faucet. In my reality, this must be done after M puts in his contacts and S brushes her teeth. Otherwise, there will be a mess of salt from the saline solution crusted on one side of the countertop and a blob of toothpaste in the sink. I don't leave a mess in or around the sink because I am practically perfect. Not really.
• Wipe down the toilet. I wipe down the seat and under the seat and all around the tank daily. I scrub the toilet a couple of times a week.
• I spray the shower every single time I use it. I came across a recipe for homemade daily shower cleaner last week when I ran out of the Method stuff (1C white vinegar, 1 TBSP dishwashing liquid, 1/4C dishwasher rinse agent). I like it. M doesn't. He turns his nose up at the vinegar smell, but the smell goes away after a few minutes. The shower gets a deep cleaning every couple of weeks.

On a day-to-day basis, that's it. But here's the other thing that makes this work: every time you empty the garbage can in your kitchen, empty your bathroom trashcan. Even if there's only two things in it. If you do it, you'll never end up trying to smoosh an empty toilet paper roll into an overflowing garbage can in the middle of the night. It'll change your life. I swear.

Now, I just have to clean the mirror and scrub the toilet a couple of times a week. The floor gets cleaned when I do the rest of the floors once a week. It's a pretty sweet gig.

Oh, and keep your toilet lid closed. Did you know that every time you flush, water from the toilet splatters? You know what's in your toilet? Keep the lid closed. Seriously. Plus it keeps babies and dogs from drinking toilet water, and the toilet lid is nicer to look at than the inside of the toilet bowl. Think about it.

One last bit of insight into our bathroom: when you buy a new pack of toilet paper and stash it under the sink, take all the rolls out. And always replace the roll if you use the last of the tp. It's just nicer that way.

That's the end of my bathroom gospel. Changed your life, didn't it?