Here is your answer MaryKatherine, and others:
http://flylady.net/
FlyLady focuses on one 'zone' a week on a repetitive basis so nothing ever gets really out of hand. She also talks about 'crisis cleaning' if you want to get the whole house done quickly. I don't really know how it works, just that it does. I didn't grow up with good housekeeping skills - I'd tear through the house when company was coming and make myself and everyone else miserable.
I've used her system (off and on) for years and it just amazes me how well it works. I've been off of it for quite a while - had a cleaning lady, she moved, I didn't replace her, the house had to get to where is was bothering me, now I'm slowly getting back to it.
Along with that, I'm doing some 'spring cleaning'. It started with the floor tile grout. Last week's zone was the main bathroom + one extra room (the laundry room for me) and since I was focusing on those two areas of the house, I decided it was time to tackle the gross grout. ugh!
That led to me getting out my steam cleaner (LOVE that thing) - did a super job on the grout. Of course the grout put me on nearly eye level with the baseboards so I steamed them while I was on the floor. They looked so nice! So I'm just working my way around the house working on the baseboards.
When you look at the detailed cleaning items for each zone, and think about those things getting done about every 6 weeks, it's easy to understand how easy it is - cleaning a window that was cleaned 6 weeks ago is a lot easier than one that was cleaned 6 years ago!
Give it a try - I think you'll be glad you did :-)