on keeping a clean house.

i am not a housekeeper.

i try my hardest. i really do. and our house is always presentable (except on laundry day). but i am not into it.

i had a housekeeper for a long time, but then it just got tedious having to follow after her (them, because we tried a few times before i gave up) cleaning up what she missed. my floors were always shiny for 20 minutes after she left (i can't get my floors shiny for three seconds, let alone 20 minutes) but that was about it. i had grime in the bathtub, cobwebs in the corners and couldn't ever find anything. really.

once i found my passport in a sock. on my dresser. with some other important bank papers.

a sock? really?

the nanny keeps up on things nowadays and i scrub away when i get a bee in my bonnet. the bathroom gets done once a week (because i can't handle having someone else do it wrong. it kills me). and i do laundry whenever it's not raining (it's raining a lot here recently). i can organize. and i've even gotten good at donating/throwing away/ putting away for later (i used to be a way bigger packrat).

but, the cleaning - the dusting, the mopping, the windows. i can't handle it. we live on an unpaved road. with ceramic floors. and venetian windows.

can anyone help me?
my kids aren't old enough to be my (unpaid) cleaners! and i'm apparently too anal to pay someone to do a bad job. (disclaimer: by dominican standards, i'm sure they do a great job. i just haven't really lowered myself to paying for poor services - which explains why we live without a certain number of things most americans find important).

suggestions, please!