It starts with something small like throwing the mail on the kitchen table. Then it manifests in clothes and purses on the floor next to the bed. This is followed by an entire rash of boxes, or decorations from the previous holiday taking up a corner of the home office. Soon, you’ve lost all of the flat surfaces in your apartment and you’re overwhelmed by mess.

A mess can seem so large and big that you can’t possibly ever tackle it. If you don’t, it only gets worse. Luckily for you, you’re not the first person to have their home taken over by large messes and there are many tips for those who are thinking about deep cleaning the apartment or house.

First, you can ask for the advice of a cleaning service or maid service. These are people who have seen a lot worse than your house, I’m sure. They have great tactics and advice. You shouldn’t feel embarrassed, everyone gets busy and neglects their homes every once in awhile.

Here are some tips to help you get started. First, tackle one project at a time. It can seem really overwhelming when you look around you and see the piles of paper, unfolded laundry, dirty dishes, and messy carpets. Try to tackle only one project at a time. Set a schedule for yourself. Say that on Monday you will clean off the kitchen table, Tuesday you’ll tackle the coffee table, and Wednesday the desk. You might find that once you start you don’t want to stop! Keeping to the schedule will at least get your apartment clean in a timely manner.

Once you get things in your apartment cleaned basically to a manageable level, it might be time to bring in a maid service. Hiring a cleaning service even twice a month to come in, clean the bathroom, kitchen, and vacuum can take a huge load off of your shoulders. If they take care of these smaller tasks you can focus on keeping the flat surfaces in your apartment clean and putting the mail in its right place.

Once you’re in a cleaning mood from your major clean do something that you don’t normally do. Wipe down the fridge, clean out the clothes in your closet that you don’t need any more, throw out old appliances. If you do these big tasks when you’re actually in a cleaning mood, you won’t have to do them later and you’ll feel better about your apartment.

Maid On Call is a cleaning service offering home, business and apartment cleaning at a reasonable price.