I don't know about you, but when the long, warm days of summer roll around, I don't want to spend my time indoors cleaning.  Even on a rainy summer day, I'd rather stay in with a movie and a good book — not a list of chores.  At the same time, I don't want to live in a mess – and all the coming and going and summer paraphernalia can create quite a mess.

There are two basic strategies for dealing with summer cleaning: prevent and keep up.

You don't need to clean the messes that never appear!  Taking a few hours (or a rainy day) to minimize clutter and to organize the house will make it way easier to keep things tidy in the future.  If everything has its place, it takes less time to put things where they belong.  Also, if fewer things are out on tables and shelves and such, clutter tends not to collect.

In addition, you can divide the chores that must be done into short increments and do a bit each day.  With the sun rising so early, I often find myself with extra energy first thing in the morning.  A 15 or 30 minute blitz to tidy one room each day keeps your living space in order without taking away from your time to relax and enjoy.  If you have a family, you can divide a space into zones and have everyone compete to see how fast you can restore order.  It's fun and you'll find yourself relaxing more since you'll know that your house is ready for everything.