1. The dishes don't do themselves. The longer they sit and wait to be washed, the worse it will be for you. In case you were like me and very rarely had to load the dishwasher (I was more of the unloader) you don't realize that when food is left unwashed it can become extremely difficult to get off. So moral of the story when you are done using your plate, spoon, knife, etc. rinse it out and put it directly in the dishwasher. Also a side tip, as soon as the dishwasher is done, put everything up. You can't load the dishwasher with your dirty dishes when your dish washer is filled with clean stuff. You also don't want the dishes piling up because of my first rule.
2. It is embarrassing having people come over to a messy house. Before I was like it's not a big deal. No one really cares if your house is messy. Wrong. My misguided 20 year old self really truly believed that. Now my 21 year old self is so much wiser (ha). Well right after Allison was born Cam and I stayed with his parents for a few days and then mine. We had Allison's newborn pictures scheduled at our house. It is safe to say that our house was a total mess when the photographer came over. I'm hoping she didn't think we are gross people because we just had a baby. I would say that has to be a pass. But here nor there, it was still embarrassing to have someone in your house who you only met one other time.
3. You need to have a lot of laundry baskets. I am one to drop the ball on laundry almost all the time. Unfortunately I don't have a maid to do my laundry, only in my dreams. Sometimes it is easier to wash the clothes and just put them back in basket. So I have a basket for clean clothes and dirty clothes. On a side note if you decide to do this, make sure everyone in your house has their own basket for their clean clothes. Fiancé got mad at me one time because all of our clothes were in one basket and he couldn't find what he was looking for. Be forewarned though, there is a big chance that a lot of your clothes will be wrinkled so you might be spending more time with the iron. But if you are like me, just shake out your clothes and your good to go!
4. Dust is real. Okay, I knew that dust was real but I never had to worry about it because my mom took care of it. So now it is up to me to periodically dust unfortunately.
5. The lawn should be mowed. Last summer was our first summer at the house and well the grass doesn't cut itself. We definitely let that go to the wayside all summer. I know what you are thinking. You are that house. Yes that was us. Now that lawn cutting season has come around and we had to pay about $200 during one month to kill weeds. Yes if we just hired someone to cut our lawn we probably would have spent that over time, if not more. But really it is easier to pay over time then pay it up front. And it's totally worth it to have your house looking nicely manicured on the outside.
