I wish I was one of those lucky people who love to clean, because then I would be forever busy doing what I love. As it is in the real world, I will do just about anything to avoid housework. I have become somewhat expert in this area. Don't get me wrong, I like a clean house. I have a husband, two children at home and one who stops in periodically (the messiest one and the one who eats the most) and two dogs, one that sheds a lot. So house cleaning is inevitable. The goal is to minimize it. I have several techniques for this, which I am happy to share.

When I had my first baby, I realized I had a lot of housework ahead of me. I got a book out of the library called "Is There Life After Housework?" and I read it. This was 20 years ago. My husband laughed at the title, but this book really helped me. The author, Don Aslett, is a house cleaning expert and the book is all about minimizing housework. I shared that book with several people we knew and my husband told me that book was a curse on him and all his friends. At that stage in our family life, he wasn't the one concerned with escaping housework. It may seem mundane, but the information I gained from that book has probably saved me months of cleaning time over the past 20 years. I owe Mr. Aslett. He has a company that makes cleaning products, and I recommend them as well. About once a year I place a large order with them. Their floor polish, a product called "Top Gloss" is impressive. It keeps the floor shiny for months.

• Minimize your stuff. The less stuff you have, the less you have to take care of. I have very few knick knacks and the things I do have on open shelves and the coffee table have some utility or hold some meaning for us. Except for my husband, none of us have large wardrobes. This cuts down on dirty clothes in the kids rooms. If they don't put their clothes in the laundry promptly, after a few days they have no clean clothes.
  
• Delegate. I have a full time job and my family benefits from my income. I am not their maid. If kids have time to watch TV, they have time to do chores. Everybody helps out here. They sometimes complain, but they get no sympathy. I also hire help. Every two weeks somebody else cleans my house. This means my house is really clean twice a month and somewhat clean the rest of the time.
• Invest in the right equipment. I have a large capacity washer and dryer and this significantly cuts down on the number of loads of laundry. I didn't realize how much this would help but it does. A very helpful piece of housecleaning gear is the iRobot Roomba. I should sell these. The Roomba is an automatic vacuum cleaner. It is a rechargeable battery powered disc shaped vacuum that runs around your floor cleaning so you don't have to. They do a very good job. I turn the machine on and go do my carpool and when I come back, the floor is clean. Like some cleaning fairy came and helped me. The down side to the Roomba is that they don't seem to last very long. Most of the models have a year warranty and the company is good about honoring the warranty, but I have not had a machine last much more than two years. I am careful of my machine because I want it to last, but even so I have been through three machines. So my advice to a purchaser is to buy the low end model because you will be replacing it in a couple of years. Check out the Roomba at irobot.com.

There is no complete escape from housework, unless of course you are among the fabulously rich. So when you have to do it, there are some things you can do to minimize your suffering.

• Race through it.Set a time limit and finish what you can within the limit.
• Put on an audio book. A good book makes the time fly. I use my Songsack to keep my ipod handy and the ear bud wire out of the way while I am working.
  
• Reward the team. Involve the family. Everybody works until the chore list is done and then you all go out for a movie.