rewiring my brain

Luis and I both have mothers who are (for lack of a better word) neat freaks. I haven't spent a whole lot of time at Luis' parents' house, but at my house, cleaning happened on a daily basis. It was not unheard of for my mom to say, "Can you help clean the living room?" And to receive a response of, "Clean what? Everything is clean already!" As a child, it drove me bonkers to have to vacuum, what to me seemed like imaginary dirt particles. But one thing I knew for sure, if I left my room messy in the morning when I left to go to school, it would be spotless when I got home. I liked that.

Now living in my own home, when I leave my room messy in the morning, it is still messy when I come home. I hate it. I honestly feel so much more stressed when I come home to a mess. And, to be honest, I've let my apartment go. For the last two weeks I've completely focused my energy on studying and I've completely ignored my home (Luis: thank you for picking up the slack). I need to change. That is why for the next 30 days, I'm setting about to rewire my brain. I need to create the habit of staying on top of the cleaning on a daily basis so that it never gets out of control again. Do any of you have tips/schedules for keeping your homes clean and organized?

P.S. For those who may be wondering, the bar went ok (I think). I won't get my results for 8-10 weeks. I was super nervous the night before the first day of testing, but I woke up feeling good. On the second day I found myself struggling to concentrate. I was soooo bored with the 200 multiple choice questions. But I finished the exam with a good 30 minutes to spare.