DON'T LET THE MESS EVEN GET STARTED.

It is far easier to KEEP your home clean than to have to try cleaning a messy house once it gets to the paralyzing mess stage.

If your house is generally clean and then you have a kid’s birthday party and the house gets messy – that kind of mess is fairly easy to clean. But the other kind of mess – the piles and clutter and accumulated junk – is much harder to tackle. Ideally, you wouldn’t let that kind of mess happen at all.

Adopt good organizing and cleaning habits. Address those piles when they are small; put papers away right away (read: address issues when they are small). Set up cleaning schedules to maintain order (read: date nights).

Similarly, in your marriage and relationships, it is easier to maintain a healthy relationship by adopting good habits early on and addressing issues as they arise, to prevent bigger problems from developing later on. Set up date nights to keep your marriage in top shape and make sure to communicate regularly with your partner. Don't let small problems fester and turn into larger issues that are more difficult to resolve. Prevention is always easier than cure.