I'm 26. I live alone and I work both full and part time. Even though I've been living on my own for nearly 5 years, I have not learned how to do it well. It's almost a disaster. I have a hard time maintaining my domestic affairs. For example, I'm not organized. Sometimes, I have trouble remembering to pay bills on time and then I have a lot of papers and mail that piles up until I finally throw it out. I rarely ever cook-barely know how to- and I eat out most of the time because it's easier to do so. My untouched groceries- whenever I do decide to go shopping- tend to go to waste and have to be thrown out. I don't do anything consistently at home. I slack off often because I get overwhelmed. My main problems are staying organized and keeping it all together as well as doing house work like cleaning. Maybe I'm a little lazy (kind of ignorant?) in those areas. I'm getting older and I want to be able to maintain my home life better. I feel really incompetent when it comes to household related stuff and this is part of the reason I usually don't have guests. What tips can you give me?I want to become one of those domestic goddesses (or pretty damn close) while still maintaing a full time job.
Can you give me your best tips for taking care of home (running a household efficiently)?
You live alone. It's no big deal, take a weekend to get organized. Because you live alone, you should have no problem keeping it that way. When I was young and on my own, I worked 3 jobs and was still organized. I only ever had a hard time after getting married (men are the worst) and then having children.
ill say the obvious get organized but you dont have to be organized in everything right away. start small. you could buy a big desk calender and a basket for your bills and as your bills come in, you open them up and write the due dates on the big calender or you can enroll into the pay bill program, your bank probably has one and that program will pay your bills online. 2. when you shop for groceries only buy enough for one day. and make a goal that the next day your going to make dinner. or look for recipes that you would be interested in trying and invite some friends over for a dinner party.3. i hate house work. 
if you start to stay in more, rather then eat out your c ould spend that extra monies on house keeping lol. but if you dont want to do that, you could take on things one at a time, like instead of moping and sweeping the kitchen floor. you sweep it and then maybe the next day you mop it. and when you use dishes instead of leaving them in the sink, just wash them right away. 4. REMEMBER its your home and you dont have to rush to do anything expect pay your bills and taxes, so just take a deep breath and take one thing at a time.edit-you can become one of those domestic goddess but it wont happen over night ...lol martha stewart didn't happen over night lol a lot of women that are house wives have raised for that lifestyle and if not it took them a while to achieve that status.
if you start to stay in more, rather then eat out your c ould spend that extra monies on house keeping lol. but if you dont want to do that, you could take on things one at a time, like instead of moping and sweeping the kitchen floor. you sweep it and then maybe the next day you mop it. and when you use dishes instead of leaving them in the sink, just wash them right away. 4. REMEMBER its your home and you dont have to rush to do anything expect pay your bills and taxes, so just take a deep breath and take one thing at a time.edit-you can become one of those domestic goddess but it wont happen over night ...lol martha stewart didn't happen over night lol a lot of women that are house wives have raised for that lifestyle and if not it took them a while to achieve that status.Concentrate on doing one thing well at a time, start with your bills, set up auto pay for your bills online, I recommend that you set auto-pay to pay the minimum and then "pay your bills online" once a month. that way you don't miss the min payment and don't get out of touch with where your money is going... Also use your debit card to make purchases don't buy your groceries with a credit card and pay extra interest down the road. cooking comes with time and interest. if you enjoy it you will get better. Everyone should be able to make spaghetti, put a Large pan on to boil water, brown one pound hamburger meat and warm a can/bottle of sauce (prego), when the water boils put in the spaghetti noodles. Noodles are done when you take one out and it is limp. you can make a pound of noodles at once, this will make a whole bunch of spaghetti ( 8 meals), you can portion it into freezable containers and warm it when you want it (i am cheap i put 2 portions back into the sauce bottle), this simple trick will save you more money than you can imagine. if you spend $20 less a week on food you will save $1040 dollars a year. everything else is just learning what works for you as you go. Watch other people, use the resources you have, this site is great for that, if you are more specific you will get more/better feedback.
do you do online banking? I set up all my bills that I pay, on my banks page (they have this drop down menu where you can set up the accounts to be paid directly), and on the 15th of every month I check the websites of the bills I have to pay to get the amount and voila all my bills are paid and I have no papers hanging around, anytime that I need a bill, I just call the company and have them send me out a bill.As for cleaning, just try to clean your house completely, and then when its clean, clean one room a day everyday. Do your dishes daily and always hang up your towel when your done.