Laundry and cleaning and playing, oh my!

Like many of you, I am a stay at home mom. I find it hard to believe I have trouble getting everything done in my household. Why is it I occasionally can go weeks without dusting and only seem to get it done in a cleaning frenzy when someone is coming over? It's not because I spend my days playing with the kids...I find myself telling them more than I like that I am busy and can't play. I don't spend too much time on the computer...I am a magnet for the kids, so I wouldn't get anything done anyway. I don't sit and eat bon-bons on the couch while reading a novel. But I can't seem to keep up with all of it.

I have been thinking of trying to "schedule" cleaning chores. I already try to get all the laundry done on Monday. That's all I do that day. We even have leftovers for dinner. Our home is about 2500 sq ft of living space. It is easily divided up, like I could clean the kitchen one day, the master bedroom and bath another, etc. I also try to get to the gym at least 3x a week if not 5x. I lead a group cycling class and may start up kickboxing again, so that's 2 hours in the morning with getting to town, exercise x 1hr, and getting home.

I guess I am really having trouble maintaining some sort of reasonably clean house without going compulsive with the whole thing. I can't expect to have a spotless home with 2 kiddos. But I like looking around and feeling pleased with how nice the house looks after it's cleaned. And my husband doesn't like coming home to a messy, toy cluttered home.

So my question is, how do you all do it? How do you get everything done in your household? Do you have a schedule, like laundry one day, cleaning the next. Or do you just wing out what needs to be done? Do you have area where toys stay, and they cannot be in other areas? I am open to all suggestions.