House cleaning

Don't let it pile up. As a working mum I have to keep on it or getting it back to a livable state is painful (read: expensive lol).
I pay people to do the occasional but necessary stuff like oven and range hood cleaning. I hate it and have no intention of spending my free time doing it.
I scrub the shower once a week on the weekend before I have a shower, then while I shower I rinse the walls. During the week everyone rinses the shower glass/walls before they get out to wash off any stray bubbles and we use only shower gel to avoid soap scum. You wouldn't believe how much time this saves me now each week. We vacuum the main areas everyday (sons chore) and I get away with mopping it all once or twice a week. We all scrub the toilet as needed, rule is you shit in it you clean it. Clean up as you go, teach your kids to clean up as they go and make it non-negotiable with consequences. For instance every time my son rinses his plate and leaves food scraps in the sink because he didn't scrape it first, he has to clean it up and scrub clean the sink. If he doesn't hang up his wet towel after a shower he doesn't get a dry one for the next shower until it's done. Have everyone pitch in for chores, it's not a one person household so it's not the job of one to keep it maintained.
I don't mind being in charge of cleaning most of the inside stuff because I'm allergic to a lot of the outside stuff and I can handle being the one to change the toilet roll, refill the toilet paper basket and top up the hand-soap dispensers but if someone makes a deliberate mess and leaves it for me to clean they hear about it and get their ass in there to fix the problem quicksmart, things like leaving hair in the basin after shaving, leaving crumbs on the bench after making toast, leaving empty shampoo/shower gel bottles lying on the shower floor even after they've grabbed a new bottle, leaving dirty clothes lying around the lounge room for days, cushions lying on the floor or washing baskets of clean clothes left in the lounge room instead of being put away. I've been known to throw shit out so if I look at something out of place in front of everyone else here so they know to move it or lose it.
I fit a little bit of light cleaning in the middle of my down time so I don't feel swamped by a massive amount. Sitting down to watch a tv show? I use the ad breaks to wipe light switches, tidy the table or bench, dust a shelf or prepare lunch for the next day etc. When I work more hours and don't have time, I hire a cleaner for a few hours a week for the main stuff so it doesn't get too far out of control. Even with all this, it's no show house.
Set yourself an achievable goal rather than unrealistic expectations and then work on the plan to make it happen.