Sound familiar, anyone?

I just love the Baby Blues comic strip.  I could always relate to poor Wanda, and this one is no different.  I found it in a folder with some papers from the early years of my marriage when my son was an infant.  It still holds true today.  (Does anyone but me find it disturbing that I still have a file folder of papers from 14 years ago that I'm just now getting around to going through? Hmmm?  Please tell me I'm not the only packrat in the blogosphere!)  I could have taken this straight from any one of my many tirades about never getting ahead with housework.  And the Hubs would say something sweet and encouraging just like Darryl and make me not so crazy and still crazier at the same time.  I am gearing up for a series of "before and after" posts about the various hot spots in my house (okay, so my entire house is one huge hot spot-I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm going to go a little at a time so as not to overwhelm you all).  Two things are causing me to drag my feet: (1) It is as embarrassing as I don't know what; and (2) I can't even figure out where to start.
How did my house get this far gone? you might ask.  Well, at first I used the excuse that I had small children.  My chief decorators were Little Tikes and Fisher-Price.  I'd rather spend my time playing with my kiddoes than doing housework.  Those small children are now 12 and 14 and bigger than me, so there goes that excuse!  Then, I was busy working outside of the home (albeit part-time) and volunteering at the kids' schools.  Then, I was back in school myself.  Well, I have been out of school for months now, and I have several months before I will start working full-time.  I want to take the time to seize the moment and try literally to get my house in order so I can come home to a place I love after working 12-hour shifts at the hospital.
I would LOVE to hear how you all manage to stay on top the daily grind AND find the time to get to the big stuff, too.  Do you just throw away everything or have some elaborate system for dealing with "stuff"?  I tried doing household chores like my menu planning and designated certain tasks on certain days of the week, but I never could stick to it: Mondays were for mail & paying bills; Tuesdays tubs and toilets (i.e., cleaning the bathrooms); Wednesdays were wash day; and Fridays were floors (sweep, mop, vaccuum).  Don't remember what I had going on for Thursdays.  Nowadays, it's Monday-read blogs; Tuesdays-read blogs; Wednesdays-read blogs, etc...Housework is still falling by the wayside, but I'm frustrated more and more about it.  Won't you please, please help me?