the "finally clean my apartment and keep it there" thing

I used to have a spotless apartment in 2019 -- it was a resolution I made to myself. Got out of the crappy Avenues, into a brand new fresh luxury apartment, and kept it spotless. But, I did this in an unsustainable way, cleaning for hours a week. It was often 3-4 hours on Wednesdays and 3-4 hours on Saturdays. Wednesdays I'd get to bed way too late. Saturdays I'd often lose a huge chunk of the day to cleaning, not getting out of the house until the shadows were lengthening. BUT, it did feel pretty amazing to live in such a clean place. 

Grad school happened, and I could not hold it. I slipped and it became messy, and it's been that way ever since. 

When I read Atomic Habits, I started cleaning a tiny bit every day. When my friend recommended to me the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, I realized that I could both read (for improving my writing and for fun!) and clean at the same time. Every single day. 

But it still stayed messy. I was cleaning every day, sure, but it wasn't making a dent. 

That's where we are now. 

I just kinda-sorta cleaned the part of the dinner table where I eat, and that part only. 

Either

A) I keep that place clean, and then slowly cycle outwards, or 

B) I keep doing this weird rotation and not feel like I'm making any headway. 

I've tried this before and it didn't work, but I will try again.