Sure, Illinois has its difficulties in some categories like property taxes, government corruption, and a steadily declining population, but we apparently make up for it with our spotless households.

As the primary housecleaner at our place, I've come to the conclusion that a too-clean house is usually the sign of a bad internet connection. I've always agreed with the anonymous person who once said that cleaning with kids in the house is like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos.

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It's Okay To Take A Break From Housecleaning To Finish This Piece

My late mother-in-law kept the cleanest house I've ever been in (although I was constantly afraid of making even the slightest mess), as she usually vacuumed and dusted twice a day. When I dust around the house, my Swiffer Duster usually winds up looking like a extra-large black licorice-colored cotton-candy on a stick, so maybe frequency is my problem.

Young boy doing cleaning and doing chores
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TheWaycroft.com recently published the results of a survey where they asked people all over the country to rate their own cleaning habits on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the dirtiest and 5 being the cleanest. They talked to at least 30 people in every state to make their determinations on who's cleaning up versus those who aren't. I guess we should assume that people aren't lying about the cleanliness level of their abodes.

Here's the top 5 cleanest:

  1. District of Columbia
  2. Tennessee
  3. Mississippi
  4. Illinois
  5. Connecticut

And the dirtiest:

  1. Oregon
  2. Alaska
  3. New York
  4. Hawaii
  5. South Carolina

LOOK: Here is the richest town in each state

Just saying the names of these towns immediately conjures up images of grand mansions, luxury cars, and ritzy restaurants. Read on to see which town in your home state took the title of the richest location and which place had the highest median income in the country. Who knows—your hometown might even be on this list.

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

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