I'm going to be philosophical here: If the top of the refrigerator gets cleaned and nobody notices, did the refrigerator really get cleaned?

Recently, I spent several hours in the kitchen cleaning the top of the refrigerator, vacuuming the refrigerator coils (which is supposed to keep it running properly) and sweeping crumbs from underneath the stove. This is the type of spring-cleaning that goes unnoticed since only Superman with microscopic vision would know that these areas had been scoured. My husband might be a mild-mannered reporter, but he's no Jor-El.

Cleaning and clutter-busting expert Donna Smallin says if I'm looking for compliments about my super housekeeping powers, I need to include jobs that are more obvious, such as clearing the kitchen counters.

"Uncluttering the kitchen countertops is a good project," she says during a phone interview. "That would get noticed. It's a good project that can be done pretty quickly."

Smallin, 46, author of "The One-Minute Cleaner Plain & Simple" (Storey Publishing, $10.95), has been motivating people to clear clutter and simplify their lives since her first book was published in 1999. The Mesa, Ariz., resident says keeping a tidy home is freeing.

"I live in an uncluttered environment," she says. "I would be perfectly at ease at any time of day for someone to come inside my home. I don't like collections of things, and I regularly go through things I own. I'm very careful about what I buy."

But before you start thinking Smallin is a Stepford wife, she admits to having a problem with paper clutter.

"As a writer, paper clutter is my most difficult thing," she says. "For the most part, if you ever saw my office, you would never buy my books. No matter how organized you are, clutter catches up to you."

Smallin's previous books include "The One-Minute Organizer Plain and Simple" and "Organizing Plain and Simple." What's left to write about?

Plenty. Smallin is at work writing, "Organized for Life: 21 Life-Changing Lessons in 21 Days," which will be published next year.

I liked the fact Smallin admitted to have a housekeeper clean every other week.

"When I wrote my first book, I thought, "No one is ever going to invite me to their home again,"' she says. "Friends would come over and open my cupboards and ask, "Are you really as organized as you say you are?"'

I tend to be an all-or-nothing cleaner. I'm likely to let sleeping dust bunnies lie until they start rolling across the floor like tumbleweeds. The downside is that this method can burn through an entire weekend.

Those looking for an alternative should consider Smallin's approach to weekly cleaning chores:

One task a day: "Post a list of necessary cleaning tasks on your refrigerator. Do one task each day. This is a good approach for people who don't like routines."

30 minutes a day: "Spend 30 minutes each day on one room or one whole-house cleaning task. Day 1: kitchen. Day 2: bathroom. Day 3: living room. Day 4: bedrooms. Day 5: office/den. Day 6: laundry room. Day 7: rest.

Smallin understands my disappointment at not getting a proverbial pat-on-the-back after spring-cleaning the kitchen.

"Housecleaning is not an easy job," she says. "It would be nice if someone noticed. When our housekeeper comes, the whole house gets cleaned and my husband would notice. I would ask him, "Why don't you notice when I clean the house?"'