My mom taught us how to clean from a young age so thats pretty much all I have known my whole life. I always start with the living room > dining room > bathroom > 2nd bedroom > 1st bedroom > kitchen. (I find that the majority of things left around my apartment belongs in the kitchen or my bedroom). I start with wiping everything down from top to bottom(most of my furniture is wood and I love the way the orange Pledge leaves the room smelling). In the kitchen and bathroom I use Mr Clean. Then after everything is wiped down I vacuum my whole apartment and then I mop the floors. I use Bona hardwood floor cleaner for my floors. You can find that at Gracious home stores.
As far as cooking goes. Yeah I messed up LOTS of dinners when I first moved in with my FI. God bless him for eating some of that stuff!!!! My mom is a good cook so I would go to her house and watch her cook and my friend is an awesome cook and I would go to her house too and learn. It took a while but I think I am an OK cook now. At first I hated cooking and now I love it.