FLYing and saying good bye to CHAOS…

                                              


                                                     
 
                                                    


You may have heard of the Flylady but maybe you haven’t so I have to post about Flylady and what has done for me and can do for you!


I came across this name a few times with surfing the internet for random different things and after seeing it come up a few different times, I felt like I needed to check it out. What I discovered has ended up being something really wonderful and exactly what I didn’t realize I absolutely needed.

I was known by many family friends as a cleaning freak. Always cleaning and always had a clean house. And for the most part they were right, I did clean a lot. And to a visitor, it would look like my home was very tidy and very clean. And it was for the mostly. But behind every cupboard and closet door, any nook and cranny I could find, it was there…junk…clutter…just stuff…lots and lots of stuff! It was starting to overwhelm me and was always in the back of mind, eating at me! I also suffered from a touch of perfectionism when it came to housework. I tended to go overboard, and wouldn’t just tidy one room or do a “surface” clean…I would start ripping a part closets cleaning them or shampooing carpets no matter the time of day. I have been known to be shampooing carpets at 1:00 in the morning the day before we are to leave for vacation. This perfectionism was killing me, I was dead tired and loosing my steam for sure! I was driving myself crazy. But this clutter…my dirty little secret…albeit all “organized” in nice little baskets and tubs in closets and drawers and everywhere... it was still clutter and it was starting to creep out of its dark little homes and take over our house. And as a lot of us have grown to know, a cluttered house is very hard to keep clean. The less stuff you have, the easier it is to keep clean. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So, as my clutter began to spread, my motivation to clean got lower and lower. I was doing the essentials but never happy with how it looked or felt. Things were still okay; I could pass a health inspection for sure but just couldn’t get a handle on things again. It seemed like I would spend a day or weekend cleaning one area of the house only to have to do it again in a day or two as the “stuff” I so painstakingly tucked away in pretty little containers and nice little piles would get scattered again. When someone was coming over, I would go into (what Flylady calls “crisis cleaning”). That mad scramble to get things in order before the guests show up. The bellowing (begging) of commands to the kids and husband for help. I most certainly was suffering from CHAOS (another Flylady term stands for “can’t have anyone over syndrome”). And it was really eating at me and my self confidence. I felt like a complete failure as a Mom and wife.

And this is when I stumbled on the Flylady site. Marla and her team are fabulous. The are few elements to the system so you would have to check it out but the basic ones I tend to hold onto are:

15 minutes of decluttering everyday (use a timer)

Shine your sink every night (sounds weird I know but it does help)

Daily routines (I struggle with this one but it is important so I keep working on it)

A load a day keep s the CHAOS away (laundry…taming the beast)

It doesn’t have to be perfect! (a huge one for me)

And of course FLYing…finally loving yourself…taking care of you, make things easier for yourself is loving yourself!

If you sign up you will get emails everyday, the daily mission, testimonials, inspirations, and all kinds of useful tips. There are quite a few emails sent each day, just a warning. I don’t read them all, just the ones I have time for or seem relevant to me.

The system works in baby steps and builds up. One of the most common thing you might here from FLYlady is “you are not behind, just jump in where you can”. I love this. Makes me feel la little better if I fall down in my housework!

If you have CHAOS in your life…swing by and check out Flylady.net! It has been an amazing resource for me. There are some great products in the Flystore as well that really do make some of the household chores easier (my fave are the rags in a bag…a cloth is a cloth right? Wrong-these are amazing!!!). The sales of the products go towards the site and allows it to continue to operate free of charge. Every day I am starting to feel lighter…15 minutes at a time I am clearing out my dark little secret and feeling a whole lot better!