Confessions of a FlyBaby

My adventures in organizing my life with the FlyLady (www.flylady.net).

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

FlyLady is Kicking my Behind

I'm pooped, but boy does my house look good!

This morning after finishing my morning routine I started the vacuuming. I spent two hours doing the middle and lower level floors and couches. Kelly's mission today was to find the trash in the living room, so I concentrated on the couches, really giving them some extra attention. The first hour was spent just on the couches in the living and family room on the middle level. Then I vacuumed the carpets and mopped the floors. All done by noon.

Then after lunch I dashed to the grocery store and picked up everything we needed for the next week's menu. I'm getting the Body Clutter menu mailers and I'm loving them! Tonight's dinner was a marinated chicken (substituted for turkey cutlets) stir fry with peppers and onions, rice and steamed broccoli. Yummy!

I didn't get any decluttering done today, but that's okay. Baby steps.

So far some of the changes we've seen in our house:

1. No one asks, "Are the dishes in the dishwasher clean or dirty?" I run it at night and empty it first thing in the morning so we can load dirties in it throughout the day.

2. Mom and Dad don't stare at each other and say, "What should we have for dinner?" We just look at the menu. Love it!

3. There is NO clutter on my kitchen counters! That's a first in our house. Anything made of paper has always found its way to our counter and nested there. No more!

4. There is NO clutter on the dining room table. I'm thinking about buying fresh flowers each week and putting them in the middle of the table. Since there's no junk sitting on the table, we'd be able to enjoy them!

5. There is NO clutter on the stairs or in the foyer. Every now and then I have to remind the boys to put their shoes away, but they're not leaving things lying around anymore.

The guys are really pitching in. The boys are "swishing and swiping" in the mornings, and the hubby is pitching in as well. He even commented the other day that he likes the new routine I have us doing.

Oh, the younger son has declared that he doesn't care for FlyLady much. I think he misses his procrastinating mom, but she doesn't live here anymore! :) He's coming around, and he'll get better with practice.

The older son carried out a huge garbage bag of things he cleared out from under his bed the other day. He was looking for a place to store his guitar case and couldn't fit it under the bed because of all the junk. So he spent a few minutes decluttering. Makes a mama proud!

Okay, I'm heading upstairs to take a nice cool bath and then I'm spending some "me-time" with my knitting looms. I can do it without guilt because I have several shiny sinks in my house now! LOL

Monday, May 29, 2006

What a Day!

I got quite a bit accomplished today. I love the morning and bedtime routines. I'm a schedule person and a rule follower, so having a list of things to do is perfect for me.

After my morning routine was done, I decided to spend my "home blessing" hour dusting every surface in my house. I started on the middle level and dusted every piece of furniture and everything on the walls. Then downstairs I went, dusting pictures, shelves and furniture in the basement. Then up to our bedroom to dust our furniture and the bathroom shelves.

While I was in the bathroom I decided to declutter. I took a few pictures along the way.

The cabinet - before:

And after:

This part took about 30 minutes or so. I threw away several empty bottles and some that were just plain old. Why on earth do we hang on to things?

Under the sink - before:
And after:
Guess what I found while I was under there? Bubble Bath! So guess what I'm going to do this evening to wind down before bed? Aaaaahhhhhhh . . .

The dreaded medicine cabinet - before:

And after:
I had a mess on the bathroom floor when I finished so I vacuumed and mopped it and vacuumed the bedroom floor.

Kelly's mission today was to find the "hidden clutter" in the living room. I went through all the baskets in my living room, purging all old magazines and catalogs and moving books to the bookshelf downstairs. I have two baskets with knitting supplies, so I took a few minutes to wind the yarn into balls and put it into ziploc bags.

Tomorrow I'll do the floors on the middle and lower levels and it'll look pretty good. Then the decluttering can really start. Whew!

My husband told me yesterday that he likes the routines I'm establishing. The boys aren't leaving their shoes in the foyer, and papers aren't collecting on the dining room table or kitchen counters. We're all getting into the habit of cleaning the toilet and sink after we shower, so the bathrooms are staying clean.

I'm loving the FlyLady's way of doing things. I just hope I can stick to it. As long as I do a little each day I'll be okay. But I'm worried about the day something happens to throw the routine out of whack.

I think my favorite thing so far is the "home blessing hour." Not because I like doing those chores! But because she refers to doing them as blessing your home. I've always considered my home a blessing, but I haven't looked at keeping it up as a way of blessing it. I've always approached housework with dread, something that has to be done and endured. But today while I was dusting, I kept telling myself that I was blessing my family by making our home cleaner and more peaceful. Sounds cheesy I know, but it's the change of perspective I need to stay on track.

Anyway, it's time to make dinner. I think I'll head up and enjoy a cup of coffee in my clean kitchen before getting started. :)

Fly high!

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Loving the Routines!

We took the boys to a baseball game today.

Here's how it would have happened "BFL" (Before FlyLady):

1. Get out of bed
2. Shower, dress, have coffee
3. Leave beds unmade, leave dishes in sink, head out to the game
4. Return home tired - fuss about the mess

Here's how we did it today:

1. Get out of bed & make coffee
2. Shower, dress, swish & swipe, remind boys to do the same
3. Make bed
4. Unload the dishwasher
5. Enjoy a cup of coffee
6. Put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, shine the sink
7. Return home tired, find a clean foyer and kitchen, SMILE!

What a difference those little changes are making! We're trying hard to just do things as we come to them instead of waiting for the "perfect" time or waiting until "cleaning day" arrives.

Yesterday afternoon I spent a few minutes in my closet, pulling out clothes I no longer wear. I mean, if I get myself back down to a size 8, I'll celebrate by buying new clothes! I put them in a pile in the bedroom. In the BFL days, they would have sat there waiting for me to decide what to do with them, and some would have ended up back in the closet. But the new Lisa immediately went to the computer and posted them on Freecycle, and they are due to be picked up tomorrow. Woohoo!

Okay, I admit we have a LONG way to go to declutter and organize, but I feel like we're on the right track.

Time to go upstairs and do my bedtime routine, review tomorrow's Sunday School lesson and then spend some "Lisa time" KNITTING!!

Fly high!

Friday, May 26, 2006

Day 2 and still shining

Is it possible to be seeing a difference already? There really is something about shining that kitchen sink that just gets you jumpstarted.

I went to bed last night not only with my sink shining, but with my office looking a little neater (my office is the spot of my WORST offenses), my kitchen counters completely cleared off and wiped down, and my control journal started.

Here I sit now, completely dressed with shoes laced up (a big step for me as I NEVER wear shoes in the house), hair and makeup done, bathroom swished and swiped, purse cleaned out, car cleaned out, and bed sheets washed, dried, and put back on. AND I organized under the sink in the middle level bathroom, showed my younger son how to shine the sink in his bathroom before going to school, organized the shelves in the laundry room, and am almost finished with the laundry. Whew!

Okay, I'm pooped and it's still early afternoon. I'm having a hard time remembering the "baby step" thing. I want the whole house to look like my kitchen -- NOW.

A few things I've figured out about myself over the years:

1. I'm a terrible procrastinator, and that has led to my clutter. "I'll put this away when I find the perfect spot for it," or "I'll clean that xxx as soon as I have time." I'm finding that few things take as much time as I think they will. Cleaning the bathroom while I'm in there anyway just makes so much sense, and it doesn't take that much time at all. Working in 15 minute increments shows you just how much you really can get done.

2. Much of my clutter is hidden. I can clean my house and it looks great, but please don't open any of my drawers, cabinets, or especially the closets. I have a lot of decluttering to do, and I really am going to try to take it slow and do it right. I'm trying to keep in mind that the FlyLady is teaching me lifestyle changes, not just quick fixes.

3. I have let myself get really out of shape. I work in front of the computer much of the time, and I have seriously neglected my poor body. My weight has crept up, and my energy level has gone downhill. Maybe it's time to crank up the treadmill that has been collecting dust in the corner.

Oh, and I signed up with Saving Dinner today. I'm getting the Body Clutter menus. I'm loving the grocery list -- all the planning is done, all I need to do is implement it! I can cook, but like many people, I hate the planning part of it.

Hubby just came home for lunch, so I have to "fly" upstairs and make sure he doesn't mess up the counters! I mean . . . I have to go make sure he has a nutritious lunch. :>

Thursday, May 25, 2006

My Sink is Shining!

Okay, I've finished step one -- I shined my sink! Here's what it looked like this morning:
The bowls on the right were washed last night and left in the drainer to dry. The dishes in the left were from last night's snacks and this morning's breakfast. I have some re-training to do with the boys, because what they're doing now is placing dirty dishes beside or in the sink. They don't check the dishwasher to see if it's full, and they're not washing what they mess up.

Side one of the sink getting its bleach bath.

Side one has been scrubbed and side two is being bleached. Notice the dish drainer gets two turns with the bleach. Yucky!

All finished! All scrubbed and shiny.

This one little change will make a big difference. It's become a habit to leave dishes drying in the drainer, and sometimes they're there until the next time we do dishes. I've made a spot for the dish drainer under the sink and we'll only take it out when we do the dishes. No more leaving them to dry in the sink.

Day One with the FlyLady

This morning I was browsing through some loom knitting blogs before starting on the dreaded housework. On Brenda's blog was a link to her cleaning blog, where she says she is "clearing out the mess in her life with the FlyLady." Hmmm. I have a mess. Who is this FlyLady?

So I hopped on over to FlyLady to find out more. Oooh, lots of great information, and a plan for changing my cluttered existence! So I'm starting today with day one and am on my way upstairs to shine my sink. I figure this blog will give me some accountability as I get my house in order.

Wish me luck!