Day 4 - Write it down!

Day 4

Fly Lady is about establishing a routine and so far so good! Easy Peasy, right?

So far we are:

* Shining our sink in the evening so we wake up to a nice shiny clean sink

* Getting dressed to the shoes every morning which is super easy since we are laying out our clothes every night

On Day 4, the Fly Lady wants us to "write these things down." What she wants us to do is grab some sticky notes. Stick one above our sink and one on our bathroom mirror, reminding us to shine our sink and get dressed to the shoes and help us keep up with our new habits.

If you haven't already, sign up for the Fly Lady's email list. You can do that here. There are quite a few emails sent from that site each day. I personally am subscribed on a "daily digest" meaning that I only get one email a day with all of the emails rolled into one. I personally find this less overwhelming. Don't get overwhelmed in the beginning, remember we are starting with the Baby Steps. If you try to go gung ho into the whole system, all of the challenges and everything then you probably will have a hard time sticking with the system. So PLEASE remember baby steps! We will get there! The Fly Lady only wants us to read our reminders for 2 minutes per day. This means just skim through the Fly Lady emails, read for TWO minutes and then DELETE. Easy Peasy. :-)

REMEMBER:
*Shine your sink

*Lay your clothes out for tomorrow

*Get Dressed to the Shoes

*Write these things down!

Keep up the good work!!!

Day 3 - Keep it Up

(this is tomorrow's task)

I am going to start posting tomorrow's sticky notes the evening before in case you only check the blog in the evening. That way you are ready to go tomorrow!

Keep up the good work!!

----------------------

Day 3

Keep up the Good Work!!

* Get up and Get Dressed to the Shoes

* Keep your Sink Shiny

* Lay Out your Clothes for Tomorrow

Perfectionist

There are a lot of people out there that just don't get it. If you are one of those, then your house is probably clean, your laundry done, fresh sheets on the bed, and just don't understand how some people let there houses get so messy. (You also probably think we are nuts)

I am a perfectionist. How in the world does a perfectionist have a messy house? I didn't understand it either until I learned about the Fly Lady. It turns out that many SHE's (sidetracked home executives) are perfectionists.

Perfectionism is a funny thing. I don't just want to finish a task, I want to do it 200%. If I don't have time to finish it, I don't start it. Part of what Fly Lady is about is learning to do things, and understanding that a job done wrong is better than a job not done at all. Oh that is hard. Let me give an example. I look at a messy bathroom. I don't know where to start. I see clothes on the floor, toiletries on the counter, and I "see" cabinets that need sorted and cleaned out, a closet that needs organized, and so much more! I don't want to just go in and scrub the toilet, shower, sink and wipe of the counter. I want to go in empty out at the cabinets, organize them, find everything a home, purge unused items, scrub everything down, wipe all the baseboards, sweep and mop. I know that this is not a quick 10 minute job and I tell myself that it will be easier to keep up if I can just take a couple hours and get it "perfect." Then I look at all of the jobs in my house that I want done to this stage of perfection, how many hours they would all take together. I look around, feel trapped, totally helpless, not knowing where to start.

Pathetic, I know. Perfectionism...yuck.

Homework in Picture!

I did my homework last night!!!! Yay for me. Wanna see how I accomplished this task??? I'm such a lazy bum sometimes! LOL.

I happened to leave my folded laundry on the dining room table last night. BAM!!! I layed out my clothes for the next day! It worked. Trust me, I'm not the only one who did there homework this way!!

Oh by the way. I got my sink stopper. So tonight my sink will be sanitized!!!

Tiffanie

Day 2 - Dressed to the Shoes

Day 2

Getting dressed to the shoes. FLY Lady says that this will make us more productive. Something about being completely dressed, hair done, make up on, and shoes laced up is supposed to make us be more motiviated and productive throughout the day. And it should be easy since we laid out our clothes last night!

...and don't forget...

Shine Your Sink before you go to Bed tonight

Lay Out Your Clothes for Tomorrow

So Proud!

I am so proud of myself! Look at my nice clean sink!! It really DOES feel good!

Even though I have a billion and one things that need done, something about going to bed and having a nice shiny clean sink in my kitchen really feels good!

It is not perfect, but I keep trying to remember that a job not perfect, is better than a job not done at all. Well I must say, I usually just scrub the sink with ajax or spray it with Clorox Clean Up. I have never soaked each side of the sink in bleach water for an hour and then cleaned it good. It is still all scratched up. I only had Brillo Pads, no SOS pads and it probably would have been srubbed and buffed even harder if it were 12 hours earlier!

I never thought I would take a picture of my sink... I basically wanted to post my picture to help me stay motivated. If my sink fills up with dishes I can look back and see what it CAN look like and stay motivated!

Mission Organization

Ok have any of you ever watched the HGTV show Mission Organization??? Or how about the show on TLC, Clean Sweep. I'm always dumbfounded as to how in the heck there houses or rooms got so messy.

I think I know now. . .

Yes my friends. I am ashamed to admit it but this is my bedroom! I have an excuse though. Really I do. Our bathroom and closet were gutted to make a bigger bathroom. We also built a bigger closet. Those rooms are not finished yet and so my bedroom looks like a bomb went off or a teenager lives in there!

My closet is now in my office and so is all the laundry. I find it very very difficult to put my laundry away that belongs in the dressers. In fact I try not to go in there at all so that I won't trip over anything.

Even Kelly has not seen this scary room! And because it's such a mess i find it easier not to even try putting things back where they are supposed to go. I just throw everything on the dresser. As you can see from the second picture.

I declare this bedroom as a "State of Emergency!" Clean Sweep I need your help!!!!

And that my friends is why it will be a tad difficult (not impossible) to do my homework tonight!

 

Tiffanie

Tonight's Homework

Tonight we are supposed to lay out our clothes for tomorrow in preparation for Day 2

Sounds simple enough....

ALRIGHT ALREADY!

Yes Ma'am!

So did you get up and get finished making your sink shiny last night?

So I am GUILTY, I didn't get mine shiny last night. Between DH's surgery, DS not staying in bed, and me feeling yucky, I just wasn't going to start the process at 11pm.

BUT - Today is the DAY

I have already started the process

Side 1 is soaked and rinsed and Side 2 is soaking in bleach water!!

Is your sink shiny?

So Shine your Sink Already!!!!

Ok, Mrs. Kelly Have you shined your sink today???? I know you have a lot going on. But your hubby is probably sleeping at the moment and it is more than likely bedtime for little ones. So put down the laptop, get off the couch and shine up that sink!!!

You can even just start with little baby steps and get the dishes out. It's a start anyway! Me? Mine is empty and rinsed out. Not shiny. . . . yet. My Dad just left and so did my brother and sister in law. I had to get the boys ready for bed. And I needed some sanity so I sat down at the computer to post this reminder for you.

I need the quiet right now. Shining my sink is not something I'm in the mood for. I know I should but at least it's empty and rinsed out. My boys decided that is was fun to scream at the top of their lungs while the adults were talking. Talk about stress!!! Holy Cow!!!! My ears are ringing.

After publishing this post I will probably feel really guilty and I may just get off my rear end and shine my sink. I'm sitting here thinking of all the reason why I shouldn't. That list is kind of short. It's sad really. Want to know my reason????? Huh?? Do ya?? I don't feel like it!

Ok ok you twisted my arm. . I'm leaving now to go shine my sink!!!

Tiffanie

 

Ignore it and it will Go Away

That's my philosophy. If only that were true. . my laundry would wash itself, the dust bunnies would hop on out the door all by themselves, the toys would become animated like the movie Toy Story and put themselves away.

I, like Kelly want my house to be perfect. No dust, no laundry, no stains, no clutter, everything has a place etc. And because i have that thinking, I don't want to clean up unless I have time to do it right. And so it doesn't get done and piles start to emerge. The more I see the mess the more I don't want to deal with it. Ignoring it seems to be my M.O. .

Let's just factor in an 11 year old girl, 3 year old boy and a one year old boy. Toys don't stay in there designated areas. . . . EVER! Unless you glue them to the shelves (don't try this at home. Probably won't go over very well with your children). Your husband does not put his stuff neatly away in the appointed areas. Usually it's the trail of stuff to the fridge that clues you in to the fact that he is home. You know the trail i'm talking about. First it's the shoes by the front door, ipod on the console table behind the sofa where of course your little ones can reach, the briefcase in the hallway, the keys on the counter.

Then before you know it the house is a disaster. Usually with in the first five minutes of everyone coming home. I get so frustrated at the instant mess that I clean up day after day sometimes 4 and 5 times a day. I keep thinking why bother. It's going to get messed up anyway. I get depressed and even goes so far and not having people over because I'm embarrassed.

But this thinking will change. It's not going to go way over night. I know that. That's why I have Kelly here to cheer me on. And I'm here to cheer her on too. I know that we are not the only woman out there that has a hard time keeping the house clean or is dealing with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome). The  first step in Flying is to admit you are a S.H.E (Sidetracked Home Executive).

Hi, I'm Tiffanie and my house is a mess!!!

Tiffanie

Day 1 - Go Shine Your Sink

(from www.flylady.net)

DAY 1

SHINY SINK 101
http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shine.asp

.....Ready....Set.....GO!!!!!

Let's get this party started!

I am SO ready to get started!! I am in desperate need of the Fly Lady. I am hoping that YOU can help me stick to the plan, help me hold myself accountable and have FUN!!

I am hoping that
* we (whoever gets to it first) what we are supposed to do each day, especially while we are in the "Baby Steps"
* We can brag a little, challenge each other a little, and clean up a little!
* We can post to the comments that we finished the task for the day or a whole post if we really want to brag!
* We can keep eachother motivated!
* Share stories about our goals, our progress, our homes, what causes us to be the way we are, and all that goes along with that

* If we get behind or need to start over we can just go back to the post we need to go to....but that won't happen.....right!?! :-)

Most of all I hope to get out of this CHAOS!!!!