FlyLady

FlyLady has been around for a while and most people probably know her for her shiny sink. My inbox has filled up with her daily emails and I have even read the book. But I am still not "flying". I think she has some great ideas, and occasionally I will do them...just never all at the same time.

Her overall plan is to clean before it is really dirty, because clean things take less time to clean. She is also a fan of setting a timer, and only working for the allotted 15 minutes before moving on to something else. Other ideas are to clean a little every day and not wait until Saturday to clean the whole house. (I have a sister-in-law who has "Terrible Toilet Tuesdays" and every Tuesday they clean the toilets.) What a great idea, if I clean a little every day by Saturday my house will be clean and I can enjoy it with my family, instead of cleaning!

In the last week we have been on the go, visiting both sets of grandparents twice, babysat 7 kids, threw 1 baby shower, made 1 quilt, and sewed 2 bags along with all the other little things that go on. Basically our house was a wreck.

This morning I sat my timer for 15 minutes and set out to clean my front room. In 9 minutes I had picked up all the toys scattered about, vacuumed, and put all of the shoes piled by the front door in their respective closets. With 6 minutes left I removed a slipcover (finding a long lost remote) threw it in the washing machine and started it. I then dusted and finished with 2:27 minutes left on the timer.

I then spent 15 minutes in the bathroom and another 15 in the kitchen. Now I feel that in 45 minutes I spent cleaning my house is presentable for our dinner guests tonight.

It is great to see what can be accomplished when you are focusing on 1 thing at a time. In 12 minutes my front room underwent a major face-lift. I know it won't stay this way for long, but at least I now know that it only takes 12 minutes to get it back.

Maybe FlyLady does know a thing or two!