Three things I learned from Flylady when I joined her list several years ago (back when she had only a few hundred subscribers; now there are thousands):
1.) Swipe your bathroom every day and you’ll never have to clean the bathroom again. (I use Clorox wipes – just one per day, swiping the sink first, counters, then the commode, from cleanest area to dirtiest). Your toilet will always be ready for company drop-ins! This simple thing has been so freeing to me. I used to think that I had to make a fuss over the bathroom, as in “now I shall gather various cleaning chemicals and then I shall scrub the bathroom for an hour.”
2.) Don’t put it down, put it away. Flylady says something like, “Never touch something twice if you can touch it once“. I catch myself all the time starting to set something down “to get to it or put it away later.” Then I remember that I don’t want to touch it twice, so I’ll just put it where it goes.
3.) If overwhelmed, set your timer for 15 minutes and tell yourself to just work for that long. I do this when cleaning out closets, or when I am looking at a dirty kitchen but think I’m too tired to clean it. Also, when my house is way too messy, I set the timer to 15
minutes and ask the family to work with me for only that long. We get SO much done in that little bit of time. The family seems more willing to help me when they know that there is a time limit set, and mama won’t say, “Oh, and do this…and this…and…that, too.”
Ugh…I am ALWAYS losing my timer to the kids! It was recently gone for literally months, until I found it in the boys room, in a toy bin. It is now residing in a kitchen drawer, where I hope nobody finds it!
I moderate my local FLYlady list (its been super quiet lately… not many FLYbabies where I live LOL). Its nice to meet up occasionally at the local coffee shop and talk about FLYing. 😉
Ive been a member of Marlas list for ages now, too- can you believe all the people who are members now? WOW. I am so glad that shes successful, she seems like such a nice person.
Thanks for the reminder post- you know, Ive been forgetting to swish and swipe in the mornings! Usually Im dashing in and out so I can chase the toddler down the hallway before he gets into something fun!
God bless!
Gini
Bathroom swiping is my #1 too. Flylady really has a knack for breaking things down into managable tasks – I guess thats why her list has seen such incredible growth! But how do you keep little boys from swiping your timer to pretend its a time bomb with their army men?
Jenn = )
Wow, Lori. God speaks through you to me in two recent blogs. Both this one about the flylady timer (which I knew but needed to be reminded of) and the home shopping one from Friday. Okay, read my blog today and see my lamentations about getting set up for school. I must admit, I am a little skeptical to see if I can actually do this without spending more money – but I am going to try.
I am so glad you made me put down my newspaper at the park! Love you Girl!
Leisl Lemire
I love these kinds of household tips!
I am going to do the clorox one from now on!
Thanks!
Your blog looks great and is very readable now :o)
Donna