A few days ago my thankful was about a clean dishwasher. My friend, Fifi, directed me to Flylady.net, saying it had changed her life. For today’s history lesson, you need to know that I have always been a really bad housekeeper. I wanted a clean house and I do know how to clean, but it never reached the top of my priority list. For several years, I have been struggling with self-esteem issues surrounding my unclean house. It isn’t board of health shut you down dirty, but I am so NOT a clean freak.
A few months ago, after watching several episodes of “Hoarders” on TLC, it occurred to me that I might be a hoarder. A lot of self-evaluation later, I decided that I am not a hoarder, but am probably just too lazy to do housework. I don’t keep needless things. Anyway, I have been trying to declutter and clean, but keep getting sidetracked. Enter Flylady.net.
This website is dedicated to people like me who are a little bit too whatever to clean their house alone. It was like this site was made for me personally. I love it. The idea behind the whole thing is having a tiny daily routine with a daily e-mail of two tasks which will take no more than 15 minutes each. By focusing on a zone of the house each week, it ends up all being clean. This program just might work for me. Cross your fingers!
Anyway, I am truly thankful that Fifi knows me well enough to suggest this site. One item of note, when my big girls were little, I consciously decided not to clean much, because when I cleaned and they messed it up, I got mad. I didn’t want to spend their childhoods being a witch, so I stopped cleaning. The site keeps reminding members that perfection isn’t the goal, but progress is. Like the Flylady says, small baby steps.
Like you ... when my sister sent me the flylady link it was like this huge relief that I wasn't the only person who felt overwhelmed and totally a big failure at house cleaning! The "you can do anything for 15 minutes" has spilled over into all areas of my life. Every quilt that I have hand quilted has been done 15 minutes at a time. Once the house got clean, maintaining it is a snap ... baby steps! Here is to freedom from choas :)
ReplyDeleteLove, Fifi