I have been receiving the FlyLady's emails daily for a long time. She is a cleaning expert who is very gentle and encouraging and therefore extremely motivating. One of her signature lines is " You are not behind. I want you to jump in right where we are!" Her point being that it didn't take a day or two for the house to get cluttered and it will take awhile to get it under control. However, it CAN be done if we start with "Babysteps."
She recommends working in 15 minute increments at a time using a timer. Her theory is that anyone has 15 minutes to spare and that you would be amazed at what you could accomplish by overcoming inertia and beginning with only a 15 minute commitment. Once started, if you feel like working longer, you can but you don't have to. This is very empowering to me.
I can rarely, almost never, find a Whole Day to clean my house, but I Do have lots of 15 minute windows throughout the day. I have started, and am seeing big results that make me happy. Success breeds success! These little changes make such a difference! They motivate me to continue to clean up hot spots of clutter and to form new habits.
I have been wanting to organize my pantry for quite awhile. While Tori cleaned and vacuumed the basement, I worked alongside of her emptying my pantry. Taking inventory, I realized that I had 14 cans of tomato products! Apparently, no shopping trip is complete without a can or three! Sauce, paste, crushed, diced and prepared seasoned sauce are now organized by way of product and expiration date! It's time to make some chili!
Sure enough, that pantry organizing which has been on my mind for months took only about an hour to do. I couldn't believe it. It looked so much better that I went upstairs and emptied out my lazy susan corner cabinet. Not wanting to drive in the snow to get new shelf paper, I relined in newspaper to keep moving forward. This food is now inventoried and organized. See that BIG box of nonfat dried milk?
It expired in 2007. Whew- that's six years ago! Out it went. Another job, LONG overdo, finished using Babysteps. I recommend Flylady for daily motivation to "Bless" your house. It is a change in attitude from the "WORK" of cleaning to the privilege of Blessing it ( organizing and decluttering) to make it a welcoming home for family and friends.
