Dear FlyLady,

I first found your website just over a year ago when I was suffering from clinical depression after weaning my daughter (she’s now a happy, healthy, “helpful” 2-year-old). At that time I was so ashamed of myself and my house.  I was feeling very overwhelmed, but I thought your methods made sense and decided I’d give them a try.  I shined my sink and found that surprisingly encouraging (I tend to be the skeptical type) and getting dressed to shoes was easy enough, but pretty soon I stalled out and it all went nowhere.  In the months since I have tried lots of different ways to get the house clean, from a “chore jar” (which I never even finished making, lol) to tackling just one room at a time for several days (never finishing a single one all the way).

The house stayed in CHAOS and with two small children under 4, there was no end in sight.  I made lots of excuses for myself, especially after I got pregnant with #3 and was feeling sick/tired/in pain all the time.  The kids would just mess it up again, I was too busy taking care of them and their needs to clean the house, etc., etc., etc.  I think it would have gone on and on but my husband finally relented about staying in our current house (with all the mess, I hardly could call it “home”) and told me we could start looking at larger houses.  I guess he finally got tired of stepping on all the toys and books – we have a small 2-bedroom house with no usable basement and no place for a playroom, so our living room is the playroom.  We found a house we liked in short order and our offer was quickly accepted.  Then the elephant in the room trumpeted loudly – JUST HOW ON EARTH WERE WE GOING TO GET THIS DONE IN TIME?  My husband works two jobs, so the packing and organizing all falls to me.  YIKES!!!!

Well, I thought I remembered seeing a section on moving tips on your website so I came back to take another look.  After reading the tips (which have been a Godsend, by the way), I decided the best way to get this all done was to jump back in with both feet and start FLYing again.  I figure that establishing the habits and routines now, while eliminating the clutter so it doesn’t follow us to the next house, will make the transition much easier not only on me (I’m 6 months pregnant as I type this) but on my children as well.

The baby steps snd short bursts of decluttering and cleaning are just right for me now, especially since I have to rest so much and put my feet up because of the pregnancy.  I couldn’t do this any other way and moving would be a hopeless effort without your methods.

Now I am confident that we will have as smooth a move as possible and with my new habits and no clutter; our new home will start out clean and tidy and will stay that way.  Such a burden has been lifted from my shoulders just by following your simple plan.  The next six weeks or so don’t seem so frightening anymore, and I know with my timer and routines settling in will be a relative breeze.  Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

God bless and keep you,

Jennifer