Dear FlyLady,

I found FlyLady in June, 2002. Yesterday morning I started thinking, “How has FlyLady changed my life? What do I do differently?”

You must realize I could write a book on the changes. But instead of that, I decided to take 15 minutes and give you some random examples.

I make the bed as soon as I get up in the morning. I knew it was a real habit when I got up in the middle of the night because I couldn’t sleep. When I finally decided to crawl back to bed, I found the bed already made!

I leave a half hour before an appointment that is only 15 minutes away so I feel you have made me a safer driver on the road. I put groceries away from the car one bag at a time before getting the next one.

I always have 4 FlyLady things with me when I leave the house: my stainless steel water bottle with ice in it, my Office In A Bag where I keep all my bills, my keys on the FlyLady Lanyard and my timer. The timer I keep in my gym bag, where I time my stretches 30 seconds at a time. Once, when I was doing my leg stretches on the stairs at the gym, a young man bounced down the steps, looked at me, and immediately said, “FlyLady!” He went on to say, “My wife has a timer just like that!”

One of the biggest changes is that I have all holiday celebrations at my house. My DIL likes using my house for her children’s birthday parties because there is “so much space.” This is the same DIL that took me 2 years to invite into my house because of CHAOS.

When my children were growing up we always went to my mother’s house to celebrate because her house was so nice and I would always bring the food. Two months after she died at age 92, I found FlyLady. I remember one of the last things she said to me. She had came over with DH for a visit [I would care for her in her home 15 minutes away along with the caregivers] and as she was leaving in the car, she said to me, “You have such a nice house.” I was shocked that she said that. I never thought that was true. I could never see that, of course, until I discovered FlyLady and finally said to myself, “My mother was right.”

Thank you the hope and encouragement you have given me the last years. It has made me a better person, a better wife, a better mother, and a better grandmother.
Sincerely,

Kate in Maryland

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FlyLady here: I am so proud of Kate! Do you have your own list of how your routines have changed your life? Please send them to me at FlyLady@flylady.net with ROUTINES in the subject line.

Have you gotten into the habit of taking your water bottle with you? This keeps you from getting dehydrated and it saves you money.