Dear FlyLady,Tomorrow will be ten years –probably to the day — that I first logged onto your website in 2004. I’d been posting to a list on another website and someone mentioned “decluttering like the FLYlady”. Wonder what that’s all about,  I said to myself,   I could use some decluttering!

I don’t think I ever really returned to the other website after that (it took way too much time).  At first I was using FLY principles for my office, which houses a number of departments, and even after ten years is a major challenge to keep organized,  but within a week or two I was applying the principles to my living area (I live in a religious community) as well.

Have I ever “fallen off the wagon” in ten years?  Oh yes, many times.  Have I tried other ways to organize and declutter?  Sure.    Have I bought other calendars and planning tools?   Yup.  But every time I come back because I know that your system works. And for me,  nothing else works.

So tomorrow I intend to celebrate my 10th FLY anniversary by renewing and re-energizing my efforts to use FLY methods both  for personal spaces and for work as well.

For those who are new to FLYing especially,  trust me,  at first you might do the routines and monthly habits because they are on the list and they help you to get organized.  They’re good rules to follow.  But eventually you come to see that they are really an expression of caring for yourself, of loving yourself, because you deserve a clean and orderly place to live and to work.  You FEEL like working and blessing others when your environment isn’t stifling you with stuff.   This is not about pampering yourself in some decadent or self-absorbed way.  On the contrary,  it helps you to be of better service to your family, to your wider community, and to whatever belief system you espouse.

In Finally Loving Yourself,   you are in a much better position to bless others with loving service. And for us SHE’s who love to improvise,  it’s much easier to jump and run when someone needs you or when some surprise beckons,  when your basic routines are holding your life and your obligations together.

Blessings and Thanks,  Marla and FLYcrew!   On to the next decade!

NJ FlyGirl