Dear FlyLady,

Thank you for this habit!

It is becoming ingrained (much like the make the bed habit) and I love it!

This month I’ve begun a 6:00 a.m. workout.

I not only put out my work clothes the night before, but also my workout clothes!  That and packing my lunch mean that I can arrive at work by 8:00 a.m.!

I have also added a before school/after school checklist (I’m a teacher).  These allow me to have a calm beginning to my work day, with everything in place!

FlyBaby H

Relieved From the Burdens of the Past

Dear FlyLady,

Thank you for all the ways you encourage us to declutter!

It probably took a bunch of all your different sayings to motivate me to burn a diary I’d kept from when I was 10 yrs to about 22 years. Suffice it to say that it wasn’t the happiest time of my life, and like many introverted and creative types, I took refuge in writing. BOXES of it. CRATES of it. And while my BO best friend had received instructions as to where it all was and to BURN it in the event of my untimely demise (I shuddered to think of my children ever reading those volumes) suddenly I realized, I could do it NOW, I didn’t have to wait!

It was like I had combined “Purge your paper” “Don’t leave it as a legacy for your children to clean up” and “If it doesn’t make you SMILE let it go” all into one. I got a burn permit from my town and had a great big bonfire that went on for hours — burning it all except one slim volume which actually was FUNNY about a trip to Europe. That I kept.

And you know what? I was worried that I’d feel sad or overwhelmed, but I didn’t. I felt relieved of the burden of a past that was No Longer Applicable.  Haven’t a clue why I felt the ‘evidence’ of it all was important enough to hang on to! And I have plenty of stuff from the past that DOES make me smile, and now I live surrounded by THAT.

Not to mention, I have a HECK of a lot more room in my upstairs closet.

Thank you thank you thank you…

FlyBaby E in CT