Dear FlyLady and Crew,

Since joining, the routines have done wonders for me, but I wanted to comment on just one routine that made a huge difference.  It is taking care of all mail as soon as it enters the house.  I never bothered with it before, at least until this month.  I kept wondering why my hotspots would erupt when I wasn’t looking, and why the kitchen table would suddenly be inundated with clutter the moment my back was turned.

It was the mail.  I would leave it in some random place, saving it for later.  Then, when I needed the kitchen table, I would dump all the mail and papers on my desk, or in the closet, or stuff them in a file drawer.  Then, the process would be repeated, and repeated, until I had to have a marathon session with a shredder to deal with all the paper clutter.

Several weeks ago, you had an email about dealing with the paper clutter as it came in the door.  I was sure it wouldn’t make much of a difference, and was I wrong!  It made a noticeable difference within a week!

I started with processing the daily mail as you suggested.  I added it to my afternoon or evening routine because it only took a second to do.

Then, I decided that I would handle one old piece of paper clutter along with the mail.  As if by magic, it seemed that my paper clutter started to disappear.  My table was clean again, I discovered the top of my desk, and discovered several piles of forgotten papers that  I had stashed away in random places.  I took the idea to work with me, and the mess of my desk disappeared there as well.  I even found a pile of papers from 2002 that I’m currently sorting through!

Wow!  Just that one tip made a huge difference!  It seems as if most, if not all my paper clutter started with leaving the mail for another day.  I look at my clean desk and just smile in amazement.  I can’t wait to start on the stash in the file cabinet and the bigger pile in the closet!

Thank you!!  Its fun being able to put my elbows on my desk again!!

=Flyguy Geo=

Switched Into Hyper-drive

Dear FlyLady,

We all love the music on the cd, of course.  But it also has amazing magical abilities!

Let me explain.  We were picking up toys and I turned on the 2-minute clean up song.

My 5-year old switched into hyper-drive.  He was racing to finish before the song ended. This was done without a word from me!  Adding music turns chores into FUN routines!

I just can’t get over how easy it can be. Thank you for making the cd, that’s all I can say, thanks.

Cindy