Dear FlyLady,I am a new babystepper  (day 13) who was trained how to clean house very well by my mother. People didn’t like to come over in fear of messing something up it was so clean.  As kids, we sat, and often slept, on the floor because messing something up created serious conflict.   In her defense, she grew up very poor and hungry.  She never had anything new until she married and had a strong compulsion to take care of things.  But as a result of her overcompensation, we did not feel welcome in our home.

When my children grew past the toddler stage, I discovered I that I was a good house cleaner, but lousy housekeeper.  As the kids grew, so did the chaos.  I tried many systems without success.  Thank you for the simplicity of this plan.  I shined my sink and just started in the zone you focused on which happened to be the Main Bath.  My extra room was the kitchen.  So, besides routines, I spent 15 minutes a day in each room.

As everyone else comments,  I was surprised at the difference from Monday to Friday.  But what amazed me the most was that for the first time (I’m 54 now), I noticed the progress I had made instead of the areas that were not yet cleaned to the standard I had been trained.  I have made progress in previous attempts, but would begin to be impatient with my family when they didn’t keep it up and then I would stop so that my family wouldn’t have the kind of memories I did.  As it turns out, my kids have memories of a messy home.

I knew there had to be a happy medium, and tried many times, but never seemed to find it.  But for the first time, I feel a change in me.  I see hope instead of failure even though my bedrooms are still in chaos (though my Master BR looks much better than it did last Sunday).  My sink is shining AND I’m not whining.  I can’t even being to express my gratitude.

A New FlyBaby