Dear Friends,

Years ago I would do any thing that I could to get away from home. Now I know that I was running from my home because it was so cluttered that I could not stand to be there. Everywhere I looked I was reminded of my own incompetence and laziness. I hated being there, so every chance I got I ran to escape the pain that I suffered while I was there. As a result it got worse.

Then Robert and I married. I had a houseful of clutter and so did he. Then we went to estate auctions and bought more. Clutter, clutter everywhere and not a place to sit! It was awful. I was always making great plans to remodel and get rid of the green shag carpet and yucky kitchen cabinets. We would go to dinner and draw out these elaborate plans only to push them aside. I felt that since I could not keep the house clean as it was that it would be impossible with a bigger house. Robert was always supportive and didn’t even expect me to cook, clean, or even do laundry. His comment was that his arm wasn’t broke and if it bothered him he would do it himself. Well this made me feel even worse. Here was this wonderful man who deserved to be spoiled and I couldn’t even keep clean underwear in his drawers. That is when I started to figure out what was going on with me and why I always had trouble with keeping house.

As I have told you many times and if you have download my book, Sink Reflections, you will hear it for yourself. It all started with that shiny sink. I had to build one habit at a time and keeping the sink shining was my first and most important habit. This is why your first assignment is shining your sink.

From that one shining sink, clean swept through our home like a white knight on a horse. It was not instantaneous, but after 4 months we were really beginning to see a difference in the way our home looked and best of all, how it felt. I like to think of it as giving birth to a new me, because that is exactly what I did! As I was dealing with taking care of me and slowly getting rid of the clutter, our house became a home. Not a museum but a real home that you could enjoy being in and not be afraid to open the doors to strangers or even close friends. I was no longer trying to hide our dirty little secret. I had gotten rid of them. The clutter was gone and our home was a welcoming haven for us.

There is no place like home! There is no place like home! There is no place like home! When you can feel this way about where you live then you know that you are FLYing!

Robert and I enjoy our home. It is not spotless but it is lived in and loved! Every square inch of our home makes us smile! This is because we released our clutter, clean up our hotspots and established simple routines to keep our home blessed on a daily basis! You can do this too!

Every day we get complaints from new people that say our zones don’t fit their house. Yes they do! The FlyLady zones are for the main living areas of your home: From the entrance to master bedroom. Yes you do live in your master bedroom. It is an important room of your home; just as your living room, kitchen, and bathroom are all an integral part of what makes a home a home. The zones missions deal with making these rooms livable again. For years you have only tolerated being in them. They were not a place of refuge after a long hard day. You kept the blinds closed to keep the neighbors from seeing your dirty little secret, but to keep the lights low so you could be protected from the mess and the ugly words you hear yourself say when you are in these uninhabitable areas of your home.

One of the first things you are going to notice as you reclaim these rooms is that you are will throw open the shades and curtains and let the sun shine in! Clutter makes a room look and feel bad, with the clutter gone your home is going to sing and so will you. I love being home; in fact I really do hate to leave. Even though I have to occasionally; leaving really makes you feel good to get back home again. Did you know you can have that welcome home feeling each time you enter your front door?

This next week we are going to pretend like we are going on vacation, but in real life we are going to be sleeping in our own beds and spending a holiday in familiar surroundings. Your home can be a vacation home every single day and we are going to teach you how. I can’t wait for you to feel the peace that I have in our home!

Are you ready to FLY? There is no place like home! I promise!

FlyLady

Get your 2018 calendar ordered today! It will help you with our zones if you get the sticker kit too.