Dear FlyLady and Friends,
I am tentative about writing, as your lovely site has so much information. But I simply haven’t been able to find this one piece of information.
First, some background (I’ll keep it as short as possible):
I am 49 years old. That means I’m about to turn 50 and wondering how I lived most of my life without knowing how to keep house! Now that I have discovered you and your wonderful insights, my life has CHANGED. I no longer live in the same CHAOS that my (wonderful and loving but chronically messy) mother does. I have taken baby steps over the past year and I approach my 50th birthday with bathrooms that aren’t gross, beds that are made, laundry kept up, and a shiny sink that makes me grin. I’ve even started to plan meals for the first time ever, which thrills my DH beyond measure. My little DD, about to turn 7, is learning some good habits that I never learned until this year.
I weep with joy and am so grateful to you and your other lovely ladies (and guys) that run your site.
So — this leads to my question:
I’ve made it SO far over the last year, but how, oh how, do I fit the actual cleaning into the control plan? I read the email everyday and see the flight plan — I’m getting so much better at actually doing most of this stuff. But when do I do the missions and zone cleaning? They don’t fit in the morning — not enough time. They don’t fit after work, I need to get dinner, bath and bed for the little one, then get myself to bed. I’m already running as fast as I can just to keep up the bare minimum of the routines.
I’m afraid it’s a dumb question, but I haven’t been able to figure it out. Remember, I’ve NEVER kept house before — just lived in CHAOS until someone’s on their way over, so I stuffed everything into closets and under the bed to try to make it look good enough. Now I’m really trying to figure this out.
If there’s a link and you’ve already defined this on your site, I will greatly appreciate the info.
Thank you for helping all of us poor slobs out here in the world of chaos. You are a blessing to us all.
Grateful in Texas
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Dear Grateful in Texas,
The reason you have this question is because of your perfectionism. I am very proud of you establishing the habits of shining your sink, swishing and swiping, keeping the laundry done, cooking and meal planning. I think you should be celebrating instead of beating yourself up because you are not doing something right.
Sometimes we over think things. We look at the missions and feel like we don’t have time. When in fact each mission only take a couple of minutes. Let’s just look at today’s mission.
Today is the day to attack the clothes pile. Now you all know what I am talking about. This pile is either on a chair, on top of the hamper, dresser or at the foot of your bed. Set your timer for 15 minutes and grab some hangers or start folding. While you are doing this do not hang up or fold something that you hate! This is the time to let it go!! If you do not love it, send it right out the door!
Let’s think about this. You are in control of your laundry so I will bet that you don’t have a pile of clothes haunting you. So this is not going to take 15 minutes to check off your list. A quick glance around your bedroom to put away anything that is out of place and you are done! See you had nothing to do!
The missions are published in the Daily Flight Plan. Looking at tomorrow’s schedule puts this mission in your head. Just like Swish and Swipe gets done most days and your bathrooms are shining; with the mission in your mind. It will get done; even without it being on your perfect schedule.
Each Saturday we give you a Sneak Peek and the missions are there. The mission just show up and since you are always checking your schedule they are there.
