Hello Fly Lady, and Fly Crew,

I am a Senior Fly Baby. As a Senior, I really appreciate the reminders.

I want to comment on the June focus to drink more water. Like many Seniors, I am on a blood pressure medication that contains a diuretic. I try to get my garden tasks done before the day heats up. Many times I have had to rush into the house, trying to get out of my dirty gardening shoes at the door, get off my gardening gloves, get off my transition glasses (which are still dark), all while rushing to the bathroom. I’ve rushed to turn on the light, lift the lid, get my pants down…and you guessed it. I’ve sometimes peed my pants, or the lid, or seat. You’ve probably guessed what happened next; I started drinking less water.

Between the diuretic, and perspiring from the exertion and heat, I became dehydrated. Did you know that this causes uric acid in the body to collect as crystals in the lower extremities? Yes, I got gout in my feet! You can’t stand the pain to get shoes and socks on your feet. Even the bed sheet hurts! To take the medication to treat this,
I have to stop the cholesterol medication and wait two days. Doc says you cannot ignore it or it can damage the tissue; she said it is a form of Arthritis. So, please remember to drink your water!

Mom and Grandpa used to suffer with Gout every winter. It was blamed on the old German tradition of having big pots of Bean Soup and Pea Soup as winter mainstay. Lentil are high in purine. An antidote is cherry juice. I am scarfing down cherries like mad.

Just wanted you to know about another reason to drink your water!

Hawthorn Garden Club member
Greenfield, WI

Dear FlyLady,

Your “a load a day” saved my bacon the first week I joined FlyLady – back in April. The water was out so my usual washer load or two a day wasn’t possible – I was going to have to hand wash in the creek. (This was just daily life for me on another island for three whole years long long ago when my kids were little).

I definitely would have procrastinated – hoping for a miracle fix of the broken community pump (it ended up taking over 3 weeks). Because of your “nagging” (ha ha – I LOVE you!) – I decided a half hour of hand laundry in the creek each morning was preferable to four to six hour crisis marathons. I found it pleasant in the small amounts and kept the laundry done. THANK YOU.

But that is not the main reason I’m writing. One thing that hasn’t be automated yet is folding the clothes. There is one trick to folding clothes efficiently for a large family that I didn’t learn for a few years. Figuring it out was a nice AHA moment for me. This is it: Do all the sorting, by person, room, shelf – BEFORE any folding. That way, once it is folded it doesn’t get accidentally unfolded before it gets to its home.

Big big hugs and thanks for all the great ideas, all the reminders and all the love, FlyGirl Fiji.

FlyLady here: Our habit for August is working on Laundry.

A load a day keeps CHAOS away!

Do you have a story or tips that will help other FlyBabies with this habit?

FlyLady Rebecca here: Do you have a Testimonial about doing a load of laundry each day? Let us know, and send an email with MY LAUNDRY IS GETTING DONE in the subject line.