Dear FlyLady,

I think my favorite of the routines is swish and swipe. You wrote about how since your routines are automatic, you don’t have to think about them and it frees up your mind to meditate on other things. I don’t think I’ve gotten there yet, but I often marvel at how with your system, cleaning the bathroom becomes so easy, and it’s always clean (or at least has maximum 24 hours worth of dirtiness).

I always loved vinegar as a cleaner, and even more so after moving a year ago to a place with really hard water. I put ½ water, ½ Taffelessig (the German-speaking world’s equivalent to distilled white vinegar) in a spray bottle. It cuts through the hard water spots. I used to swish and swipe with a microfiber towel, one side wet and one dry. Now I use the vinegar spray and wipe it off and I don’t have to scrub the hard water spots on the faucets. Inspired by the way you keep a bottle of Windex under every sink, I now have a spray bottle of vinegar solution in each bathroom and in the kitchen. I went through a period where I didn’t clean the shower glass at all, and then the first time I tried to clean it I was going to either go crazy trying to scrub everything off or give up, and then remembered a testimonial about dusting a super dusty plastic plant a little each day to good effect, so I just left it at a quick spray and squeegee. With doing that each time I shower, it did gradually come clean and now I can keep it clean with a quick spray and squeegee, like a swish and swipe for the shower, as you’ve written about.

As I start to get control of my home, I see that I really like order, I just didn’t know at all before how to get there. Thank you for showing us a path. I found your site after googling, how do I become a better housekeeper? I found the getting started section, watched the intro videos, and was hooked. I loved the fact that you understood where we were, and the you’d been there. When you said to put dishes on the floor if you had to, to shine the sink for the first time, I thought, I don’t have to put dishes on the floor, and if Flylady can help people who do, she can help me. I also loved your empathy and tough love, and the fact that you believed that if I started by shining my sink, I could get out of CHAOS. Your conviction gave me the faith to take the first step of shining my sink the night and start doing the routines the next day. I’ve taken steps forward, then back with another baby and an international move, but the Flylady system is always there for me when I’m ready to start baby stepping forward again. At my better moments, your voice cheering me on has replaced the negative voices in my head. Thank you for rooting for all of us, for teaching us how to create homes that hug us and to love ourselves and know that we deserve that.

Ruth
Trying to flutter again in Zürich

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