Today's Ask FlyLady

The link won't work anymore, but essentially she said her favorite filing system is her fireplace.

I read this today and thought it was cool because I am now done burning all my extra paperwork. I still haven't gone through my filing cabinet yet, but I'm down to one bag of paperwork that needs to be filed. This was culled out of 2 paper bags full plus a floor full and a desk full. My computer room no longer looks like a mail truck exploded. Now it just has a bunch of other stuff that doesn't have a real home.

Tom from HeyTom.net posted my comment from yesterday. I'm published!

I'm thinking I might make a hard-copy Control Journal even though I like my palm one. There's something comforting about a physical piece of paper sometimes. Plus I see lots of binders in stores these days with school starting soon, so I could get a really pretty one. I know I don't have any extra binders lying around, because I had to take something of mine out of a binder when my husband needed a binder for something 6 years ago.

Yesterday I did a 5-minute room rescue on the living room before my company got here, and that was all it took to make it look great. I feel like I've ignored that room while I've been working on the other zones, but my husband and I both have been picking it up bit-by-bit almost subconsciously. So 5 minutes of concentration on it got the job done. Maybe I'll skip that zone next week and spend the time in Zone 1 instead (Entrance, front porch, dining room). Those are my worst spots right now, and I could use 2 weeks in them! Too many horizontal surfaces buried under piles.

It's kind of neat how the zones I've already cleaned stay that way. When my husband and I used to do a marathon crash-and-burn clean, we'd always say, "Now let's not let it get messy again." But it always goes back to messy pretty quick. Maybe losing messy is like losing weight. If you lose it slowly, it's less likely to come back?

Anyway, can you tell I like the system? I plan on sending in a testimonial some time, but it would be cool to be able to include a major shining moment of some sort. Like the unexpected guest visit that goes well, or an impromptu party with the neighbors. Or maybe just that I've been through all the zones and I'm back to the kitchen and I'm not starting over, but continuing where I left off. That would be shining moment enough for me. We'll see.