My FlyLady Testimonial

I finally had that "major shining moment" to inspire a testimonial. It was the "unexpected guest visit that goes well." So here's what I sent in:

6 Years Ago: I married my wonderful husband, who isn't any more organized than I am. We moved in together, opened our wedding presents, and we've been living in CHAOS ever since. Our excuses included, 1) we both work full time, so neither of us have time to clean, 2) our place is too small for the amount of stuff we have, and 3) why should I do anything if he/she isn't doing anything? Real stinkin' thinkin'.

1 Year Ago: We moved into our first "real house" which has more than enough room for everything we own, as well as having room for guests to come, be entertained, be fed, even stay the night. But it wasn't long after the boxes were unpacked that the CHAOS came back.

1 Month Ago: I found FlyLady. It didn't take much looking around on the site before I realized that this was going to be a good system for me. I was actually looking for info on Pam and Peggy's card system that I had seen my mom use for a while over a decade ago. (I'm a second-generation SHE.) The babysteps were what appealed to me most. It was like giving me permission to ignore scrubbing the kitchen floor when I really needed to find it first. I decided I was only going to focus on 1) Simple routines, 2) Dishes, 3) Laundry, 4) Taking care of whatever bothers ME the most about the zone we're in, 15 minutes per day. I didn't think 15 minutes was long enough to get much done, but I figured that once I added up 15 minutes across several days, I should at least make a visible dent.

It turns out that 15 minutes a day was enough to get each zone basically presentable by the end of my first month flying! In some zones, I spent 15 minutes one day, then skipped a day or two because I had made such a big difference that I had to step back and look for something else that needed to be done. It was so much better "for me" that I had to readjust my thinking to see what "normal" (read: born organized) people would still see as messy. My husband noticed and appreciated my work along the way, too. His comments included, "You're doing a great job," "This room looks great," and "I like coming in to a clean room. It's like coming home." My response to the last one was, "Thanks, that's the whole point of what I'm doing!"

In the middle of this first month, I did have company. My younger sister came and stayed for a week and a half. Normally, I wouldn't do any special cleaning for her visit because she knows how I am, especially since she lived with us for a while not that long ago. But right away she could tell the difference in the zones I'd already been through, and by the end of her visit, my house was actually cleaner than when she arrived! While she was here, I was able to leave my bedroom door open, which I hadn't done for 6 years!

2 Days Ago: This past Saturday, I had a real first. A friend of my husband's stopped by out of the blue. We hadn't seen him since we moved, so after standing around talking cars outside for a while, my husband invited him in to see the new place. And it was ready! He got the grand tour, without the embarassed "ignore the mess" comments in every room. There are a couple of rooms that are still dumping grounds for items that don't have a home yet, but none of the main areas of the house needed any excuses. I was so proud of myself!

So, I still have a few areas that need a lot of work (the rooms that don't fit neatly into the zones, mostly), and every room has out-of-sight clutter of some kind, but I am so happy with the progress I've made, that I'm actually looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish in my next 15 minutes.