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My Revolution: Part 3
With that giant hurdle out of the way, we went on to tackle a few other areas of clutter in the house. And we talked about the issue of the dishes in the sink. I was suddenly reminded of a conversation I’d had with my mom not that long ago. She had been singing the praises of a website called FlyLady. Using the FlyLady system, for the first time EVER, her sink was empty & clean every night. She finally got other family members to put dishes in the dishwasher and she runs it every night & unloads it every morning. This had never happened at her house before. The sink was always piled with dishes for as long as I could remember.
I desperately wanted to have an empty sink, but had been unsuccessful trying to do it on my own. So I went to FlyLady.net and started reading. The first step, as a new member is to shine your sink! I followed the instructions for achieving a perfectly shiny sink, and was ecstatic at the results. Aaron said it was too pretty to wash his hands in J. Now, I know it might sound silly, of all things to shine your sink. But the point is to have that one thing completely done that can serve as an encouragement. Since the sink looks so good, every time I have a dirty dish, I rinse it & put it in the dishwasher, lest I ruin my gorgeous sink. And every night, I simply spray it cleaner & wipe it out so it stays shiny & beautiful.
The FlyLady mindset is not complicated. Here are some things I’ve learned so far:
- Don’t worry about being behind, just jump in where you are.
- Perfectionism is a hindrance to good work.
- Housework done incorrectly (or incompletely) still blesses your family.
- Divide your house into 5 Zones. Work on one Zone every week.
- Take care of your Hot Spots daily (a Hot Spot is an area, when left unattended will gradually take over – those places where clutter seems to congregate & multiply).
- Work on one task for 15 minutes at a time (you can do anything for 15 minutes – even the task you hate most).
- Take a 15 minute break every hour.
- Wipe your sink every night so it’s shiny in the morning.
- Baby Steps!
- It takes 28 days to form a habit.
By signing up for the email list, I get daily (sometimes hourly) reminders & encouragement from the FlyLady Mentors. So I finally feel like I have the tools & encouragement to maintain a comfortable & clean home. And having the complete support & assistance of my husband helps immensely. He has embraced the FlyLady ideas (at least all I’ve shared with him so far) with enthusiasm.
I can’t tell you what this has done for my peace of mind. I said in the first installment of this series that I felt that the clutter & mess of my parents’ house was a reflection of the emotional clutter & relational mess that was going on under that roof. I think that the effect goes both ways. The state of my heart can express itself through my house, and the state of my house can affect my heart. Having a clean, comfortable house gives me a sense of peace, and I feel that it reflects the vibrancy of my marriage & my own heart.
The End
If you think you might benefit from some FlyLady lessons, check out some of my favorite pages on her website:
- Shine Your Sink – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Shine.asp
- Declutter 15 Minutes a Day – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Decluttertips.asp
- How to Declutter – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Declutter.asp
- Zones – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_Zones.asp
- Weekly Home Blessing Hour – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYFaq.asp#whbh
- Crisis Cleaning (aka “Company is Coming!”) – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlyingLessons_crisiscleaning.asp
- 5 Minute Room Rescue – http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYFaq.asp#rescue
- Moving Tips – http://www.flylady.net/pages/Flying_MovingTips.asp
sweet action! thanks for these tips; i’ll definitely use them. and my birthday is November 9th.
no. i only wrote the music to it.
let’s just say I’m glad it’s wearing off…. 🙂
I guess everyone has a different perspective, huh?
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