Look, Ma! I'm Flying!

 My sink all shiny...it's amazing how much of a difference it really makes!

Are you suffering from CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome)? Do you find that you're so overwhelmed by day to day chores that you don't have the time or energy to get your home really organized and deep-down clean (like I know we all want our homes to be)? When it comes to home organization, I just have to rave about  Flylady's home organization system! I love having a clean home, but find myself often getting behind. I have so many things on my daily "to-do" list that a lot of times, the little things (cleaning baseboards) and the big things (sweeping/mopping) just pile up. Don't even get me started on the laundry. I loathe doing laundry! Anyway, I was first introduced to the Flylady system when I was pregnant with Bean. I have done the program off and on, but I'm hoping to stay "on" from here on out! Even Hubs makes the comment, "You're doing Flylady, aren't you?" I guess the fact that the house is clean and I'm not running around like a chicken with its head cut off is pretty indicative of Flylady to him. He is the King of loving a clean home. He's awesome, though...he is great about helping if I get too far behind on stuff.

I have tweaked Flylady's system and made it work for me. The main things I do are the Daily Routines and Home "Zones." One of Flylady's main "BabySteps" is to shine your sink. She has a theory that a clean and shiny sink leads to a clean home. It really is amazing how keeping your sink shiny helps keep you motivated! My whole house seems a little bit cleaner when my sink is shiny! I do tweak her "recipe" a little bit, though. Instead of bleach, I use vinegar (yes, another use for vinegar!). Another principle of her program is doing a load of laundry every day. This has saved my sanity! In fact, my daily routine pretty much keeps me from pulling my hair out most days.

I am going to keep this a short post, as there's no use in me going into mass detail about Flylady's system when she's already done that fabulously on her website. I also highly recommend her book, Sink Reflections (Flylady's real name is Marla Cilley). For those of you who are like me and get overwhelmed by her website and the wealth of information it holds, the book is wonderful. I will add another, more detailed, Flylady blog post if anyone would like to see exactly what my "control journal" (the journal that I keep all of my routines, etc. in) consists of. I just wanted to share with you all the magic that is Flylady in hopes that it helps someone else get out of the cleaning rut they might be in. It has been a lifesaver and makes it so much more pleasant to keep home. It really is different than any other systems I've tried and consistently works to keep our home running smoothly. In fact, the ONLY time I feel like our home is running smoothly is when I'm  using her system. Cruise on over to her site and, if you feel so inclined, get started "flying!"