Thought you'd like this aspect of Flying....I know I do!!!!!  See what is possible!

Lorrie 

PS I would have posted the entire article but it wouldn't let me weed out the yahoo junk.

 Those are great thoughts, thanks for posting them. Not all of them apply to everyone, but then nothing does. For instance, I'd do without before I'd go to the grocery store multiple times a week. Multiple times a month  is bad enough!

It's good that you couldn't post the entire article, because we need to be careful of copyright laws. A paragraph or two is "fair use," but more than that could get us in trouble if anyone decided to pursue it. Internet law is still young, so everything is not entirely clear or agreed upon, but better safe than sorry! :)  

I just signed up for her emails last week after buying both her books, Sink Reflections, and Body Clutter. I've found some helpful ideas, like keeping the didhes clean and put away and dressing and making the bed immediately. HOWEVER, I find I am busy with far too many other tasks than she takes into account. I am not a sidetracked executive. I enlisted for the long haul. I spent all one day making cheeses and yogurt. The next was ice creams, and I had to do all 6 loads of laundry, not just one a day like she reccomends, because the weather was good. The next 2 days are rainy, so I'd use my dryer if I followed what she said. Not frugal planning. Also, one day was spent repairing fencing, another butchering a few chickens for potpies and chicken salads. One day was spent preparing my onslaught of eggs for various things, and yet more ice creams. You see what I mean?

 Yeah, Michelle, that's what I found. I think flylady is especially good for 'average' SAHMs who just haven't learnt how to deal with housework as 'work' (as I did.... I was a disaster for the first 5 - 8 years!) and who are drained of energy by motherhood. ( Its a proven fact that broken sleep damages your ability to make even simple decisions). So when you just can't face it all, it helps.

I think it is like any such system, you have to take what you can use and ignore what isn't helpful.

I found the emphasis on positive self-talk very useful, as I tend to get a bit negative and resentful of housekeeping eg "bloomin cooking....what's the point when they're going to complain about it anyway.... scrubbing toilets... didn't spend five years at university to scrub toilets....." etc etc. So now I just accept that the housework is the price I pay for getting to work from home and not rushing off to an office with people I don't like, and listen to a podcast or music.

Also the 'don't obsess' - ie, whisking the vacuum over  the worst bits and wiping over the countertop is better than nothing, esp if its going to take me another week to get around to the full works.

Getting up and getting my shoes on is a biggie - I get SO much more work done if I get up and dressed straight away, though there's days when I consider getting back into bed once the kids are at school!

This is week 3 post surgery for me and I now know how much I miss Flying.  My children want mom back up and doing.  Dh want me up and doing too... I cooked a really nice dinner last night.  First in a while.  Everyones been in survival mode here. 

I'm proud of me, though.  Today I changed the sheets and made my bed.  Then I put away all the clean clothes that have been left in baskets in my room.  I need to do laundry and hang it to dry, but this is the most I have accomplished since surgery.  It took 1 hr and 1/2 to do the bed and clothes, but it feels good knowing it's done!!  I refuse  to over do and end up hurting myself.

Baby steps will get me there!

Lorrie

Definately one to read from the library- Body Clutter that is.   I ended up not buying it.   I get the Walmart calendar, use colored pencils to give me "stars" for the day. My sink is much cleaner and it's nice to be encouraged. I don't do it all but it's getting better.

joan of ark 

 I like the idea of zones and a list of chores in each. I have followed Flylady off and on for years.

I have been on FLYLady's list for a long time, can't rememer how long ago I joined though.  I have learned I need to take what I can use & leave the rest alone.  There have been questions on the Ask FLYLady page where I felt it was a legitimate question & she gave her typical, "quit whining" response.  I believed the person deserved more.  She also advocates throwing out a lot of buisness related paper work that may put some people in small businesses in jeopardy when tax time comes.  JMHO

 Now, what do I like about FLYLady?  I like the idea of work zones, swish & swipe, etc.  I now see my weekly house cleaning as blessing my family.  My family and I have been long time clutterbugs.  However in the last 7 years or so we have decluttered TONS of stuff.  We still take 2-3 boxes of stuff a month to St. Vincent's, a resale shop.  I quit buying stuff just to be buying.  I really think LONG and HARD about purchases before actually making the purchase.  We also are better at picking up our stuff each day & keeping things "company ready."  Our laundry stays "done".  However, I do it on Monday, Wednesday & Friday.  This has worked for our family for years.  Everytime I've tried to do a load a day I get totally stressed out and it ends up being more of an isse than when I do it evey other day.

I have set my emails to  no mail as right now I don't want to take time to read them.  The computer is big enough temptation to me to not have that going on.  This way I can still access her site when I need to w/o the distraction of the emials.  Now that I think about it, I don't even need the yahoo grop to access her website.  Oh, another thing to declutter! 

Blessings,

Cindy

I set her emails to digest form. You get one email a day with a header list so you can quickly scan it and just read what you like.

I followed Flylady for a year or more and found her methods extremely helpful in getting my house in order.  I never learned any good routines myself for housekeeping, so her methods help me to focus on how to get it all done.  I no longer get the emails; there were just too many of them and I found the testimonials were becoming annoying to read, sometimes even depressing.  However the ones that came for the weekly zone cleaning I did like as it reminded me of what I needed to do, or could do to stay on top of things.  The holiday planning was excellent.  And the big cleaning that they do every few months is a good way to do it also.  So I say Cheers to Flylady, for what she gave me in getting my house in order.  E