My Flylady experiment is not going well.
As you will recall, at the beginning of the year I decided I'd sign up for the daily Flylady e-mails nagging at me in a "Oh, mah pore precious li'l ol' sweetie" Southern belle way to pick up after myself and make my home more civilized.
After a couple months of e-mails, my daily reaction upon seeing the newest one is to want to crawl into a corner and whimper. Actually, I want to beat these women off with a baseball bat, then crawl into a corner and whimper.
I am so tired when I get home from work that the only thing keeping me from falling into bed at 5:30 pm is my dog, who expects dinner on the table.
In Flyladyland, of course, women do not work outside the home, so fatigue is no excuse for not swishing and swiping and "blessing" your home by keeping it regularly spiffed up. Yeah, well.
If someone knows of a de-clutter motivational program that isn't quite as Stepford Wives, I'm all ears.
12 comments:
ROFLMAO. Please, please, please, may I say I told you so? No-one ever lets me...
*grinnin*
Bette ;-)
I work 1 FT job and 1PT job, and use the Flylady system somewhat. It's not perfect, but it does specifically address those who work outside the home. But if it doesn't work for you, then there has got to be another group on the Web. Or maybe you can form one.
how's the anemia? I battle that myself, and if I am not absolutely on top of taking my iron every day, will find myself dragging and wondering why. I've been really stupid about remembering to take my supplements, and found myself in serious iron deficiency.
My big problems are lack of sleep and overcommitment to too many things. Honestly, at this moment, sitting here at my desk stealing a moment from work, I want to wind myself into a little ball in the space underneath and cry. No mas.
My suggestion for decluttering:
1 match
1 stick of TNT
1 set of really good earplugs.
:) But then again, I'm a slob.
The best money I have spent in the last five years was hiring what my mother's generation would call "a cleaning lady." She comes bi-weekly, and has transformed my life! I had time to keep the house (parsonage, actually) clean, or to keep it (reasonably) neat, but not both. She does the clean, so I'm trying to do the neat.
It's worth it if you can do it....
blessings,
Cathy
I found the ideal solution: I married someone with mild OCD. He's so obsessive that I don't even bother to clean at his level, but watch with some bemusement as he works himself into a frenzy sanitzing every surface as if preparing for major surgery. But I guess if you're already involved with someone who doesn't share that particular affliction that solution won't work...
I've been so tempted to just box up everything I see and throw it away, without determining if it is indeed something I need, something valuable or whatever. We had a family here whose moving van of possessions was stolen, and I found myself secretly envying them the chance to start over with nothing. Horrible, I know.
I echo Cathy on the joy of having a cleaning-lady. The gal I hired comes twice a month and does all the stuff I don't enjoy. This forces my hand to, twice a month, whip things together in advance of her arrival. Everything seems to hold fast for about 10 days, then I start to slip -- but by then it is time for her arrival again :-) It is the smartest money I spend.
The trouble with fly lady is the same thing you said in the post about Uganda: don't tell me what to do. Akkkk. I can tell myself what to do, it is the doing it that is the problem.
Hint: there is a housekeeping method called Picking Up the Chunks. It makes the whole place look better even if you don't get at the real dirt.
When I can sit at a computer and get the computer to do the cleaning, then the house can be perfect.
Though Flylady offers some very good ideas, I found myself wondering why on earth it is that all her tips involve what she must do, and nothing involves those she lives with. Nobody else in the home is responsible?
I take issue with Anonymous' comment: "It's not perfect, but it does specifically address those who work outside the home."
Sorry, no. All the advice on morning routine (which includes cooking breakfast, etc.) is awfully concentrated on the "little woman."
Whoever takes responsibility for the condition of the home can find valuable advice for doing so, but the really big question (which FlyLady wisely leaves unanswered) is, who is responsible?
Oops. That's me. No LH.
Would that I could afford a maid.
Ha! Culture shock is somethin', ain't it?
I can see how that kind of saccharine Southern schtick could wear you out if you weren't soaking in it.
Don't know what to tell you, except that they really do luuuve yew! Who else would do this shit?
Telling total strangers to shine their kitchen sinks because you know they're too frickin' depressed to think of it themselves, and it might make them feel a little less overwhelmed?
I'd invite you to crash at my house for a crash course in Southern culture, but the Fly Lady herself would have a petit mal at the sight of my bathroom.
Just remember the spirit in which it's offered.
ROFL!
I was reading elsewhere on the Internet about a simplify-your-life plan where, each week, you throw or give away seven of your possessions. When I read about it my first thought was, "That wouldn't even cover the contents of my refrigerator."
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