Day 4: just keep swimming

As a Monday goes, today is pretty bad!  An overwhelming need to stay up until 3am watching X-Factor uTube clips (WTF?) means I woke up late and tired!

But.. I woke to a shining sink and got dressed to my shoes.. Well, thongs anyway!  It is the holidays after all!  I think I am seeing the benefits of this Flylady thing already!

Today's instruction are to repeat our mini routine of shining the sink and getting dressed, but also to add in checking Flylady emails. One of the biggest issues people have with Flylady is the sheer volume of emails.  Quite frankly, email is a time waster.. It's gets you on the computer (or iPad) and from there, procrastination is only a click away.  But, just for today, I'm going to 'trust the process'.

Flylady also suggests putting our two main routine items on post-it notes to display on our sink and bathroom mirror.  This is not my usual style, but again, 'trust the process'!  

Now I have a poxy post-it note on near my sink and bathroom mirror!  Let's just hope the husband and kids don't laugh at me!

Day 3: Checking out the Flylady website

I'm pretty sure that that the 'dress to your shoes' should be done first thing in the morning, not after midday - even on a Sunday!  And maybe putting on shoes would help as well!  I'll give myself a free pass for today.. It is the weekend after all, but tomorrow I shall be showered, dressed to the shoes and even have my hair and make-up done before I have my coffee!

Today's tasks are:

1. Shine your sink

2. Dress to your shoes

3. Check out the website

How did I do?  My sink is shining.. Whenever I walk into the kitchen I check it, putting any dirty dishes into the dishwasher and giving it a wipe.  The dishes that can't go in the dishwasher are stacked until I have a reasonable pile and then washed.  I give them an hour to dry, put them away and then put the drying rack back on its hanger and give the sink another wipe.  It's working for me!

The website:

I have to say it is greatly improved since my last visit!  The launch pad is a good idea and makes finding the main areas of the site a lot easier!  There is a lot of information on there and most of it I don't need right now - just the 31 day Babysteps program!  Not for long though!  Soon I will be venturing into the daily routines, weekly focus, and Kelly's missions!  

I will not get ahead do myself though.. Babysteps are there for a reason!

I'm off to browse some more.. It is very motivating to read about other people doing housework!

Day 2: Dress to my shoes!

  

Not only did I dress to shoes, but I painted my toenails! 

And discovered in the process that I am desperate need of some new bright coloured nail polish.. As opposed to the clumpy old stuff I currently have!

I gave myself a mini- pedi which was just some cuticle drops, trimming the toenails, and then lashing on the foot cream and cotton socks for an hour before my shower.  My feet feel delicious and ready for the summer months!  A full blown home pedi might just be on the cards soon!

I should probably put on shoes with laces once the polish dries to keep with the fly lady theme. The idea of wearing shoes is to feel ready to work rather then being casual.

Day 1: Shine my sink!

This isn't the first time I've 'done' Fly lady.  I discovered her 8 years ago when pregnant with child number three.  For six months my home was organised, I was relaxed, and then Chaos (aka DS3) arrived. I've tried a few times to get back into that same routine but my life is very different now - what worked then isn't working now.  Back to the drawing board.. Or in this case, Baby-steps.. I go!

A while back I downloaded the Home Routines App.  It is very 'Fly lady' friendly and so I entered all my old routines in and promptly forgot about it.  Today I deleted all my old routines and instead followed the apps guide to starting with Baby-steps.  I titled a routine 'Baby-steps' and numbered tasks 1-31 to be checked off each day.

It's not complex!  Over the next 31 days, with a few days off next week because I'm travelling, I will build up the basics of my routine.  But for today, I only have to keep that sink clean and dry!

Some helpful notes..

I didn't wash up - just pulled out the dirty dishes and stacked them.

It only took a few minutes so I also scraped up a tea towel and clean cloth from the washing and hung them on the convenient rails under the sink so I can keep it clean and dry all day.

I scrubbed the sink with Gumption, rinsed and dried it, then sprayed on Windex and shined it using the tea towel.

I made myself stop after I wiped the splash back and window frame, realising that I would end up in the land of perfection and failure.  There is mess on either side of the sink, and the cupboard doors below are dirty.  It was time to stop.  

I will probably do a bit more later but not as part of my Fly lady Baby-steps!  That will come later!