Fly Lady: Day 31

So my little organizing/cleaning experiment is over, or just getting started. I have made real progress. Here is what has improved,

*My dishes situation, I am always caught up now and my sink is shining still!
*Laundry, for the most part I have been doing way better on staying caught up on laundry!
*Getting up and dressed early
*Making my bed in the am

Here are the things I am going to work on next...

*My control journal, I broke down and ordered one because I think it will help me keep on track better. (There are also 19 baby steps for the control journal).
*Doing the 15 minutes of declutter everyday.
*Progressing to the Zones!

I think and my husband would agree that progress has been made. I am very proud of myself! I am flying. Thanks for reading all of these crazy posts! Did you learn anything, did you implement anything into your routine? From time to time I will give you an update, but the daily posts are done for now. :)

Fly Lady: Day 30

Check your calendar, do you have any birthdays coming up. Well, as a matter of fact fly lady...I do my daughter Lexi is turning 8 this Friday! Fly lady wants us to write down birthdays coming up and get cards/gifts for them. Already on top of it on this one.

Fly Lady: Day 29

Day 29, which also happens to be the first day of school and honestly...it's been a rough few days and this fly lady needs to back in "control" of things. Anyway, today's idea was to pamper yourself and the challenge was to spend some time in one of your hobbies. That hobby for me is reading. I love to read and never seem to find the time to do it. I did recently read The Help and it reminded me how much I love reading. What is your pamper time hobby?

Fly Lady: Day 28

Eat good food, drink water, and get good rest. Working on this too...

Fly Lady: Day 27

What's for dinner? (Beef, it what's for dinner). This is totally not my creation, but I wish it was. Planning what your doing for dinner before six is a great tool for avoiding the "witching hour". Once school starts on Monday we are going to implement this. So excited!

Fly Lady: Day 26

Today's message...don't worry if you miss a day or two (which consequently happened with all the craziness of getting ready for back to school), just keep going and read the end of any fly lady email, which says...

You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?

Fly Lady: Day 25

Today was an advice and encouragement day. Getting everything in your routine down is a process. Give yourself a gold star if you completed your morning routine. Well, I did it, not exactly sure it was still morning when I finished...it was one of those days, but it is a process right?

Fly Lady: Day 24

Today's we are introduced to the Swipe and Swish, which means to wipe down the counter tops and swish the toilet so it is ready for company. Another quick and easy thing that I love. I also love Lysol Wipes and they will come in very handy here.

Fly Lady: Day 23

Set your afternoon schedule. Basically this means after school until bedtime. The "witching" hour as it is commonly referred to. This is my worst time of the day, trying to get dinner done, tired baby, bored kids...it gets crazy. I am still waiting on finding whether or not my Kindergartener will be in morning or afternoon Kindergarten, so I can set my schedule for after school lessons/activities. It will be busy! Hopefully with dinner planning and the quiet time in the afternoon with only my younger two (who both still nap!, maybe I will even get to sneak one in sometime) will give me the stamina to survive until "the most wonderful time of the day" BEDTIME. (Yes, we actually call it this at our house and it is 8 pm!)

Fly Lady: Day 22

Where is your control journal?

A control journal is where you write down your routines and how you keep on track. You know I love lists and writing stuff down. There is another baby step series for getting your control journal put together. I think I will start that one after I finish the baby steps. One thing I like about it, is that is has an emergency preparation section. I also love how Monday-Friday is your work days, Saturday is family fun day, and Sunday is renew your spirit day.

Fly Lady: Day 21

Today's task is to read the daily question and answers from fly lady. There is a ton of "reading" to fly lady. I love though how other people's ideas and experiences can help motivate you! When you do something with a support crowd, even if it is an "online" group of friends you have never met, you get a boost of strength. Don't believe me, go post something on fly lady's facebook page and wait for the encouragement. I hope you are motivated to improve and continue flying.

Fly Lady: Day 20

Remember the days in college, where you could do laundry once a month and be good...well those days are long gone! For those of you that read my blog regularly, you know the trouble I had getting this washer and dryer set (4 months...but I totally LOVE them!) and then the 30 days I went without water. Anyway, my point in after hauling the 7-10 loads I do weekly to my mother-in-laws house. I now like to keep up on laundry! I have been doing the fly lady's trick of 1-2 loads of laundry each day. Starting early in the am when you get up and making sure those loads are sorted, washed, dried, folded, and put away! When you do a couple of loads a day it doesn't pile up and become overwhelming. Love this tip!

Fly Lady: Day 19

Read the testimonial. Okay, love you fly lady, but I am sick of reading things...so today (after I read the testimonial) I am making my own challenge.
I am going to spend 15 minutes on each room (take a 15 minute break every hour) and keep going until I am done. Surprizingly, it shouldn't take all day because I have been keeping up pretty well. We will see though. Is your timer set...ready, set, go!

Fly Lady: Day 18

Day 18, write fly lady's 11 commandments down. How are you doing? I found myself some cleaning shoes. What do you think? Click on over to read the 11 commandments

Fly Lady: Day 17

Choose a specific bedtime and stick to it.
I have been going to bed way too late...it has something to do with the house finally being quiet, me enjoying my down time, and one of my favorite shows that is on "after dark". With all that being said, my new bedtime is going to be 11:00. That may have to start after schools starts though, now guarantees.
By the way does anyone know why on the East Coast and West Coast it is the 11 o'clock news and everywhere else it is the 10 o'clock news. I much prefer 10 o'clock because then if I want to watch Jay Leno, I am not up past midnight.

Fly Lady: Day 16

Today was to read an email from flylady. Okay, aren't we already doing this? That's okay, I am way behind on laundry from our weekend away and I have a sick child, so I'll take it.

Fly Lady: Day 15

Today's challenge is to make your bed and do it as soon as you get up...which may or may have happened. By the way, my bed is my favorite piece of furniture!
By the way, I have created a clean fest at my house. My daughter recently organized her art shelf and wanted me to "blog" about it.

Fly Lady: Day 14

I have used calendars and planners faithfully since middle school. I honestly can't imagine life without them. Today's challenge is to read an article on using calendars. There is great power in writing stuff down to insue organization. Above is my favorite calendar because it a weekly calendar that has plenty of space to write down daily activities. Plus is has tear out lists, stickers, and pockets. I have used this for several years and it is my favorite.

What is all this fly lady stuff, read here.

Fly Lady: Day 13

Today's challenge is to do a Kelly mission to start working in the zones. This is another thing I love about fly lady. Working on certain areas of your house each day and deep cleaning a little part of it, so you are not overwhelmed. Today I choose my fridge before and
after. I guess grocery shopping would be the next logical step. :)

Fly Lady: Day 12

Delete your fly lady emails. Check, I love to delete emails! By the way, if you are getting a massive amount of emails from fly lady, make sure to check your account and only sign up for the ones you want (like the daily newsletter).