the lost rule of organizing

After opening my rss-reader (nice little invention to follow several blogs at once) today I had to chuckle reading the article “The Lost Rule of Organizing” at smallnotebook.org

Basically it lists the rules of organizing you can find everywhere as soon as you are a little more interested in the subject:

1. Purge
2. Order
3. Maintain

Now Sarah adds number 4 which is the most important one for her. As I’m referring to her blog I obviously agree and I find my good feelings about the FlyLady-System confirmed again. So number 4 is:

4. Know when to stop!

aka

Don’t let perfectionism stand in your way and use the timer!

I could have found drawer dividers to separate the baking utensils from the other gadgets. There is definitely satisfaction in seeing things arranged nicely. I could have bought trays to line up everything neatly in rows, but I didn’t want to buy more stuff to hold my stuff. It’s just one drawer and it’s not out in the open.

Is my goal to have it look perfect like in a magazine, or is my goal to be able to find something quickly when I’m cooking? The way it is now, I can find what I need in two seconds. That’s good enough.

Having a magazine-worthy drawer might impress others, but it’s not worth it if you spend too much time on it. You don’t want to become a grouch when someone else moves something out of place.

This is exactly what the FlyLady provided for me – the knowledge that it is OK to stop and to take my time without overdoing it. Basically this part of the system gives me the drive to keep going and not to despair of the sheer amount of what needs to be done.

being back and busy weekend

I’m back from my short trip visiting a friend. What was intended as much fun turned into a lot of work of the organising sort.

After a very stressful time my friend just moved into her new appartmente. She felt down, tired and a little ill for some time now but called me up last week to arrange my trip. Now last Thursday she called again telling me that she got herself a puppy! Oh my!

Don’t get me wrong June, that’s the name of the puppy, is a sweet baby, white swiss shepherd. She either sleeps, nibbles on everything, eats or sh.. – you get it.

So I drove down to see my sleep-deprived-house-training-a- 9-weeks-old-puppy-just-moved-into-a-new-appartmente-friend and ended up with two rooms of unpacked cartons, an appartement that has to been cleaned for at least a month and two very moody personalities (friend and puppy of course *g*=.

I would not call my trip spending quality time with a friend but I know I could make a difference for her as she got to sleep while I watched June and we cleaned her kitchen (yes, like a true FlyBaby I started there *g*), dining area, living area and part of the new guest room. We sorted things to the attic and cellar and got rid of the junk.

Call me delusional but I strongly believe that the experience of my last weeks with the FlyLaday-system helped me to stay focused (one carton after the other) and not to lose my drive these past two days plus I’m sure I would have felt more stiff from moving the boxes and cleaning and sorting without my regular cleaning and uncluttering sessions at home.

accountability week 46 in 2009

If you are intrested in the full text, click here: Zone Missions for November 8 – 14, 2009 – Zone 2 – The Kitchen

Zone 2: Mission #1 Monday

We are in the Kitchen this week and we are going to work our way through from top to bottom!!

Your mission for today is to look UP! Now I am only 5 Ft 4 and I have a tendency to only see what is at my eye level. Today we are going to look up, set your timer for 10 minutes and take a broom or a feather duster and get those dusties and cobwebs that are hanging on the upper walls that are taller than you, the corners and the ceiling. If you are feeling adventurous ask someone in the house to help you and take a damp rag to the light fixture and/or ceiling fan. Please be careful!! Check out the top of your refrigerator as well. I am always so floored at how much dust accumulates on top of the fridge!! Don’t get obsessed and take your light fixture apart or repaint the ceiling! Babysteps!!!!

- As I did have an appointment today with my financial advisor about private pension possibilities I only rushed home and had interesting 3 hours. Anyway it’s shortly before 11 pm now and I’m not going to do anything today.

Zone 2: Mission # 2 Tuesday

Back to the kitchen we go! Your mission for today is to wipe down the doors of your cabinets. Use a damp rag and wipe down the fronts and the edges of your cabinets. This is really a simple thing to do but we have a tendency to ignore the cabinets because there is always so much more going on in the kitchen. Finger prints and grease attach themselves to the cabinets and make them a little sticky. A good wipe down will make such a difference. Remember we are taking babysteps!!! Small little missions that add up to a shiny kitchen.

- Tuesday update: I did the mission for yesterday today. While trying to reach my ceiling I realised that I must have “decluttered” my swiffer extension as I cannot find it. Anyway to reach the ceiling without a ladder I simply took a bamboo stick that is holding one of my plants upright and that worked as well. I also did the Tuesday mission. All in all I believe it took me less than 15 minutes. Yeah me!

Zone 2: Mission #3 Wednesday

It is Anti-Procrastination day we are diving into the refrigerator! Grab your trash can and take it over to the refrigerator and throw open the door. First toss out any leftovers that have gotten pushed to the back and have now started to turn into a science project. Second, check the fruit/vegetable drawers and toss what no longer is appealing to eat. Third, check the meat and cheese drawer, check the expiration dates on your items in there and toss what needs to go. Fourth, check out the doors of the fridge, toss the empty condiment jars and bottles that always seem to magically go back into the fridge when empty, LOL, but when full get left on the counter. Last, grab a damp rag and wipe down the shelves. Do not take every single thing out of your refrigerator and then take the shelves out to clean them. Just wipe them down. How many times have we decided to tear the fridge apart and three hours later we would rather move out than ever do it again.
Don’t let yourself get sidetracked!! Have fun and enjoy your sparkling refrigerator!

- Wednesday update: ok, this one is easy as well as I tend not to have “science” projects in my refrigerator. Anyway, as I’m not going to be home on the weekend so I also did errands and laundry today beside doing desk day. It worked quite fine and was done fast as I knew exactly where everything is I need.

Zone 2: Mission #4 Thursday

It has come to the time to go after those counter tops!! Your mission for today is to scrub those counter tops. Not just the average wipe down that we do after dinner. Now it is very easy to make this task overwhelming but if you take this slow and easy you can do this! DO NOT TAKE EVERYTHING OFF OF THE COUNTERS AT ONE TIME!!!! I promise you will get sidetracked and then you will all email me crying that it is all my fault!! LOL! You just move your toaster (or coffee pot or whatever this is an example here! :>) ) over to one side and wipe down the counter, then move over a foot or so, move aside what is there and wipe down some more and so on. We are not marathon cleaning the kitchen here, just getting all the crumbs and junk that seems to build up behind and under things. Have fun! Don’t obsess! Enjoy!

Zone 2: Mission # 5 Friday

Today is our last day in the Kitchen!! For today I want you to grab your broom and your mop. Sweep your kitchen floor really well and then mop. There are several ways to mop a kitchen floor and no real wrong way. Hot soapy water and wipe. There is no “perfect” mop and no “perfect” way to do it. Just Do It! Don’t obsess and get caught up in perfection! It won’t matter if you don’t mop the way your Mother did as long as you do it. Remember House work done incorrectly still blesses your family!

need for re-organisation

It’s the second week in a row that I did not do the weekly home blessing on Saturday as I had planned though I was home and had time. I did things today so no harm done and additionally I also washed my living room curtains but I need to find another time slot for the home blessing. I’m not yet sure where to put it. I’ll test this week to do one thing on each day. Maybe that works.

Café Mocha – home made and to go

So sometimes great recepies are circulating in the FlyLady mails. I like this one:

Cafe’ Mocha

1 cup of instant coffee, I like Tasters Choice best
2 cups of Nestles NESQUIK
3 cups of Carnation Instant Milk I have tried other brands and they don’t taste as well.

To make your cup of Cafe’ Mocha; boil your water, pour into your cup and add 3 tablespoons to your cup. If you have a big mug you will have to adjust the number to tablespoons you add to it.

does decluttering make sense in hard economic times?

Does Decluttering Make Sense in Hard Economic Times? is the question asked by onsimplicity.net. I confess I had not yet considered to stop my uncluttering because of the present state of economy.

I don’t take the situation lightly though I do still have a job that could change any day especially as my company is downsizing which includes job cuts but I just feel so much better without the stuff I already got rid of, that I won’t go back.

The author makes the following statements which I agree completely with:

1. Now is not then, goods are more available than in the 1930s and second-hand-stuff as well as cheap products for daily life are readily available and
2. Getting rid of stuff makes me feel freer and act freer. Just imagine you might have to move or downsize in a very short time frame. Do you think it’s easier with the minimum of stuff or with 4 times as much as you actually need?

accountability week 45 in 2009

If someone is intrested in the full text just click: Missions for November 1 – 7, 2009 – Zone 1:The Front Porch/Entrance/Dining Room

Zone 1: Mission #1 Monday
Today you are to sweep your front porch area around your front door. Shake out your welcome mats and wipe down your front door. This makes a huge difference in how your home looks. We have a tendency to neglect this area and yet it is the first thing that people see when they come to your home.

- I don’t have a porch but I wiped down the staircase as I haven’t done it during the weekend. I also added the floor of the entrance area.

Zone 1: Mission #2 Tuesday
or the Front Porch, Entrance and Dining Room, put out the fires that are burning in your hot spots. Get rid of the pile of shoes by the front door, get rid of the pile of junk mail and put away the magazines and school papers that are piled on the dining room table.

- Not having a porch or dining room makes this much easier. Since getting my entrance sorted I have no hot spot there any longer. What I still have are a lot of shoes, not in front of the door but generally. So today I sorted out 2 bags (120 litres) of shoes. As soon as the announcement by charity is coming I’ll put them outside to be picked up.

Zone 1: Mission #3 Wednesday
Today take a look at the walls and the windows in your dining room. Grab some cleaner and a cloth and go after the finger prints and smudges that those mysterious little elves seem to leave behind as they run through your house when no one is looking!

- Easy again as I have no dining room. To substitute I continued with my now empty shoe rag. Or well, actually it is a huge shelf in a broom chamber. I cleaned out the next section of it. I threw away old phones and answering machines and image I “found” 8 beautiful glasses for red wine. Though I don’t drink any alcohol I’m a sucker for these huge round glasses and I tend to walk by these stylish design shops with a desiring eye … anyway I have 8 really nice ones and actually know about them again. Woot!

Zone 1: Mission #4 Thursday
We are heading into the Entrance area of your home today. Let’s grab all those shoes, books and jackets that seem to pile up right by the front door and put them away.

- Today is thursday and I’ll skip this because there are no piles in my entrance area. Yeah me! Nevertheless I’ll head directly over to the Friday mission.

Zone 1: Mission #5 Friday
Today we are going to do that in the Dining Room and Entrance Way. Let’s go after the ceilings, light fixtures and window sills!

Using a feather duster or dust rag get the window sills, the light fixtures, the dusties in the corners and the ceiling fan if you have one (remember to put something underneath this to catch the falling debris, one member uses an old pillow case and slips it over the blade and wipes so the dust stays in the case, I thought this was brilliant!)

- So, it’s still Thursday *g* and I dusted off all my door frames (no windows) and also all lamps (no fans). I got it done in 2 minutes top. Doing it today as well as all of my errands is keeping my evening free for tomorrow. This is very necessary as I have a ticket for the Opera. *excited*

This is one babystep at a time! Keep Flying!

Kelly

two months of flying and accountability

I just realised that today it’s exactly two months ago that I found the FlyLady System. Two months that made a huge difference to my home and to me feeling homey at home.

I have uncluttered knickknacks, books, clothes and shoes. I dusted, vacuumed, cleaned windows, swished, swiped, cleaned doors, lamps, re-ordered book shelves, emptied the space under my bed, sorted all of my paper work and I don’t know what.

Most of the time I felt very strong about my doing and enjoyed the process. I still don’t like house work but doing it in little steps lets me find it doable and tolerable.

Nevertheless it becomes winter now and I feel more lazy and less energised. Somehow last week I didn’t do any assignments which is something I don’t feel good about. I thought about the reason for it because 15 minutes a day is very doable.

Beside feeling more tired I think I might need to make myself more accountable. I saw different threads in the FlyLadyForum about accountability. As I don’t like the set up of the forum much I have decided to do my own here. I’ll post the weekly sneak peek and will update my doing of it daily. Let’s see how it works.

 

desk day = save money

Wednesday is desk day, at least for me. How does it work? I collect all mail during the week that comes in. I open all letters and store the content in my Wednesday protection sheet in my control journal. I throw away the envelopes immediately as well as all catalogues.

Once a week I sit down to file all post or to answer and file what needs answering.

Today I answered an account I received that asked me to pay a small amount. I could have paid BUT because I have filed all post during October (yeahh for that) I knew that the account is not justified. Now I had everything I needed, answered them and objected the claim today.

So my desk day saves me money two ways right now: as my papers are where they belong I have a good overview of my finances which means my choices are well-informed plus by getting rid of all catalogues and only ordering when I need something online I buy what I need when I need it ergo I safe money!

Thank you FlyLady!

sink reflections

For more motivation and off-line reference I’ve ordered “Sink Reflections” the book that basically describes the FlyLady-System on 223 pages.

That’s actually quite thin for a so-called “self-help”-book isn’t it?

Anyway, my first impression was a sidetracked one *g* the book “about a sink” comes completely in pink. I’m not kidding the cover is pink. I mean a real barbie-doll-pink pink.