Fly Lady

When I was a stay-at-home mom, I worked harder than any 9 to 5 job that I could work. The main reason was that there was pressure to "Do it All" and to "Do it Best". I was daily engulfed in the day to day jobs of making food, doing laundry, cleaning house, and doing what I thought was my "duty" to do.

I balanced home life with a billon other activities that I found to be extermely important of a stay at home mom. I wanted to do everything little thing that I found to be characteristic of my vision of what made a successful SAHM.

As my kids grew older, enjoyed being a part of more activites, and had social calendars I realized that doing it all was not working. The one area that I tended to consistently let go was my housework.

I love a clean house (mainly because my momma brought me up thinking that one thing out of order in a house equaled a diaster!!!)I love the smell of burning candles, pledge, Pine Sol and dryer sheets! I love to go to bed under freshly washed sheets. (My Aunt Sue told me when I was younger that you get to make a wish every time you crawl under freshly washed linens)

Yet, my love of a clean house was let go due to the lack of wanting to let other areas of my "life" go. This is when I found Flylady.

I got the my control journal and in no time (HA) I had a plan of action of how I was going to keep a clean home. I spent hours (I mean HOURS) planning out my plan. I even went as far as to do all my cooking once a month so that I could "fit it in" to my schedule. After a year or so, I started to let go of my Flylady plan of action.

I did develop my own version of Flylady. I still have certain task that take part on certain days. I still like a clean sink and I still have a few morning routines that I stick to, like swishing out my toilet in the morining. (Ironically on a side note, I was told that cleaning my toilet daily with a little swish of the brush was actually a sign of being clinically depressed. That whole story is a different blog article in itself!)

This year, I am trying to balance how to reinstate my Flylady plan without hours of valued time planning. Just wondering what all my friends do to keep their homes in order (and clean)? Do you have a daily chore list?