Yup. CHAOS. It felt SO GOOD attacking all this and waking up today to a clean living room! And now I feel like I can spend the time shining my sink when I have a much more peaceful view as I work. :)
Do you take pictures of your cluttered closets or messy rooms? I love taking before and after shots. They motivate me, and they're fun to show the husband when he gets home from work! :D I'll share the "after" picture today, along with my shiny sink "before and after!"
Update later same day:
Here are the After pictures!
Today I wanted to share a few more cool things about FlyLady with you, and then you'll find BabyStep 2 at the bottom of the post.
1) One is that her daily emails include a Fly Kids Challenge to help us teach our little ones how to pick up after themselves as well. I'm so excited to start doing this with Ellie! You can sign up for her emails here (again, remember to do the "FlyLady Lite" option so you don't get 10 emails a day!).
Here's an example of today's Fly Kids Challenge:
Today we are going to do something that might be hard, but that is okay. You can do this! You are going to go look in your rooms for 11 toys that are either broken or missing pieces that need to be thrown away. Get a trash bag and toss them!
Things that you do not use because they are broken is clutter. Clutter is made up of the things that you have that you do not love or use. When you get the things that are broken, missing pieces out of
your room, there is less to pick up and clean. This gives us more time to PLAY!! YEAH!
2) The other thing I love is her Flying Through the Holidays Control Journal. It's 25 pages to help you organize recipes, menus, gifts, calendar dates, travel plans, etc. So helpful!! Start a FlyLady folder on your computer and save this to it. Another thing to copy and paste into a document to save is this Clutter Free Gift Ideas List for Preschoolers, School Aged Kids, Teenagers and College Kids. Love the idea of asking grandparents for a membership to a zoo or for classes!
3) The last thing I wanted to note is how FlyLady breaks down different habits to focus on each month, or different zones in your house to focus on cleaning each week. She includes missions for you to accomplish in her daily emails, or you can read about them on the launch pad.
December's Focus: Pampering yourself "Take time for you! You are so worth it!"
This Week's Zone: Kitchen mainly--but can add Back porch/ Laundry room/ Pantry
Tuesday's Focus: Planning (meals, date night, prescription refills, family activities...) then Play!
And now for Day 2 of FlyLady's BabySteps... Getting dressed to your shoes!
If you're a stay-at-home mom you will especially appreciate this one. This is one of FlyLady's habits that always stands out in my mind (even when I'm not consistently following FlyLady). It consists of popping out of bed and getting yourself ready for the day FIRST thing. And it really makes a big difference for me--because on my rare off days (where I don't have classes or anything else going on), my tendency is to lounge at home all day in my comfies and not leave unless my awesome friends call me up and get me out of the house. :) Or--another confession--on a really lazy day I can even forget to brush my teeth (until the husband is on his way home and I quickly go brush haha!)
So getting dressed to my shoes is a huge help for me (when I actually do it!). Something that motivates me is knowing that the day I don't "dress to shoes" will inevitably be the day that the mailman comes by with something for me to sign, or our apartment's maintenance has to stop in for something.
And for those of us with little ones--a trick that has worked for me is keeping a box of Cheerios and a snack cup in our bedroom to hold Ellie over. I'll bring her milk cup in from the kitchen along with a banana, and then I'll pop a show on while I quickly wash my face, brush my teeth, and put in my contacts. Or I can even hop in the shower since I can see Ellie on my bed from our bathroom. Baby Signing Time has literally been a LIFESAVER for this morning time!! And even though I can't hear from the shower, it's super fun to see what song is on by what Ellie is signing. And I can even sign along with her so I'm still interacting with her! It's also been awesome that Ellie can sign to me while I'm showering to tell or ask me something. Just love it.. :)
Have you gotten "dressed to your shoes" today? (Note: remember that whenever saying this phrase, your hygiene routine, hair, and face is included in this.) If not, it's not too late!
Here's what FlyLady says about today's BabyStep:
Beginner BabySteps: Day 2
Today I want you get up and get dressed to lace-up shoes when you first get up in the morning. This means fix your hair and face, too.
In order for us to change ourselves, we need to remind ourselves of what we are doing. I did this with yellow sticky notes throughout my home to guide me through my day. This was the beginning of my home control journal. I had little notes on my bathroom mirror to remind me to get dressed to shoes.
Shine your sink before you go to bed. (Remember that this just means that after doing dishes you'll make sure all the food and soap is rinsed out, sponge is wrung out, and sink is dried with a dish towel.)
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