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This is going great! I have post it notes above the sink and told "the boys" that they were for ME, not them...yet they have been wiping the sinks clean after using them! Also did a hotspot, and kept going after the 2 minutes (is that legal?!) and got it all cleaned. Going along with the beautiful kitchen sink, the window there is now decluttered and cleaned...looking very close to a magazine photo kitchen nook! (Don't worry...there are still 2 more hotspots in the kitchen plus the fridge surface to de-clutter...the kitchen is FAR from done ha ha). Lucky for me, laying out clothes the night before is something I already do...so I feel like I'm cruising along! Thanks for the pep talks Grinity! Nan

This warms my heart - Go DH of Nan! Go DS of Nan!
Great work on the hotspot - I think going over is legal depending on our mindset. If we overgo to the point where the stinking thinking rising up, or we retreat into bed then that isn't 'legal.' If we have a smile in our hearts while we overgo, and afterwards, that it's a blessing!

I'm pretty sure that starting tomorrow we do '2 minute' hotspot fire drills in the AM and PM.

I'm wearing a light blue shirt and navy pants tomorrow - Yippee!

What are you dear ones wearing tomorrow?
Grinity

Had surprise drop-by company tonight and thanks to my clean sink and my 2 minute decluttering of the kitchen counter, I only had to strategically close one door and hide a few items. HUGE improvement!! I can�t wait for my whole house to be this ready for surprises!

Still need to decide what I�m going to wear tomorrow and get it prepped before bed. I�m meeting with the principal so I�ve got extra incentive to look polished and put-together.

wow you all have a lot going on. I had to stop at page 6. I'm too tired. I hope I remember to get back to this - interesting. I am a "want to be" for cleaning and organization and being a together Mom. There have been several housekeeping issues I've been working on for years. I must say I have improved but have a way to go. It feels like I will never have it totally together but that's ok. I'm doing better than many, especially if I am expecting someone to come by. I do believe in habits and organization to make life go better.

I would really like to jump to something with paper work clutter. Is that possible?

I really have a hard time with this. I just don't know what to do with everything and don't get around to figuring it out. I have 2 laundry baskets of not too important stuff from times when it just got too much in the kitchen. I have a Mommy central Desk type situation in the kitchen and really wish I had my own desk but this might be the best I can do.

I'm scared about the clothes part. I have so many issues there. but I haven't read the website yet.

I may join in on this after Labor day. I have project right now I need to get done first.

Good luck to everyone with this!

All of my so-called hot spots are paper work clutter. That is my priority also. Look at the first post on this thread for the link to baby steps. That is what I am doing. The entire website is a little overwhelming. Even though it starts with shining the sink, it has been helping me with my paper work clutter.

I don't have a desk, but have paperwork in piles around the house, plus in boxes and filing cabinets. I am only doing baby steps, one step at a time. I am making myself NOT think that it is too much and I will never get it done. One spot at a time and I will get it done (thinking positive). If you don't start with the sink, pick one pile and plan to do JUST that. It helps to think you are only going to work on it for a specified period of time, too.

Nan

Don't worry OTGmom, just go back to the last day that you could do without running yourself thin. I'm sorry you are so tired. Do you mind starting a separate thread on the 'Discussion' area called, "I'm too tired!"

I just know that this is a huge issue for at least one other of us, and I'd love to see us do some sharing and problem solving about it.

As for paper clutter, i'll look around later if there is any 'Flylady specific' advice on how to deal with it. Personally I think it is a 'less is more' sort of thing. If you could get yourself to set a timer and limit yourself to doing 2 sessions of 2 minutes on one of those laundry baskets every day that you would be left with a 2 inch stack within a month.

Personally I use David Allen's 'making it all work' or 'getting things done' to help me sort, file and take action on paperworky kinds of things - and approach it in a Flylady style.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

Grinity,
You asked me to look at the FlyLady site and explain what gave me issues last time I did it. Looking at the first seven days, only two of them are cleaning tasks. The rest of the steps are mentality shift steps, or read boards steps. At the time, this probably threw me off a lot because I was expecting one thing and ended up with another. Does that make sense?

I think I get that. It sure is different than every other 'get organized' book or article I've ever read!

How is it going this time around? Are you better able to made 'friendly amendments' with the group thing going on?

Hugs,
Grinity

Every horizontal space in my house is a hotspot. It's hard not to get discouraged. I'm trying to focus on just one until its all better and then move onto another so I can see the improvement, but I'm going to have to go to the drastic clean mode because we just heard we're going to have an unexpected guest next week. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Well Mama22Gs - I've been in your shoes.

You have 2 choices (3 really)

1) 'Stash and Dash Stlye' Get everything you don't know what to do with and dump it into banker's boxes and stack them in a closet where you can forget about them forever.

2) 'Flylady Style' Take this as a great oppotunity to become a Master Crisis Cleaner. see http://flylady.net/pages/FLYingLessons_CrisisCleaning.asp

Or
3) Do as much of option #2 as possible, and revert back to option #1 for the rest! That's where I started, anyway.

This Saturday I went after all my paper clutter as though I were crisis cleaning (go back and read my posts if you don't believe me. Look at the timestamps. I was taking breaks and they didn't turn into marathons)- I even unearthed a banker's box of papers, etc. from my last Major Stash and Dash experience.

I now have a stack of 'papers I don't know what to do with' that is less than a half inch think on a shelf near my computer.

Wow - that's condensed from 6 seperate piles. It did take all day, but with breaks for my yoga class, mid-day walk with BFF, and ice cream for dinner with DH.

How could I have 6 piles of paper while following Flylady? Well, I did have a clean sink and clean house, but having a study all to myself it was so easy to stash and dash and I never got into a routine of hotspot rescue in there. When I proposed that we do the first 31 days of beginner babysteps, I knew that there would be some things that I was already doing - like making the bed and other things that I didn't really pay attention to the first time around - and I was looking forward to finding those missing pieces.

I think the idea of Flylady is that you never have to spend a whole day cleaning, but if you do find yourself having to move, or with guests on their way, or like me, just wanting to catch up from backsliding - it's still possible to surface clean and be good to yourself at the same time.

Love and More Love,
Grinity