Baby Step#9: Five Minute Room Rescue

October 15, 2020October 15, 2020 admin

The Fly Lady’s method is all about building habits to keep our house tidy and running smoothly. This isn’t just about keeping a clean house. It’s about managing our home without it overtaking our lives. It’s about making our house a home, a haven.

I don’t especially love cooking, cleaning and the like. I sure like the results when I do all those things, though. My family likes it, too.

This is why I started doing Fly Lady. I haven’t gone through the steps as quickly as I thought I would. I’m still showing up, though. I’m not going to quit.

It’s not about making my home perfect and picture worthy (Though, I’d like a few of those days!). If your house is messy and cluttered, and you try these steps, it is going to look better. Just in the past weeks with me only completing 9 of the 31 steps, I see a difference.

Today we talk about about the 5 Minute Room Rescue.

First, let’s chat about CLUTTER for just a bit.

You can’t clean or organize clutter. You just can’t.

I know. I know. Everyone talks about clutter. Marie Kondo had a whole series on Netflix, about clutter, which I binged watched in one day.

I am starting to work on the clutter in my home. Step 10 is going to help with this. So, while we will get to clutter in our next step, a 5 Minute Room Rescue is going to help us keep the house picked up while we tackle clutter.

Now, I could have gone about this a few different ways. I could have picked the room in the house that was the worst and most cluttered (Henry’s room). I could have picked the most visible room in the house. This is the one people see when they first enter my home. (Kitchen) Or, I could have picked the room that brings me the most stress when I enter. (My bedroom)

I picked my bedroom.

Your 5 Minute Room Rescue will just start with surface cleaning. We are going to work our way up to decluttering. Just get started.

5 minutes a day. That’s it. Just 5 minutes. Pick up the visible trash first. Next, put things back in their proper place. Then hit the spots that need a little more thought.

Remember, the goal isn’t to declutter. We are just cleaning.

To be fully honest, about two weeks or so ago, I was so fed up with the piles in my bedroom that I spent a few hours in my room decluttering. If you have time, do that! Get in there and declutter. It feels so good.

Today, I timed myself for 5 minutes. I worked really hard for those 5 minutes. I did zero decluttering. It was just putting things in their proper place and taking dirty mugs to the dishwasher.

If I keep working in my bedroom this next week, those 5 minutes will add up. Then I can move on to another room. Fly Lady has a way to go about this with her Zone Cleaning Method; but I haven’t got that far in the Baby Steps yet.

I will probably add a 5 Minute Room Rescue to my Evening Routine. I’ll try that for the next week and see if that is a good time for that task.

More thoughts on decluttering to come! Let’s take it once step at a time, though.

Baby Step #5: Nix Negative Thoughts

September 12, 2020September 14, 2020 admin

Before I jump into today’s step I wanted to say two things: First, I almost glossed over this one. I loved to journal and write out my thoughts; but I also just want to get my house under control, clean and decluttered….badly.

The thought of taking a whole step to write out positive thoughts seemed a waste. I am determined to follow the steps and build these habits slowly, though. So, I did the step. I’m glad I did.

Second, it’s been a doozy of a week here in Northern California. Currently our state is on fire (and Oregon, too). We were without power for a day. It was 111 degrees one day and then dropped about 30 degrees two days later. We also have so much smoke in the air that our air quality number was at 266. 301 is considered hazardous. Let’s not forget our orange apocalyptic sky. So, I’ve been a little off in my baby steps. Gee….I wonder why??????

This is my neighborhood at 8:30 in the morning.

I’m ready to get back to it. I’m not giving up!

NIX NEGATIVE THOUGHTS.

If you are anything like me, you’ve tried several systems and planners to keep your house in order and yet your house is still not in order. Or at least for me, my house is not where it needs to be. My house is much better than it used to be and I’ll talk about that in a bit; but I’m lacking in routines big time.

I do know what it feels like to try and try and to fail and fail. So today, I’m listening to the negative thoughts that are telling me, “You are just going to fail again,” and I’m replacing them with these positive thoughts:

Don’t give up.
Slow and Steady. Build those routines little by little.
My goal is to make my home a place of peace, not perfection. Clutter does not make me feel peaceful. I don’t need more stuff.
Having a well run home will bless my family and others.
I can do this!

I just wrote this on a piece of paper and I’m going to put it into my control journal. This took me literally 2 minutes. I may add to it later.

A few years back I did a major declutter and though spots in my home have once again become cluttered; it’s never reached the level it used to be. That’s a win.

This summer we decluttered the room in our house that was the bane of my existence- the garage. This is a huge win!!! It has made such a difference. We have a few pieces of odds and ends to discard; but if I can tackle my garage, I can tackle anything.

A couple of weeks I ago I cleaned the kid’s bathroom. It was bad, friends. So very bad. I had not cleaned that toilet in so long, I honestly can’t tell you. It’s embarrassing. I knew then and there, I needed a cleaning routine and one I could stick to. That’s one of the many reasons I AM NOT QUITTING with the baby steps.

Chapters 4 & 5 in the Fly Lady’s book, Sink Reflections, she talks about taking care of ourselves (not running on empty) and our attitudes towards our home. These were excellent chapters.

Baby Step #1: Shine Your Sink

September 6, 2020September 6, 2020 admin

Today I shined my sink. I mean I really got in there and cleaned it.

My house is old. As in built in the 1960’s old.

It was a rental for all that time before we bought it 4 years ago. The sink is old and porcelain. It’s cracked and chipping; and it’s seen better days.

I scrubbed that bad boy and did the best I could.

The Fly Lady is right. There is something about a clean sink. I thought ahead and emptied the dishwasher so that after I cleaned the sink, there would be no reason for dirty dishes to sit in my sparkling sink.

You guessed it. Two minutes after I scrubbed and sprayed and scrubbed some more, someone sneakily left a dish in the sink. It didn’t stay there long, though.

It felt good taking the first step. It’s an old sink, so I didn’t get every stain and scuff. It looks a million times better and I’m ready for Baby Step Two.

How I cleaned my sink:

1.) Wiped it out with soapy sponge.

2.) Sprinkled baking soda all over and spritzed with cleaner (vinegar and water).

3.) I scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed. Then I scrubbed some more.

4.) I rinsed out the baking soda, sprayed with vinegar/water, and scrubbed again. Rinse.

5.) I got out my magic eraser and got at those tough spots. Rinsed and dried with a paper towel.

Here are my before and after pictures.

You can read in more detail about how and why to shine your sink on her website here.

If you missed my intro posts to why I’m describing cleaning my sink, you can read those here and here.

See you tomorow!

SPECIAL NOTE: I’m posting this on Sunday. I actually shined my sink on Friday and tried with all my might to post on Saturday. WordPress had other ideas and would not upload my pictures. Grrrr!!!!! (That’s the sound I make when I’m frustrated.) My post is up now and it’s all good. I’m posting Baby Step #2 today as well because I did that step yesterday. Ahh….. technology. We just do the best we can, right?

Let’s Get Started:: Baby Steps

September 5, 2020October 15, 2020 admin

In my last post here, September is the new January, I talked about why I’m posting and sharing about getting my house in order and what that means.

Before I set out some main goals for this journey, I will share what my goals are NOT:

MY GOAL IS NOT:

A house that is always spic and span, eat off the floor clean.

I do not enjoy cleaning; but I really love it when the house is clean or looks picked up. I absolutely do not want to spend big chunks of my day cleaning. Nope. No sireee. No thank you. Also, we are home alllll day. I have two kids and two dogs. Perfectly clean is not even an option here.

Perfection.

This is a hard one for me. This, I believe, is one of the reasons I’ve failed at keeping things up before.

Making my goals too big or complicated.

Simple. Baby Steps. Routines that will stick.

MY GOAL IS TO:

To be honest and genuine on this blog.

So, get ready. You might be grossed out or have a different view of me if you know me in real life.

Make and keep good habits that will help my life and home run more smoothly and give me more time for the things that are really important.

This is totally a peace of mind thing more than it is physical thing.

Declutter and Simplify.

I don’t know about you; but this crazy year has completely overwhelmed and overstimulated my mind. My house has these pockets of clutter and when I see them, it adds to the overwhelm I already feel.

Accomplish goals and projects

This is probably my biggest reason for a (re) Start of my getting my home in order. I’m sure I’ll talk more about this in future blog posts.

Baby Steps

I’ve been reading and rereading a lot of resources, some inspirational blogs, IG accounts and books to get me motivated. I’ll share those along the way. What I’m doing this month is the Fly Lady’s Baby Steps. It’s simple and I did this years ago; so I’m familiar with it.

I know there is not a “one size fits all” system. I’m sure as I read and get inspiration from others along the way, it will all meld into my own unique way that will work for me, my season of life and my family.

Why the blog? Really to keep myself accountable. There is not a plethora of people who read my blog and that’s okay . It’s a space where I can record my progress along the way.

31 Days of Baby Steps

First of all, I wanted to post day #1 of this journey on September 1st. That didn’t happen obviously and Perfectionist Jen started thinking about postponing this till October 1st (and October has 31 days-perfect!!) I’m fighting my perfectionist tendencies so I am starting tomorrow.

I would love to post everyday documenting my progress and I will try my best but……….. real life.

I will post imperfect posts and pictures that may not look great (or they will look awesome if I have time to edit); but the goal here is not perfection.