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Because the Flylady had made such an impact on my life, I bought her book immediately after it was published. As I read it, not much was unfamiliar to me because I had been a member of her e-mail group, and yet having it all in one place was very valuable to me. Despite having received a lot of information contained in the book through the e-mail group, I still wanted to own the book and use it frequently.
This book will especially be helpful to people who have a real problem figuring out how to keep and organize their home. Probably every person will find something to benefit them from the wisdom contained within, however, people who really struggle with issues of getting their act together will be especially helped.
I was at my absolute wits end. I have an extensive collection of self-help books on organization and overcoming clutter. Each and every book has been interesting and hope-inspiring, and has presented helpful techniques and approaches. Yet to my great despair,I was never able to find a way to make it all work for me. At one point I decided, maybe I need outside help and hired a very expensive (and famous)organizing professional to help me. I paid several thousand dollars for an organizing plan, and hired these organizers at $75.00 an hour to try to help me overcome my disorganization problem. They even selected me to have a makeover in a famous magazine after seeing pictures of my disorganized, cluttered home. (The story was killed by new editors who took over the magazine, much to my dismay).
It was Flylady's way of teaching and coaching that was my salvation. Her method is so doable. You start with baby steps, and you never do more than you are ready for. She starts you off with one task, and one task only. To shine your kitchen sink. It is so easy to comply with this first step. Even if you never do anything else, it is so simple and easy there really isn't a reason to try.
When you become really comfortable with shining your sink every day, she has you add another step: developing a simple evening and morning routine. Lay out your clothes for the next day in the evening, and get dressed to your shoes every morning. You can practice and stay on these beginning steps for as long as you like, until you feel comfortable to move to the next step. She likes to say that you are never behind and don't need to get caught up. She tells you to take everything in baby steps. You can go as fast or as slow as you like.
Later she add her brilliant strategy of decluttering to your steps. For only 15 minutes a day, you work in various zones in your house decluttering. It is so simple. Anyone can work 15 minutes a day. And, miraculously, you discover the power of what 15 minutes can accomplish.
Things seem to get more complicated later on, but you don't even notice, as she leads you through adding simple daily routines, making a weekly plan, putting together a control journal, learning meal planning, holiday organizing. Because everything is given to you in little pieces, you never realize how much you're doing because you only add each new technique one layer at a time. You build on what has come before and you never feel like you're doing very much more.
A year after I have been putting her methods into practice, I have a completely different mindset regarding keeping my home. I have experienced a year now of chaos-free, much reduced stress holidays. I have done many projects that I've always felt bad about never getting around to. My family and friends all comment on the difference in my home. My counter (which had been for years a source of despair for me, as it had been covered with piles of junk that I would spend hours cleaning, only to have it reappear a couple of days later) is now always clean and clear. The problem of my counter which had been impossible for me to solve, has been so easily and elegantly solved by Flylady. I have learned from her that my counter is a "hot spot", and that nothing can be on it because "clutter begets clutter. By looking at this "hot spot" and putting out fires that erupt in it during the day, I have been able to effortlessly keep it clear.
I still have a way to go. I'm still building on my layers of knowledge with Flylady's system. I have every confidence that her methods will prove to be an answer for me. If you are in despair and don't know where to turn, please give her a try.
Now, the effects of the book are reaching into every area of my life -- my Christmas present selection (I don't want to give something that will just be clutter in the hands of the recipient), my purse, my budget, my exercise, my diet, my LIFE.
It is absolutely amazing. Yes, there is a certain amount of "religious" content. I just substitute the word epiphany for God Breeze -- and keep on reading.
The website (and the daily flow of emails and testimonials) are amazingly wonderful. The best part of the book and of the system is -- we clutter-maniacs are not alone and just knowing that someone else has suffered the pain of being so messy that you are afraid to have anyone see your house is comforting -- and inspires us FlyBabies to get moving for the next 15 minutes to make one little spot just that much better.
Also, I would like to reply to the "irreducible chore and it MUST take a certain amount of time" comment: If when I get up in the morning and in using the bathroom sink while brushing my teeth just happen spend time wiping the sink and counter (time I would be standing there anyway) -- is that time spent cleaning or time spent brushing my teeth? I realize that it is both, but that is just one tiny example of how that "certain irreducible amount of time" can be handled.
If in cooking dinner you clean up along the way, is that cooking or cleaning?
If in clearing the table nothing gets stacked in the sink (where it pauses for a week before it makes it to the dishwasher) but just goes straight into the dishwasher, is that clearing or cleaning?
If you know what you are going to wear tomorrow because you have laid it out the night before (and have noticed if the skirt needs hemming or the blouse needs to be ironed -- and so handled it in a few minutes that night), is that just being prepared or is that cleaning?
Above all -- I have discovered that I have too much (and don't need to buy or receive any more) -- and I have discovered the blessings that come to me from giving my too much away to people who have too little.
And all from this little bitty book. BUY IT or go to flylady.net!
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