Organizing Your Entire Life?
Unless you live under a rock (aka, you aren’t on Pinterest), you’ve probably seen this post from Modern Parents Messy Kids floating around the cyber world.
I read it and got super excited. Then I read the end. I felt kinda silly for getting so enthused!
(The cute part is, the writer of this post actually got inspired by her little joke and made up a project called “Project Organize Your Entire Life.” )
Ironically, before I clicked on the link to this project and started going OCD on myself, I had just finished an amazing, inspiring book by a lady named Marla Cilley (aka, “Flylady”). Her book “Sink Reflections” is two things: first, it’s her personal story of how she went from completely depressed to loving herself. Second, she shares with you a simple system of how to not only organize your life, but how to start loving yourself. Did you ever think these to things could go together? I never did, but after reading this book, I’m totally convinced they do.
Flylady’s perspective on housekeeping, homemaking, and organization is practical, practical, practical. She has put together a whole website (www.flylady.net) devoted to helping people get organized. This is not about organizing your papers into neat little boxes (although, I do enjoy that kind of thing.) Nor is it about ripping your entire house apart and making everyone’s life miserable while you clean (and then getting mad when someone messes it up by living in it). It is about making one small change every day and building success upon success. These changes eventually develop into systems and routines to organize your life.
There is no big “deep cleaning” your entire house day. There is no big “de-cluttering” your entire house day. (There’s not even a “scrub down your bathroom day.”) And there are no complicated calendars; only daily and weekly tasks. You can jump in wherever you are with her baby steps. If you do each baby step, you will have a complete system in 31 days. My favorite Flylady quote is: ”You don’t need to catch up. Just jump in where you are.” She also has tons of little tricks, routines, and games to get you going, like “27 Fling Boogie.” (if you struggle with clutter, I think this is brilliant!)
Best of all, EVERYTHING REVOLVES AROUND WHAT YOU CAN DO IN 10-15 MINUTE INCREMENTS.
Of course, it’s is completely free of charge to anyone out there who wants to hop on to her site. You don’t even need to read the book. I visit her website and I feel like I had a motivational chat with my fairy godmother.
Aren’t I already a de-cluttered, organized person? Yes. I’m definitely one of those Born Organized people. The problem is, my perfectionist tendencies actually prevent me from getting around to doing things that I really want to do! Little things. Like weekend day trips, watching a movie in the middle of the day, baking, or taking my daughter to the park. My inner perfectionist also likes to load down my calendar and to-do list with a lot of self-imposed obligations, that no one else expects me to do! The other day when I sat down in front of my full calendar, I realized I was sick and tired of feeling too busy to enjoy life.
That is how I found Flylady and started her system. My house tends to swing between Martha Stewart Perfect and Hoarders Disaster. Hence, why I rip apart and reorganize my entire kitchen just to make a tray for my teas.
So how does it work? Well, I suggest hopping on her website and reading through her 31 baby steps. If you want more, you can also get her book (which I really enjoyed). The website is really all you need to implement the system. It’s a great tool no matter how organized or chaotic your home is. I think very homemaker, whether you are a SAHM or not, needs a drill sergeant-fairy godmother just like Marla.
Here’s the basic idea: Balance. Developing routines and healthy habits. Planning ahead. Taking life in small bites. Flylady makes this list (though a bit over the top) look a little more like reality than a joke!
