Keeping Up With Housekeeping

When I was little, I remember cleaning my bedroom which involved picking things up and putting them away and dusting. I don't remember doing it that often. Either I've blocked those boring memories or my mother thought it was easier to do it herself. Then I learned a little more about housekeeping by working as a cleaning lady during one summer when I was attending college. I would go once a week to two different households and vacuum, dust, mop and clean the bathroom. The woman of the house told me how they wanted things done. Despite those experiences, I was not the best housekeeper of my own homes. And I wouldn't really notice the dirt or mess until someone visited me! I'm terrible about accumulating piles of paper on every surface available. And I dreaded cleaning the bathroom and put it off as long as I could.

Well, now my family resides in a brand new house. I want to be able to have people visit any time and not be embarrassed by the condition of the house. Since the house is bigger than any other I've lived in, I have my work cut out for me.

Well, as luck would have it, I discovered the FlyLady. FLY is an acronym for Finally Loving Yourself. She talks about your house being in CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) and provides free mentoring on her methodology of cleaning house. I have only been practicing her method for about a month and already I am seeing major improvement! She advises having daily, weekly, monthly and yearly tasks and stick to your routines. She says you can do anything in 15 minutes and you can get a lot done in 15 minutes, so there is no excuse. Our perfectionism prevents us from having a clean house, according to the FlyLady. Often if we think we don't have enough time to do something perfectly, we end up not doing it at all. Also, FlyLady's goal is to make housecleaning fun! Check out the FlyLady at http://www.flylady.net.