Homemaking takes up a good portion of our duties as help meets to our husbands. Creating a haven that he can come home to and relax in takes time and effort. Many times we feel ourselves going around in circles trying to keep the house in decent order.
Take a minute and look at your home with another person's eyes. Is the table top full of papers that need to be moved aside for you to eat or write? Do you have plastic bowls in your cupboard that are discolored, broken or unusable? Are you collecting plastic bags for you to reuse but have too much of them? Look in your closet - clothes that don't fit anymore or are outdated and you know you will never wear them again? What about your children's toys - quite a few broken ones that they don't play with anymore? I could go on and on but you get the picture. Your home has clutter. Maybe that's the reason why you feel like you're going in circles and can't seem to keep the house in decent order.
Well, we are here to help you. We've mentioned the FlyLady before and for the month of February she is going to help us with our clutter. Sometimes it can be overwhelming to start. Take babysteps. Our homes did not get cluttered in a day and we can't expect to declutter it in a day with our lives already as busy as they are.
For those of you following the FlyLady system and are receiving her emails, you know that this month's habit is decluttering. FlyLady recommends that we declutter everyday. She suggests 15 minutes daily which can be done all at once or broken down in 5 min increments. Fly through the clutter this month and do it. You can do it! Even though you only end up decluttering every other day it still puts you way ahead of where you were. Just do something.
Here is a link to a little encouragement in your decluttering from the Fly Lady: DECLUTTER Listen and then click on the links below the audio to read some more. Let us bless our husbands by giving him a less cluttered home. It will free up much mental and physical energy for both you and him.
HAPPY DECLUTTERING! You're well on your way to being the help meet that God wants you to be. For more decluttering help CLICK HERE
Showing posts with label Home Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Home Management. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Essay from FlyLady about this month's habit
When you first come to FlyLady.net you are shocked to hear what your initial habit is! "Go shine my sink??? How is that going to help me get my whole house in order?"
Right now you are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed and I promise this is going to help you get out of the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) that you have been living in for such a long time. It all starts with that shining sink.
When I set out to get my act together in 1999, I didn't know where to start either. This is why I just picked my sink. I was tired of beating myself up over the way I kept our home looking.
Right then and there I decided I would be nice to me by only requiring that I do one small thing each day. I needed to establish a habit. I had plenty of habits but they were not effective ones for taking care of me or our home. I picked keeping my sink clean and shiny for a whole month. It was just that simple!
What is in that shiny sink anyway? When you walk into you kitchen in morning and you are confronted with yesterday's dirty dishes; you just want to go crawl back into bed and pull the covers over your head. Along with these dishes are hurtful feelings because no one is helping you. Not only do you have to get these out of way to start another meal but you are beating yourself up because you let them go. That nasty water is just a reflection of how you feel when you face a sink full of yesterday's dirty dishes.
The goal is to keep that sink clean and shiny for a month. If we miss a day; we just jump back in and don't beat ourselves up over it.
This is you first step! Don't skip it!
FlyLady
Go look at my Shiny Sink Video.
http://www.flylady.net/pages/jumpcut_video1.asp
Right now you are probably feeling a bit overwhelmed and I promise this is going to help you get out of the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) that you have been living in for such a long time. It all starts with that shining sink.
When I set out to get my act together in 1999, I didn't know where to start either. This is why I just picked my sink. I was tired of beating myself up over the way I kept our home looking.
Right then and there I decided I would be nice to me by only requiring that I do one small thing each day. I needed to establish a habit. I had plenty of habits but they were not effective ones for taking care of me or our home. I picked keeping my sink clean and shiny for a whole month. It was just that simple!
What is in that shiny sink anyway? When you walk into you kitchen in morning and you are confronted with yesterday's dirty dishes; you just want to go crawl back into bed and pull the covers over your head. Along with these dishes are hurtful feelings because no one is helping you. Not only do you have to get these out of way to start another meal but you are beating yourself up because you let them go. That nasty water is just a reflection of how you feel when you face a sink full of yesterday's dirty dishes.
The goal is to keep that sink clean and shiny for a month. If we miss a day; we just jump back in and don't beat ourselves up over it.
This is you first step! Don't skip it!
FlyLady
Go look at my Shiny Sink Video.
http://www.flylady.net/pages/jumpcut_video1.asp
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Flying with FlyLady
Each month FlyLady helps us focus on a new habit to help us manage our homes well. As the new year begins it is only fitting that she start with this habit which is where she started her journey.
The Habit for January is SHINE YOUR SINK. Yes, you read it right you need to shine your sink. Here is an essay from her website at www.flylady.net:
That Shiny Sink is the Beginning of FLYing!
Dear Friends,
My bathtub is my place of meditation in the mornings. I surround myself with warm water and open my mind and heart to listen. Robert calls them God Breezes. When they come in the middle of the night, we refer to them as the Midnight Editor and when I get them in the tub; they are bathtub epiphanies. This morning the subject was love!
Robert and I have spent the last hour and a half talking about love! Not our love but the love that is in us all. As SHEs all we have ever wanted is to be loved. I can remember a time when all I wanted was to just feel loved. It didn't matter if I was really loved or not just as long as I felt like I was loved. I guess that is just affection. Any way love is not something we can make happen.
I don't care how much you try to make someone love you it is never going to happen. You cannot earn love. Respect maybe, but not love. It is either there or it isn't. This is why I have told you for years that you have to get the house in order for you. You are never going to get your home clean enough to make someone love you more or at all. Even as the house gets cleaner this person is never going to love you if they don't love you with a dirty house. Do you understand this? The house is not the problem with the lack of love. If the love is there all things are possible even a small spark of love is enough. You cannot buy love with gifts either. If you are not loved for you then no gift is ever going to satisfy the need you have to be loved by this person or family member.
Do you remember the first time you walked into your kitchen after you shined your sink? If you have not shined that sink yet then go do it now. You feasted your eyes upon a reflection that made you smile. You didn't know why it made you smile but that feeling emanated from the very core of your being. That feeling was love! I know you don't believe me. When that sink greeted you and you smiled, you felt something that changed you forever. I know it seems so simple and maybe a bit corny but that sink is a reflection of you.
When you take care of the sink; just look what that care does for the way you feel each and every day! This is the beginning of you accepting the love that has been hidden inside of you forever. For years we have pushed that love down deep and had forgotten about it because we were too busy trying to work hard enough to earn that love from others. It is time we uncovered that eternal love and cultivated it so that love can be shared with the world.
Now I am in great big purple puddles. Think about all the songs that have been sung over the years. As a little child in Sunday school we sang the song about hiding our little light under a bushel. Then we would yell NO! I am going to let it shine! That little light is your love and your connection to God and the world. That love has always been there, we have just kept it hidden; especially from ourselves. Some of us have even been told it was wrong to love ourselves. Well to this I say you cannot love anyone else till you love yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself means you have to love yourself to be able to reflect that love to others.
Did you know that when you are loving yourself that you attack love back to you. You become a love magnet. Not only are you reflecting that love to others but that love is coming back to you and the best part is that it is multiplied! And it all starts with you! Have you shined that sink yet? This is your first uncovering of that love that has been hiding underneath all the self-loathing and pain you have suffered your whole life.
All we have ever wanted was to feel loved! We can do this for ourselves without having to depend on anyone else for what we need. We deserve to be happy! This little ray of hope, happiness, peace and love has always been inside of you! We all remember the Wizard of Oz and the good witch telling Dorothy that she had the power to go home; that it was always inside of her. This is how I feel about FLYing! Your love is just waiting for you to open up the doors and windows then let the sun shine from within you to light up the world!
Love makes the world go round, it is the energy that keeps us moving when all is lost. Love is always with us, we just have to start with babysteps to rekindle the love that we have locked away. Start now. Go shine that sink of yours, get dressed to shoes and do something sweet for you. If you don't take care of you; who will?
Are you ready to FLY?
FlyLady
The Habit for January is SHINE YOUR SINK. Yes, you read it right you need to shine your sink. Here is an essay from her website at www.flylady.net:
That Shiny Sink is the Beginning of FLYing!
Dear Friends,
My bathtub is my place of meditation in the mornings. I surround myself with warm water and open my mind and heart to listen. Robert calls them God Breezes. When they come in the middle of the night, we refer to them as the Midnight Editor and when I get them in the tub; they are bathtub epiphanies. This morning the subject was love!
Robert and I have spent the last hour and a half talking about love! Not our love but the love that is in us all. As SHEs all we have ever wanted is to be loved. I can remember a time when all I wanted was to just feel loved. It didn't matter if I was really loved or not just as long as I felt like I was loved. I guess that is just affection. Any way love is not something we can make happen.
I don't care how much you try to make someone love you it is never going to happen. You cannot earn love. Respect maybe, but not love. It is either there or it isn't. This is why I have told you for years that you have to get the house in order for you. You are never going to get your home clean enough to make someone love you more or at all. Even as the house gets cleaner this person is never going to love you if they don't love you with a dirty house. Do you understand this? The house is not the problem with the lack of love. If the love is there all things are possible even a small spark of love is enough. You cannot buy love with gifts either. If you are not loved for you then no gift is ever going to satisfy the need you have to be loved by this person or family member.
Do you remember the first time you walked into your kitchen after you shined your sink? If you have not shined that sink yet then go do it now. You feasted your eyes upon a reflection that made you smile. You didn't know why it made you smile but that feeling emanated from the very core of your being. That feeling was love! I know you don't believe me. When that sink greeted you and you smiled, you felt something that changed you forever. I know it seems so simple and maybe a bit corny but that sink is a reflection of you.
When you take care of the sink; just look what that care does for the way you feel each and every day! This is the beginning of you accepting the love that has been hidden inside of you forever. For years we have pushed that love down deep and had forgotten about it because we were too busy trying to work hard enough to earn that love from others. It is time we uncovered that eternal love and cultivated it so that love can be shared with the world.
Now I am in great big purple puddles. Think about all the songs that have been sung over the years. As a little child in Sunday school we sang the song about hiding our little light under a bushel. Then we would yell NO! I am going to let it shine! That little light is your love and your connection to God and the world. That love has always been there, we have just kept it hidden; especially from ourselves. Some of us have even been told it was wrong to love ourselves. Well to this I say you cannot love anyone else till you love yourself. Love your neighbor as yourself means you have to love yourself to be able to reflect that love to others.
Did you know that when you are loving yourself that you attack love back to you. You become a love magnet. Not only are you reflecting that love to others but that love is coming back to you and the best part is that it is multiplied! And it all starts with you! Have you shined that sink yet? This is your first uncovering of that love that has been hiding underneath all the self-loathing and pain you have suffered your whole life.
All we have ever wanted was to feel loved! We can do this for ourselves without having to depend on anyone else for what we need. We deserve to be happy! This little ray of hope, happiness, peace and love has always been inside of you! We all remember the Wizard of Oz and the good witch telling Dorothy that she had the power to go home; that it was always inside of her. This is how I feel about FLYing! Your love is just waiting for you to open up the doors and windows then let the sun shine from within you to light up the world!
Love makes the world go round, it is the energy that keeps us moving when all is lost. Love is always with us, we just have to start with babysteps to rekindle the love that we have locked away. Start now. Go shine that sink of yours, get dressed to shoes and do something sweet for you. If you don't take care of you; who will?
Are you ready to FLY?
FlyLady
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