Come FLY with me

Back in May of this year I was starting to really lose it. Q had just recently gotten his Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis. I was trying to figure out which therapies to try and, since I had very limited funds, what I could do with him myself at home. I was overwhelmed trying to take care of a 3 year old and a one year old already. Add in another hour or two of specific therapy a day and suddenly I was getting nothing done. The house was a mess (not that it was ever perfect to begin with), I was a mess, and I was just plain getting lost in the shuffle. Then two different people mentioned a website to me, and after I went there and joined, I was able to start to put my life back into some kind of order. It may sound crazy. DH calls it a cult. But I have to tell you about it in case you need it like I did.

Meet FlyLady. Flylady is for people who have problems getting organized and focusing. FlyLady is for people who are perfectionists and never do anything for fear that it won't be perfect. If you are born organized (BO in flylady terms) and you are not a perfectionist, go about the rest of your life happily. You do not need flylady. If you are not organized and you don't care, also go about your life. You don't need anybody to change you if you're happy. However, if you are neither of these things, if you are a mess and unhappy with that mess, not able to keep your house, or your life, in order and it drives you nuts, please go visit flylady.

I hesitated to talk about flylady earlier because well, for one, it is kind of a cult, with its own jargon, endless e-mails, and large following. But I guess also because it is kind of the thing you might expect a housewife to do. Kind of like watching Oprah. (Though Oprah does have some very good shows from time to time. Not that I watch that sort of thing. ) It is the kind of thing a typical middle american white Christian housewife would like. And I guess above all I do not see myself that way. That's another blog entry but let's just say that though I feel that being part of the flylady cult, or FLYing in Flylady terms, has changed how I look at my house and even at my life as a whole, I am a little ashamed of needing so much help to keep myself on the right track.

I'm not going to explain the system to you. She does that far better than I ever could. And if you're interested you should check it out. I warn you ahead of time that flylady sends out a lot of emails. And she doesn't do well with whining. It's kind of like tough love. But if you let it, it does work.

I will share with you some of my favorite nuggets of Flylady wisdom:
1. You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are.
2. Housework done imperfectly still blesses your family.
3. You can do anything for 15 minutes.
4. Take babysteps.
5. You can't organize clutter. You can only get rid of it.
And my all time favorite:
6. Your house (life, relationships, work) did not get dirty overnight. You can't expect to get it clean in one night.

I admit that I have kind of fallen off the bandwagon lately and I have to revamp my routines and get back to where I want to be. But I guess the best part is that I am in control. If I want it to get better it can and if I decide some things won't work for me (I still don't wear shoes in my house. Flylady would not be pleased!) I don't have to do them. But I am decluttering my house, my life, my mind, and making room for other, better things. If you're interested in decluttering, organizing, and finding some peace, then please, come FLY with me.