Let me start by explaining who FlyLady is for those in the Minti community who have never heard of her.  FlyLady (Marla Cilley) discovered a wonderful way to keep her house and life organized, which was a bit of a feat, since she was definitely not organized.  She also

realized that there were many other people who could benefit from what she had learned, so she wrote a book and set up a website (www.flylady.net) and now there are literally thousands of people all over the globe signed onto her site benefitting from her experience and expertise.  What does FLY stand for?  Finally Loving Yourself.  This site is more than an organizational tool, but also tackles self-esteem issues.  Check out the site if this has peaked your interest.

If you have recently signed on to FlyLady.net you may have noticed that some of what FlyLady suggests is difficult to do.  Our lives are different and the suggested routines or reminders may not seem to fit.  We get discouraged and fall off the wagon, or as Flylady says, stop flying or even fluttering.  First of all, please know that it's okay.  Everyone does that at some point.  I've been a flybaby for over a year and I think I've stopped at least three times.

Now, take a deep breath and a step back.  Take a look at your day and see what parts of FlyLady's ideas fit and which don't.  Make up your own morning and before bed routines.  For example, I don't do a swish and swipe every morning.  With only two of us using the bathrooms, they just don't get very dirty quickly.  I don't do my hair and make-up every day or wear my nicer clothes everyday.  I don't want toddler slobber and other yucky things on those clothes.  But I always get up before Arianna does, and at least wash my face and get dressed to shoes (my crocs), and most days I can get a nice shower in too.  I also don't shine my sink the way FlyLady does.  I found it was causing me more frustration when it wasn't being wiped out after every use.  Now I just make sure it and the counters are clean and the taps are wiped down.  It's enough to make me smile.  There are also things I can't do while my daughter is awake.  (I tried today to clean our downstairs bathroom and she was so much in the way I had to close the door and well, that just made her scream.)  I also get reminders from FLyLady at the wrong times and some of them don't apply to me, so I have set up my email calendar to send me my own reminders.  I'm still working on using a control journal and these email reminders get my attention better.  I also don't have a Weekly Home Blessing Hour.  I'm lucky to have even 15 minutes of uninterrupted cleaning time.  Instead I split up all the tasks I would do in this hour between Monday-Friday.  For example, I do the vacuuming on Tuesday, the garbages on Wednesday since it's garbage day on Thursday, etc.  They get done in small chunks this way.  That idea came from FlyLady herself.

Please understand that I am by no means an expert on this.  I still struggle with doing zone work and some days I don't follow my routines.  I'm still learning, too.

Just remember to take babysteps.  And as FlyLady says, you are never behind!

Here's the link for our Minti Flybaby group:  http://flybabies.minti.com .  Hope to see you there!