Back To The Source

Dear FlyLady,

I have been Fly skipping for about a year.  Visual progress is slow going.  I so appreciate the testimonies and Fly washings full of grace and wisdom.  I think I am seeing more of a mental shift which I am finding is really key to change for me.  When I find myself frustrated and overwhelmed about the to do’s I try to stop and breath and assess…what can be done in 2, 5 or 15 minutes?  What small spot can be made better quickly, not perfectly.  When things go astray I go back to the source and find that the lack of routines are at the core (just as you have told us like a hundred times!) and I need to work on that.

Thank you,
Nicole

Fly hoping in northern CA

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

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March Habit #29 I Have Wings On My Feet

Dear FlyLady,

Someone once said “getting old is not for sissies” too true.

At 53 I have developed ‘foot problems” – and have had to have orthotics made (support soles) – my feet used to ache but since the orthotics, I have wings on my feet.

My tread is lighter and my feet no longer hurt. But My shoes no longer fit, as the orthotics take up so much space in the shoe, I now have to wear a bigger size.

On Sunday I decided to do a “Shoe closet purge” – orthotic in, foot in, no good, shoes out was the rhythm. I got rid of about 20 pairs of shoes. Why did I have so many pairs in the first place you may well ask, well I love shoes.

Now down to 3 pairs that the orthotics like. I was quite emotional when I tossed the shoes, but didn’t take back one pair on a “maybe” once I had decided.

Order reigns in the shoe closet.

Cecily

FlyLady Rebecca here: Do you have a shoe Testimonial? Let us know, and send an email with I HAVE MY SHOES ON in the subject line.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

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Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

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Posted in Habit of the Month Tagged , , , , ,

Help I have lots of Eggs to Make

Dear FlyLady,

My family loves Deviled Eggs. I hate to make them. Do you know how I can fix them where they don’t have green yokes?

FlyBaby K.

FlyLady here; Yes I do. I don’t like to use the D word, so I renamed my eggs, Angel Eggs.

1. Allow eggs to get to room temperature before putting in oven. Then cook at 325 degrees for exactly 30 minutes. Immediately put them into ice water in your shiny sink.

2. Some people know their eggs are done when 1 cracks.

3. Cool eggs in your shiny sink!

4. Just look how pretty! And they taste good too! Not rubbery! I will never boil another egg!

5. They peeled faster than boiled eggs!

6. I washed my egg carton and put them back in the refrigerator so I can slice them when they are firmer! About 2 hours!

Here is a link to basic recipe for the egg filling. I like to put sweet pickle juice and mayo in mine; with a little bit of mustard. I just go by the texture of the mixture.

7. I got sidetracked by the phone and forgot to put this one in the water! The two little spots were from the oven rack. I did learn one thing! Don’t put cracked eggs in the water to cool! The yolk will get soggy! Just have it for lunch! I like to figure two eggs per person unless Jack Sgroi is coming! I fix an extra dozen just for him! He loves my eggs! I don’t ever fill the eggs with the egg yolk mixture till I get where we are going. Ziplock bag and snip off a corner and fill eggs like you were icing cupcakes! This way my eggs look pretty and I don’t have to worry about them sliding around!!!!

8. The finished eggs!!

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

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Posted in Ask FlyLady Tagged , , ,

FLYing Lessons from a Spider

Dear Friends,

This morning while I was taking my bath I noticed a little feathery spider crawling across my ceiling. I have been watching this spider since last fall. It is a happy living thing and I have become protective of it!

For many months it lived in the corner over my tub. When I first noticed the spider, I thought it was dead. When I started to clear the cobweb; it moved! I was shocked. I had no idea that it was alive. What was it eating?

One evening I started my bathwater and notice it was in the bottom of the tub; I rescued it and put it behind a basket. That brings me to this morning. I had been gone for a week and had forgotten about the spider. Then I look up and see her. I like to think of the spider as a she!

I watched her crawl across the ceiling toward the light over the sink, I saw her fall every few steps. I was standing ready to catch her if she fell into my bath water, but she did not fall very far.

She had built herself a safety net. Every few steps she would anchor her web. Then if she slipped she would only fall a few inches. This was how she could defy gravity. Her web gave her sure footing and security if she did fall.

I pondered this while I was meditating in the tub. What lessons could I learn from watching her?

Build yourself a safety net was the first one I thought of. I do this in lots of ways.

1. I have a $20 bill on my key ring in a capsule.
2. I have a hand bar to help me get out of the tub.
3. I have an emergency kit in my truck.
4. I have friends I can call.
5. I have backup chargers and wifi.
6. I have my keys on a lanyard so they don’t get lost.
7. I put my purse in the same place when I get home.
8. I have my routines.

The second lesson that came to mind was her patience. She did not get in a hurry! Each step was slow and steady! So many times we miss out on the fun because we are too rushed to stop and be in the moment. I have enjoyed living in peace for many years. I was in no rush to get out of the tub. The time I spent watching her journey sparked this essay.

The third lesson I saw was to follow your instincts! She already knew how to spin her web. She was true to who she was! She was a spider, doing what spiders do best! Many times we get caught trying to be who everyone else thinks we should be and we don’t follow our own path.

Our routines become our safety nets, they allow us to take babysteps to get our homes in order and then they free us to be who we were meant to be.

Are your ready to FLY?

FlyLady

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

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Posted in Uncategorized Tagged , ,

The Whole Point

Dear FlyLady,

I’m taking a minute out of my moving to thank you.  I originally found you over a decade ago when my babies were small and I had to get on my computer to check my email. When I tried to do everything at once, I burned out and redirected your emails to my junk mail folder.  It just didn’t work for me, I missed the whole point.

Fast forward to this last year and I’m in a smallish house with five children and a calling from God on my heart to foster others.  I thought I needed a bigger house but then I came across one of your “remodeling” emails.  Over whelmed by my own CHAOS I redirected your emails to my priority inbox.  I’ve been reading nearly all the emails. (If I’m a few days behind, I don’t try to catch up.) When our landlord told us he wanted to sell and we needed to move I was sad, because I’ve been loving the home I had thought I couldn’t live in any more.

I’ve been using the monthly habits and setting my timer for 15 minutes.   I now dress to the shoes every day (and have saved my feet from a lot of pain!) I make my bed (if I forget I can’t leave it, and it gets done.) I’m drinking water, and I’ve been swishing my toilets.  I’m not flying yet but I am fluttering.  I’m letting myself take it one little step at a time, building habits.  We move next week and with a clean slate, I’m looking forward to adopting more routines and tackling daily missions.

Thank you for encouraging Progress not Perfection.  I needed it. My babies needed it. It’s still a work in progress, but I’m recognizing the progress wet make and getting better at living myself and helping my kids to love themselves too. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Thank you,

Flutter Baby Anna

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

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Posted in testimonials Tagged , , , ,

March Habit #28 Just Too Ironic

Dear FlyLady,

Warning: if anyone is squeamish or sensitive about pets catching critters, you may want to stop reading now.  🙂

I have never written to FlyLady before.  The fact that this ‘incident’ happened during March ‘get dressed to shoes’ month is just too ironic not to share.  Why do I do this to myself??  I learn a FlyLady lesson, I KNOW it works, but there are still those days when I refuse to listen to your wisdom.  Today was one of those days when you would have gotten a kick out of saying, “I told you so!”   haha  Actually, my daughter said that very thing when it was over.

Here in Montana we have epic amounts of ground squirrels (commonly referred to as gophers).  Cute little buggers look like prairie dogs, and DIG HOLES like prairie dogs.  ggrrr  After a time or two of twisted ankles from stepping in their holes, and constantly being concerned about your horse breaking a leg in the 200 holes in your pasture, suddenly they are not so ‘cute’ any more.  Thankfully, we have several cats who go on the pursuit daily, and at least keep them out of the yard (mostly).  Of course when cats hunt, they love to bring their spoils of war home.

So there I was today, enjoying one of those ‘lazy’ days…you know how it is…don’t have to go out of the house for anything, so it’s noon and I’m still in pajamas, bare feet, no makeup, you get the picture.  I say I’m ‘enjoying’ the day, but not really, because once you’ve tasted the success of Flying, you can’t fully ‘enjoy’ a day like that without hearing dear FlyLady in your head…”Even if you work at home, you’re more productive when you are dressed to shoes!”, “You are not behind, just jump in where you are!”, “Remember, the DO IT NOW principle!”  lol

Back to the critter story.  My daughter and I hear a cat at the garage door, and sure enough, her kitty has caught a gopher and brought it proudly to the door.  This one is not quite dead, and my daughter and I go through our usual emotions when this happens, back and forth between “good kitty!” and “poor little gopher”.  (Even though they cause no end of trouble, they really are quite cute)  Not wanting to see it suffer, I get the brilliant idea to go outside and ‘take care of it’.  I will insert here that my daughter warned me that it was NOT a good idea to open the door, since ‘poor little not-quite-dead gopher’ was just on the other side.  My great and wise response was to tell her to go in the house so she wouldn’t have to watch.  See how smart I am?  NOT!

You can probably guess what happened next.  As I open the door to go outside, suddenly ‘poor little gopher’ becomes more alive than dead, and proceeds to run in the garage right across my bare feet.  Now, I don’t consider myself a squeamish person, but that doesn’t mean I enjoy gophers running across my toes.  Of course I can’t stop and put shoes on now, because who knows where ‘poor little gopher’ would get to in the garage by the time I went in the house and got shoes on.  Three cats, myself (still in bare feet), and a couple minutes later, the ‘incident’ was over, and ‘poor little gopher’ has gone on to his reward.  I immediately showered, got dressed TO SHOES, and am now ready to face whatever the cat may drag in.

The moral of the story is…FlyLady knows what she’s talking about, her lessons work, and WEAR YOUR SHOES, because you never know what may come in your door!  Why oh why do I have to learn the hard way??

Flying (sometimes away from gophers) in Montana

FlyLady Rebecca here: Do you have a shoe Testimonial? Let us know, and send an email with I HAVE MY SHOES ON in the subject line.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

Screen Shot 2023-07-24 at 7.27.45 PMScreen Shot 2024-01-26 at 2.01.28 PM

 

Posted in Habit of the Month Tagged , , , , ,

How Do You Set Up Your Launch Pad?

Dear FlyLady,

I’m a bit confused about the Launch Pad. You always say “set your Launch Pad”, or words to that effect. I don’t know what my Launch Pad is!

Can you explain it for me?

FlyBaby Flying Confused

Dear Precious FlyBaby,

You are not confused. I have not explained it well enough. We all need a place in our home to put things that we are going to need for tomorrow.When I say set your launch pad, it is like setting the table for dinner. Place your items on your launch pad. Those items include: Purse, backpacks, gym bags, diaper bags, dress shoes, musical instruments, or anything else you need to take with you.

Examples of a launch pad include:

1. A table by the front door.
2. A hook on the wall
3. A bench by the door.
4. If you have large family a dresser base works. A Drawer for each person.
5. We set items on the floor by the front door.
6. Hooks on the door like you hang wreaths on.
7. When we are in a hotel, we establish a bag by the closet.
8. My husband puts his items in the car in the garage.

The beauty behind the launch pad is that it keeps us from forgetting things when we have to walk out the door.

Your Before Bed Routine helps you to think about tomorrow. Your launch pad is just that! It launches you into the next day so you don’t have to try to remember it all when you are in a hurry to get out the door.

Your calendar is an important part making your launch pad work for you! As part of our Before Bed Routine we check the calendar to see what is scheduled for tomorrow. Then we check the weather to see if we will need rain boots or an umbrella.

Your Before Bed Routine is the most important routine of the day! Start it right after dinner. With everything placed on your launch pad, you don’t have to worry about anything and you can sleep well. That is what I want most for you! Peace!

FlyLady

Have you gotten your calendar ordered? Get it today! Our calendar has large squares that are big enough to hold your busy family’s schedule and milestones.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

Screen Shot 2023-07-24 at 7.27.45 PMScreen Shot 2024-01-26 at 2.01.28 PM

Posted in Ask FlyLady Tagged , ,

What is Standing in Your Way

Dear Friends,

Have you never done a Weekly Home Blessing? I understand for some of you who work outside of your home or have little children, that putting together a full hour to bless your home is almost impossible but I have a way for you to do it without stressing you out.

The last thing I want to do is add more stress to your life. We are here to reduce your stress!

First I want to look at why you don’t think you have time to do a  Weekly Home Blessing Hour.

When your mother made you vacuum; you had to do it right! All the furniture had to be pulled out from the wall and vacuumed under. Dusting was another form of torture. Everything had to be removed from the tables. Oh let’s not forget about mopping a floor. First we had to sweep it well and then we had to get down on our hands and knees to scrub the floor. If we tried to do it any other way it was not good enough.

No wonder we don’t want bless our homes. As a child it was punishment.

Now hear this! This is your home not your mother’s and you can bless it anyway you want to. Do your morning routine first, be dressed to lace up shoes and make sure you have your breakfast. Then you spend 10 minutes just one thing at a time. If you can’t put together a full hour then do one thing each day or at the top of every hour.

Change sheets – I usually strip those off the bed as I get up. I have two sets of sheets for our bed. I allow the bed to air out till I get the rest of my morning routine done.

Empty all the trash – Grab the trash bag from the kitchen and run around the house and add the rest of the trash to it. Put it in your big garbage can.

Vacuum all rooms — This is just the middles. Do it as fast as you can. Do not obsess about the lines in the carpet. Our new carpet sweepa is a great tool for this!

Cull/toss old magazines — This takes no time at all. Gather up all your old magazines and put them in the recycle bin or put them in the car to drop off at a Doctor’s office or Car Repair place. They never have any good magazines.

Mop kitchen and bath – This is one of our most fun jobs. Yes you heard me right. Mopping can be fun if you will let go of your mother’s perfectionism. Mopping is just putting soapy water down and getting it up off the floor. Along with it comes the dirt. There are lots of ways to do this. We have a great mop that helps with this video!


Your children can have fun too by putting them in their bathing suits and letting them slip and slid on their little bottoms. Use old towels and shaving cream. They will enjoy themselves and you will get a clean floor. It may take more than 10 minutes though. LOL

Clean mirrors and doors — We have a tool for this job too. Our purple rags do the job in no time at all.  Take a wet purple rag and clean off those dog paw print and children finger prints from the doors, and toothpaste splatters from the mirrors.

Dust — This is not your mother’s way of dusting. We have two great tools for this: Our feather duster and a detailed duster.

I use my feather duster to bless my home real fast. It only takes me about two minutes to feather dust my whole house. I use my detailed duster when I am doing missions in the zone we are in.

So you see Weekly Home Blessing can be an aerobic exercise or a once a day blessing. I keep my Weekly Home Blessing list on my bathroom door. I have a day of the week beside each one.

Weekly Home Blessing can be hard if you still have lots of clutter. You can’t organize clutter; you have to get it out of your house. Clutter is standing in your way of you blessing your home.

FlyLady

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

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Posted in Morning Musing Tagged , , ,

A Middle Path

Hello FlyLady,

My ‎husband used to gross me out by cleaning his toilet with a plain brush in the water. Yuck! On the other hand I would wait until we had ring around the bowl– yuck!– and then do a heavy duty scrub with cleaners.

You’ve given us a middle path. Now I have a daily water swish, and on Home Blessing Day I scrub with cleaner and soak the brush in cleaner in the bowl. That takes care of my germophobia and saves worrying about the dog tipping a liquid brush container.

It’s great to never see a dirty bowl.

Smiles from
Canadian Flybaby‎ in Edmonton AB

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

Screen Shot 2023-07-24 at 7.27.45 PMScreen Shot 2024-01-26 at 2.01.28 PM

Posted in testimonials Tagged , , , , ,

March Habit #27 I Survived!

Hi FlyLady and Crew,

I’m writing this testimonial to testi’fly” to the power of having your lace-up shoes on!

I have recently conquered breast cancer, not once, but twice, along with a life-threatening infection that kept me hospitalized in and out for two years! I had a 25% chance of survival, and with God’s grace and many prayers, I survived!  I had many, many complications due to my illness and was very deconditioned (and demoralized) due to the long hospitalizations and many complications.

I’m writing this to tell you how much you helped me through the darkest time in my life.  When I got home from the hospital, I couldn’t even sit up in bed by myself, I was flat on my back!  My husband and youngest son (who still lives with us) took excellent care of me and our home while I was so sick.  I have to tell you that it was very discouraging and I seriously doubted whether I would ever return to full capacity, or even near it!  To say I was depressed and feeling useless is an understatement.

During this time, I also lost both of my parents, very unexpectedly.

I was a flybaby before I got ill and my home looked great and I was feeling great about my home, and getting a lot of peace and satisfaction from a “company ready” home, something I’d never had before while being a single parent working full time with three small children.  All that changed when I found you!

Anyway, back to my situation.  Sorry I’m so long-winded!  I just don’t know how to express my sincere gratitude for all you do for us.  It was so discouraging to be flat in bed, not being able to do anything.  But I kept reading your emails and finally decided to start out, 5 minutes at a time.  Well, let me tell you, those first 5 minutes were exhausting and I had to stop to rest twice-but I did it!

That encouraged me to keep doing more and more.  Slowly, ever so slowly, my strength, balance, and coordination returned and along with it, my happiness and fulfillment!  Now, I can do all the routines and daily missions without batting an eye.  I want to let all those FlyBabies out there know that if I can do it, with all I had to go through, than you can do it too!  Don’t give up!  Keep praying and asking God for help and keep reading those FlyLady emails and testimonials, they help so much!!!!  Thank God for all you do, and may He richly bless you and your crew!

Much love,

Flybaby Mary from New Hampshire

FlyLady Rebecca here: Do you have a shoe Testimonial? Let us know, and send an email with I HAVE MY SHOES ON in the subject line.

We have everything you need to keep your home shining! Sometimes we need a little motivation. Our efficient tools give us a jump start! They make a tough job fun. If you make it fun; it will get done!

Gray and Purple Rag sale for only $8.95 while we have them!

Screen Shot 2024-03-06 at 1.51.21 PMGet Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools! Got Old Cleaning Tools? Time to Upgrade with The Best! FlyLady’s Big Bundle Pack! Declutter the old to make room for the new!

Get Your Big Bundle Pack Now! It has your favorite tools!

Kitchen Tools are Back! Use New Coupon Code FLY45 to Save 45%

Screen Shot 2023-07-24 at 7.27.45 PMScreen Shot 2024-01-26 at 2.01.28 PM

 

Posted in Habit of the Month Tagged , , , , ,

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