Baby Stepping Beyond

My husband was reading my blog recently (nice, eh?) and asked what happened to my posts about the FlyLady BabySteps. Drum roll please...

I finished them!

No, my house is not in impeccable shape. Things still get cluttered sometimes. But I have basic routines that keep life sane. Now I'm in the process of tweaking those daily routines, establishing some weekly cleaning routines, and working to take care of myself rather than obsessing about the house and running myself ragged. The blechy way I've recently been feeling physically means I've pared down to the minimum on those routines, but still we are in better shape than we were when I started. The bills are paid, projects to organize and declutter the disorganized spaces in our house are progressing, and my kitchen is usable every day. We have clean clothes to wear (oops, need to start today's load of laundry to keep that true) and food to eat, at least when one of us is feeling well enough to cook it. There is a calendar on the wall that accurately summarizes each family member's commitments, and there's a slot in the back for stuff we will need for them (e.g., forms for upcoming dental appointments). And I still have time to knit, rest, and do things like visit a sheep farm (see my last post), though I need more rest than usual to get through this whatever-it-is that is slowing me down.

The slow process of setting up routines one item at a time, as the BabySteps have encouraged, has allowed me to think about what works for me and my family, and to make changes as necessary so that things make sense. My latest change was to buy and organize a cleaning caddy with tools and supplies for cleaning our bathrooms. In my previous home, we had only two bathrooms, so I just left supplies in each. Now there are three, and not enough safe places to keep supplies out of children's reach, so one caddy goes with me for the bathroom-cleaning rounds. Is this exactly how FlyLady says to do it? No. But it's what works for me, and FlyLady does urge us to adjust the routines to fit our families.

Check!