Baby steps, day twelve

[serene]

(The baby steps are at this FlyLady link.) I'm adding "(and do 15 minutes of decluttering)" to every day's tasks, because until I get rid of the clutter, I'll never get on top of the cleaning.

Day One: Shine the sink
Day Two: Get dressed to lace-up shoes
Day Three: Read FlyLady BigTent emails
Day Four: Look at sticky note (in bathroom and kitchen)
Day Five: Write down negative things you're saying to yourself, then write down positive stuff to counter that
Day Six: Spend two minutes on a Hot Spot
Day Seven: Pick out clothes for tomorrow
Day Eight: Make binder for control journal
Day Nine: Add a five-minute room rescue to your Morning Routine.
Day Ten: Set your timer for 15 minutes and go gather up all the trash you can find to throw away and put it in the garbage can outside. Then set your timer for another 15 minutes and sit down and put your feet up and read a favorite magazine until the timer goes off.
Day Eleven: Spend 15 minutes writing down some of your favorite inspirational phrases on a new Control Journal page.



Day Twelve: Today, delete from your inbox all the e-mails from FlyLady. Now don’t cringe. They will all come back around, and FlyLady writes something new every day!

The two-minute Hot Spot things are definitely necessary. James and I are really good about dumping stuff on any available flat surface. It's great, though, how much cleaning can be done in two minutes.

Pics of decluttering task in a few minutes.

The cubby in my desk ends up holding anything I want to put away when I'm sitting at my desk. Here it is before decluttering:



And after. (I left a box of greeting cards in there, but when I find a better place for them, I'll put them there.)





The five-minute room rescue is supposed to be done on your worst room, the one you would be embarrassed to show anyone. Well, for the first time, I don't have a room like that! So I just did it in the main room, because we spend the most time there.

Funny moment:

Me: *rushing around the room doing five-minute room rescue*

James: *blocks my way and starts kissing me*

Me, without thinking, but moving him out of my way: Sweetie, I'm on a timer!

Him: *laugh* Oh, my god!

(Later, he said, "It's okay; it's exactly analogous to when I'm seconds away from dying in my game and I say 'hang on a sec' when you want me to do something.")