Baby steps, day twenty-six

[serene]

Last week, I started back to The Best Job Ever, but with full-time hours now (I was half-time before). When I get home, I eat dinner, stare into space for a while, and crash. I've been in bed by ten every night, and much earlier some nights. Last night, I managed to cook dinner, and clear a couple things off the table, but really, I wanted nothing more than to go to bed. Fortunately, I knew I'd have a couple hours to work on things in the morning.

One thing about getting up at 5 and starting my morning routines? It tells my brain that I'm making this important. (Not saying if you don't get up at 5, you're not making housework important. I'm talking about me me me here.) It feels like something inside me is on board with the idea that getting and keeping my house clean is going to take some actual time and thought. Ignoring it and hoping it will do itself is strangely ineffective!



(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: Delete from your inbox all the e-mails from FlyLady.
Day Thirteen: Find one of Kelly’s missions and go and do it.
Day Fourteen: Today, go read the essay that Kelly wrote about using a calendar.
Day Fifteen: Add making your bed to your morning routine.
Day Sixteen: Read a FlyLady email
Day Seventeen: Set a specific bed time and stick to it.
Day Eighteen: Read the Eleven Commandments.
Day Nineteen: Read http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/31-beginner-babysteps/day-19/
Day Twenty: Include laundry in your morning and evening routines.
Day Twenty-one: Read the Ask FlyLady page
Day Twenty-two: Learn how to build your own control journal in 15 steps.
Day Twenty-three: Make a new page in your Control Journal for your Afternoon Routine.
Day Twenty-four: One of the things that make our home always ready for company is the fact that our main bathroom is clean. Add the Swish and Swipe to your Morning Routine.
Day Twenty-five: Read FlyLady’s personal testimonial.



Day Twenty-six: FlyLady says it takes us a month to establish a habit:

It takes us a month to establish a habit. I set it up this way because I knew that I would miss a day here and there and I didn’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water. That was how I had always done it with my perfectionism. If I missed a day I gave up; well I factored in this part of our personalities into our FlyLady system. This is why we take a whole month to establish one habit. –FlyLady

Today, go look at the bottom of any e-mail you’ve received from the FlyLady BigTent group. Read the first sentence and incorporate it into FLYing!

This is the first sentence: "You are not behind! I don't want you to try to catch up; I just want you to jump in where we are. O.K.?"

This honestly has helped me. Instead of starting the day with a pile of to-dos from yesterday, I start with a clean slate and just go to #1 on my morning routines list and work my way down. I don't always get to the end of the list, but I also don't start my day anxious and defeated.

Today, after I got up, I read the reminder on my bathroom mirror.



So I finished dressing (by which I mean washed my face, brushed my teeth, put lotion on) and headed to the kitchen to put away the dishes and clean out the sink. This is NOT the way I used to spend mornings, and I feel so responsible, and like I'm really taking care of myself and my family.

Comments

[emceeaich]

Wait a second.

1. You're working full time.
2. You're getting up at 5am to do a second job.
3. You have other people living at home.

I know some of them are not able to help with the housework, but aren't you getting any backup?

[serene]

Oh, James does almost all the housework! But the decluttering/unfucking is my project, because I want to do it. He does at least as much on it as I do, and in fact, this is the IM exchange we had moments before I saw this (I'm at work; he's at home):

9:49 AMJames
based on a trial run in the kitchen, I'm going to say the glossboss gets results equal to vigorous mopping with roughly the time and effort of light mopping. I'm going to mop up the dirty water then try some of the stubborn spot (like under our chairs) with spic and span (i've been using plain soap, from that batch you made a few monthes ago)

9:59 AMSerene
k. I'm also gonna try the vinegar/magic-eraser combo at some point, just to see.

10:00 AMJames
Hard to tell how well it worked on the ground in dirt until it dries, but it blasted right through the big black spots under your chair

I'm tempted to try an ammonia mixture, but I'll put that off until we have a better air quality day and I've seen how the spic an span turns out

10:40 AMSerene
cool, thank you, baby

[metaphortunate]

Dude, working full-time is hard! It's surprising how much of your life it sucks away when you've gotten unused to it.

Also, I continue to follow your habitat unfucking with great interest.

[otter]

I haven't been here in ages. What a great post to find on my first day back :) Other friends have found FlyLady to be very useful. I like the ideas and might try it out myself some day. Congrats on the full time work! I imagine you'll adjust and find more energy eventually.