Thought of the Day…My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint. ~Erma Bombeck

First of all… my family is more important to me than just about anything… spending time with them is more important than cleaning the house.

There I said it… live with it… I do… but… sometimes… I need my head examined…

I am one that likes organization, but at the same time I have a hard time letting go of some things… OK before Hubby chimes in … many things.

Let’s go back 27+ years… my dorm room in college was clean. No piles, no dirt, no dust, nada… clean. I was in heaven. When I moved out of the dorms and into an apartment it too was clean. My last roommate wasn’t as a neat-freak as I and I refused to be the maid. So I gave up…

When I graduated and moved from the rural Missouri college town to outside Washington, DC I didn’t have a roommate… again… apartment was spotless. Albeit not much furniture so it was super easy vacuuming…

Then I got married… uh oh… Hubby isn’t a “freak” like me. Which is good… I was obsessive… I cleaned with toothpicks and straight pins… I was a F-R-E-A-K! (still am at heart)

After a few years The Offspring came along… Hubby came into the kitchen and I was straddling the refrigerator door leaning over my HUGE 39.9 week belly cleaning the ice maker on the front of the fridge…

Hubby asked, “Can I ask you something?”

I responded, without looking up, “Sure.”

Hubby, “Are you about to pop?”

I said, “Nope. Just cleaning this because I have time. Besides the nurse said I still had a while.” I was cleaning with a straight pin!!!! Sad thing was the fridge was CLEAN… my “freakish” side was nesting… but I didn’t see it.

My water broke the next day!

When went back to work and then decided that spending time with The Offspring was far more important than cleaning… I STILL live by that mantra (oh yeah, I already said that. Sorry!)

I’ve also “always” been afraid of identity theft (been a victim) so I am extremely cautious. I shred ANYTHING with our names or address (even junk mail addressed to “Resident”) with a cross-cut (want a confetti-cut but that will wait until my cross-cut wears out). I then put he clippings in my compost bin or recycle it if compost bin is too full.

Well… over the last 23 years we have accumulated stuff. Some is necessary, some is for fun (like our CD/DVD collections), some is for memories (photos coming out our ears), some is just stupid… remember that obsession I mentioned in the last paragraph about shredding… well in our early years in the Pacific Northwest we didn’t have a good shredder (mine now can shred an unopened random credit-card app envelope with no problem). I admittedly keep it until I go through it… No our house isn’t full to the ceiling with boxes and piles… I’m not that bad.

I have thrown out a lot of stuff… I spent six months (no not constantly) working on sorting through stuff. I felt a since of pride. I only shared photos of the before and after with 3 people – I was embarrassed.

What’s interesting is that we have family and friends that they house is messy and I don’t think anything about it… It feels lived in… not a museum…

Anyway… I need to… wait, that’s not right … WE need to purge our house of stuff… I’m just overwhelmed and didn’t know where to start…

Then a couple days ago I was reading one of my new follower’s blog and she mentioned the FlyLady and I didn’t know who she was, so I Googled her… her tag line is Your personal online coach to help you gain control of your house and home. I was intrigued…

I read these statements and felt like someone understood… Are YOU living in CHAOS? (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome) Do you feel overwhelmed, overextended, and overdrawn? Hopeless and you don’t know where to start?

So, I joined (which is FREE) and now get emails and I have taken the first step to freedom…

The FlyLady says to take BabySteps… don’t take on too much or you’ll get burned out… YEP… been there done that…

So Day 1 is Go Shine Your Sink… my kitchen sink wasn’t terrible. A couple of oversized dirty dishes, but not bad. It didn’t matter… I HAD to make the sink shine…

So, I did… and YES, I got the toothpicks out! The Offspring says I’m nuts… I probably am… but you know what… I FELT GREAT!

Here’s the end result…

I also made a sign …

…and hung it on the Kitchen window (please ignore the herbs that are waiting to get planted in my garden)

Wish me luck… better yet… join in the fun!!