I have begun this new blog to chronicle my own journey from CHAOS to Organization with the hopes that this time I will discover the magic formula to staying that way! I have struggled my entire life with being organized. I do not know the root cause of this difficulty and at this point in my life it really doesn't matter. (I'm old enough to have 5 grand children). At this point all I want is to have a clean, tidy house, with a place for everything and everything in it's place.
There is however a theory that we are either born organized or born slobs. For much of my life I thought of myself as a slob. Occasionally I even reveled in the idea of being such a non-conformist. I was an artist, I have a creative mind. All creative people are slobs. Such are the things that often rumble in the back of my mind.
Many years ago I discovered a book called "Side Tracked Home Executives; From Pigpen to Paradise" by Pam Young and Peggy Jones. I laughed and cried with them and in some chapters I thought, "Well, now, I'm not that bad!" In fact I still have that book and re-read it occasionally. I've even thought of late that perhaps I should resurrect that old system.
Pam and Peggy's system was to use 3x5 inch recipe cards, with a single household job written on each one. They were filed in a card box in 31 dividers according to when they should be done, every day, week, month or seasonal. If you are really easily sidetracked and need a concrete reminder system in front of you at all times this is one that you should probably look into. It did serve me pretty well once upon a time. But then in the ways of easily sidetracked, disorganized folks the little black box on the kitchen counter was soon overcome by a pile of stuff....
In 2001 Pam and Peggy, with a couple of other ladies published a revised edition of Side Tracked Home Executives. I haven't read it yet, but I imagine it is just as good as the first edition.
Now a long time ago another lady that was having trouble keeping up with her house also discovered Pam & Peggy. Marla Scilly joined their Bulletin Board, which was the origination of our modern forums. Marla's screen name was 'Fly Lady' because she liked to fly fish and it's stuck.
Marla's journey from CHAOS to Organization has become a complete network of websites, blogs, online radio shows and forums around the Web. Marla documented her journey in her book, Sink Reflections
Marla began her journey by working on one basic habit each for a month. Her first habit was to shine her kitchen sink every night. She then went on to things like making the bed, doing the laundry and many others.
On Marla's original website, http://flylady.net/ she gives you 31 baby steps to getting your house in order. Marla has many other resources on her website. After getting the clutter under control and developing routines, Marla divides the house up into zones. She even sends out reminders each day with special 'missions' for the zone you are in. You work in one zone each week, doing those jobs that are unique to that zone. This is in addition to those daily habits that keep things running smoothly.
For company and encouragement, Marla and her friends have numerous radio shows at Blog Talk Radio. There is also a large forum for "Flybabies" who are also trying to get their lives in order. There are lots of fun and friendly folks on the forums and we all have a good time posting out accomplishments as well as our disasters.
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