Decluttering Time!

Remember how I challenged you to join me in learning to clean our homes using the FlyLady system? Well, I made it probably half way through the Baby Steps, then went on vacation for about a month. Oops. The good news? While I haven't followed the baby steps to the letter, I am feeling pretty comfortable about the daily state of our home. The sink is clean before we go to bed 90% of the time. I vacuum nearly every day. (Keep in mind that I use a battery operated stick-vac, so it's super easy to cross the house quickly, and the battery lasts less than 15 minutes, so I'm (gratefully) limited on the amount of time and space I cover.) And Lana's 5-6 play areas throughout the house are straightened up every night. I tackle quite a bit of this list while Raf is giving Lana a bath and putting her to bed. Hallelujah for Super Daddies! 

We've been entertaining like crazy, and I haven't felt any pressure to do super cleaning sessions prior, and the house has been back to normal within a day after hosting. And we're even hosting green parties--using real dishes rather than disposable. Yay Us!

Anyway, to the point. When I've found the time, I have been focusing on decluttering as well. The FlyLady constantly preaches that "You Can't Clean Clutter!" In other words, until you get rid of all the extra crap in your house that you don't need/use/love, it's always going to feel messy. And you're never going to be able to get into a good deep cleaning rhythm until your space is free of clutter. This is why decluttering is the second primary focus of the FlyLady system, right after mastering the baby steps, and before moving on to weekly zone cleaning (how she helps you deep clean your house without ever feeling like you did). So, I constantly have a box open to collect good will donations. It's helpful. But it's been slow.

That's why I got super excited when I skimmed the daily FlyLady email this morning--the Zone Cleaning focus through the end of October will be decluttering, space by space! Yay! (Check out the Sneak Peek for the Week here. Sign up to receive daily emails here.) With Zone Cleaning, the FlyLady has you focus on one or two rooms (depending on the layout/size of your home) each week, then they break it down and give you one Mission every day to clean that specific space. For instance, now that we're focused on decluttering, this week we're starting with the Master Bedroom, and today our mission is to declutter the top of our dressers. And...THAT'S IT! Tomorrow we'll do the nightstands. Then underwear drawers. Etc, etc. That's the beauty of the FlyLady system: little by little and before you know it you have a clean and clutter free home! Woo Hoo! 

Long story short: if you've been feeling like you need to whip yourself into shape to maintain a clean house, I urge you--TODAY IS THE DAY TO START! Seriously. Decluttering is the #1 most important thing, and the FlyLady is going to be walking us through it day by day before the holidays hit! So, who's in?? 

I'm off to declutter the top of my dresser...