I'm so excited!

[lobelia321]

My kitchen sink is shiny!!!

I am already addicted to Flylady. I just love having somebody tell me what to do.

Thank you, natasha1805!! (How's your sink??)

Comments

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

My sink is SPOTLESS, thank you very much. Where is your laundry? :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

My laundry is in piles in the laundry, oozing out of baskets and poking out from behind appliances. Remember, I am a week behind you!!! Baby steps, baby steps!!!

I shall rename myself Wilma.

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Behind appliances! Verrry interesting. I'd love to know how it got there. Or maybe not. :-) But yes, baby steps. I've been cutting myself some slack the past few days because I have a bad
cold. I just have to keep telling myself, "don't worry, you are NOT behind." And when I get an unexpected burst of energy, I try to put it to good use!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

We are pathetic! Omg, we are so pathetic. I, too, chant the idiotic words 'baby steps' in my head and take solace in the 'you're not behind' sig. But so good to know that we're not alone!!!!!!

Today I bought 2 bottles of window cleaner (one for every bathroom/toilet), a six-pack of tea towels (dish cloth? dish rag? some strangely-woven thing, anyway -- not something I'd ever encountered before), two packs of dusters and two packs of absorbent cloths.

*screams*

Oh, the strange new world of cleaning products.

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

tea towel = dish cloth

I should probably get two of every bathroom cleaning product- one for upstairs and one for down. Although the dog has pretty well taken over the downstairs bathroom- it will be a major job to get it so humans can use it again!

I love all of the disposable cleaning stuff. Do you guys have Swiffer things? You can mop the floor with a pre-soaked cloth and toss it. Same with a toilet brush. Scrub the toilet and flush the little brush part. Swiffer also makes a wonderful little duster that picks everything up. When it's full, you throw it away. It's not the most environmentally sensitive way to go, but it is more sanitary, and I'm much more likely to do the floors if I don't need to get out a mop and bucket.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I don't do floors! We have a cleaner who does that. I also don't do toilets (sorry: commodes!!!) and I don't do the stove.

I also don't do the oven, except the cleaner doesn't, either, so it stagnates.

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Yes, see, I need a cleaner. But in my currently financially deprived situation, it's not going to happen. Do you call toilets commodes, because I don't?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The Stepford Club called it commode. What a hoot.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I bought myself a timer!!!

I'm now shy about using it while the family is actually in the house. It ticks like a bomb and then it goes 'drrrring' and they will ask, 'what are you doing?'

And I don't want to say, 'um, the 27 fling boogie'. Which I haven't yet tried, anyway. It sounds too daunting. You need boxes! I have no boxes!!

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

I haven't actually used a timer yet, although I should. Mine is horribly noisy as well.

I can't quite manage the 27 fling boogie- which sounds like some 1950's dance (my only hope is that these people are being ironic)- but I have run around the room with a garbage bag for about five minutes and found a lot of stuff to throw/give away. I just don't want to count to 27! I'm such a rebel!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I tried to do the 27 fling thing today but was unable. I wanted to throw away things in the children's room. I eventually threw away 27 dried-out felt pens and old crayons. Does this count? I threw one thing away and dug it up again. I hated my mother throwing out my things behind my back. I can't do it.

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

I think even little things should qualify, too. They contribute to the clutter just as much as everything else.

It's hard for me to throw away anyone else's stuff. My mom used to do that behind my back and I just hated it. Unfortunately a good part of my clutter is due to hubby being a pack rat. All I can do is hope that at some point he feels moved to follow my example. But I'm not holding my breath. :-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

No, I agree, you can't throw out somebody else's stuff. You can maybe move it into designated areas.

[lazulus]

Good. Gawd.

Whatever next? My sink is tarnished and grubby. And proud of it!

Go me!

[the-oscar-cat.livejournal.com]

*pets poor jaq*

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

My sink, otoh, shines like the arse of Orlando.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

My sink, otoh, shines like the arse of Orlando.

Oh, and guess what?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

There is a [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] LJ community. Since the Yahoo! Group doesn't allow any real interaction, this looks like the place to be!

I've also realized that depression and a messy house go hand in hand. It's very hard for me to relax in the midst of clutter. I don't feel good about doing things I like when the house is a disaster. I'm also quite a perfectionist, so if I don't think I can get the job done just so, I don't even bother starting.

Re: Oh, and guess what?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The Flylady thing is scarily up my alley. Perfectionism breeds slovenly pigsty: sounds paradoxical but is absolutely true!!! Today, I cleaned out one kitchen shelf and the top of the fridge!!!!

*falls over* I love this thing!!!

But eek, an LJ community?! Not sure I want to go down that route... Have you checked it out? I won't go there until you've vetted it for me.

Re: Oh, and guess what?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

So far, what I've read of the community is okay. It's pretty much just people asking questions, or testimonials about how such-and-such a feather duster is just wonderful. There seem to be only one or two posts a day. I haven't interacted at all; I'm just looking. :-)

It's funny, you'd think perfectionists would have everything all clean, but it's not necessarily that way. What I want to know is how my perfectionist friends who always have everything under control do it.

Re: Oh, and guess what?

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I'm starting to have hunches about perfectionists. Either they're sekritly like us, or they're just better organised and maybe not really perfectionists. Maybe all the true perfectionists, i.e. the anal-retentives of this world, angst and guilt and subside into the sludge of Depression while all those people whom we, the anal perfectionists, take to be perfectionists (in our deluded sense of all-or-nothing and we-are-nothing) are actually not perfectionists at all.

I suspect the issue is possibly more complex, though.

There are two people whose houses are very neat and nice and whom I know a bit better. One of them is my mother. She is a housewife and basically does a lot at home. She also has depression but it doesn't manifest itself in mess; she's just a naturally tidy and tasteful homemaker. The other is a friend of mine and my son's godmother. She is a bit of a compulsive cleaner (to my eyes); e.g. she was once so tired that she thought, what the heck, sod the washing, and went to bed only to get up at 2 a.m. in order to go downstairs and wash the dishes because she just couldn't stand the idea of being asleep with a dirty dish in the sink.

Can you answer two questions for me? Nobody else has done so; they're all too busy mocking my new existence as a Stepford Wife.

What is Comet?

What is the difference between a dish cloth, a dish rag and a dish towel (if any)?

Re: Oh, and guess what?

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Maybe all the true perfectionists, i.e. the anal-retentives of this world, angst and guilt and subside into the sludge of Depression while all those people whom we, the anal perfectionists, take to be perfectionists (in our deluded sense of all-or-nothing and we-are-nothing) are actually not perfectionists at all.


OMG!! *head explodes*

Yeah, the friend who I was thinking of is a compulsive cleaner also. We shared a room in college, and she must have scrubbed out the sink 5 or 6 times a day. The first words her little girl could say were, "Mama putzen!"

Comet is a very old cleaning powder. My mother won't use anything else. It can be pretty abrasive and has a very specific "clean" smell. It's very cheap compared to most other cleaning products.

A dish rag is the small washcloth you might use to wash dishes. A dish cloth and dish towel are the same thing, I think. At least I use them interchangeably. They're what you use to dry the dishes.

[mandalaya.livejournal.com]

Ah, Flylady! Do you have her book, Sink Reflections? One of the most helpful things for me that she suggests is the 15-minute cleanup. I'm not finished with the room in 15 minutes, usually, but it puts a dent in the clutter and I feel better about everything.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

No! But I want to buy her book!!

Eek, people on my flist know this thing!!

[the-oscar-cat.livejournal.com]

i just joined.

i'm not sure why i'm embarrassed.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

You are embarrassed because you are a grown woman with pretensions to self-sufficiency.

I just feel embarrassed at being a member of something called 'FlyLady' with a big pink fairy as logo. But my SINK IS POLISHED!!!! (*feels ridiculous but still pleased that her SINK IS POLISHED*)

[the-oscar-cat.livejournal.com]

you know me so well! :P

and yes, our kitchen is now looking better than it has in MONTHS. and it took no time at all.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I'm 42 and past embarrassments about many issues. Not all but many. Admittedly, the name 'Flylady' is a tad of a problem. But never mind. It's quite fun to have an obsessive tidying group named after an insect that likes eating shit.

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

You love having somebody tell you what to do?

Then, please, please continue DP.

Of course, there's a correlation between chaos and depression, so I suggest our hubbies, SOs, BFs AND children (all major causes for chaos) join that Flylady so that we can concentrate on the things that are really important.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

There is? There is a link between Chaos and Depression? This seems right to me but this is scientifically proven?

I have to correct myself on the loving to have somebody tell me what to do front. I cannot cope with a generic imperative like 'Finish DP!' I think, 'o yes, i want to do that', and go off to have a cup of tea. The FlyLady says 'Go now and polish your sink.' Very specific! Of course, DP doesn't work like that. It's not as if you can tell me 'Go off and write "The azure blue of his robes billowed in the desert wind", and then I'd go and write that.'

Hm. A ProseLady? How would that work?

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't present you scientific proof for that. Feng Shui e.g., an esoteric variant of the FlyLady you could say, talks a lot about energy flow and the aura of things. And a clean sink undisputedly has a better aura than a dirty one.

Or another example: it causes a daily irritation when having to deal with only half-functioning equipment or having the whole contents of a cabinet falling down on you each time you open the cabinet. This or that alone may not be the cause of depression, but these small things can easily add up to the feeling of losing control over your appartment/house (=life)

And then there's the so-called curse of unfinished actions which take up up a lot of your mental energy and drain you on a daily basis because they're lurking at the back of your mind.

All this is not science, I'd say, but has to do a lot with common sense.

Apart from that I'm quite aware that things are a bit more tricky when it comes to writing. If I knew how a ProseLady could operate and motivate I'd certainly be not here, but writing, writing, writing ....

*chuckles* Sorry for taking your words THAT literally, but when you said you love having someone tell you what to do I simply couldn't resist ... ;-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I was asking for it, that is true.

Strangely, the Flylady's daily nagging emails do not seem to include any exhortations to GO AND TAKE TEN MINUTES TO WRITE SMUTTY PORN!!!

Very odd. Do you think I should write to them and point this out?

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

You should. Absolutely. It's obvious they set the wrong priorities.