Come fly with me

I have a confession to make. I'm a failed fly baby.

About 8 years ago, I found about fly lady on a Martha Stewart message board and I thought it was the answer to prayer. I have struggled with keeping house my whole adult life. I was newly engaged, and I wanted to start married life on a good note.

So I.diligently shined my sink. I tried to follow the routines. Honest I did. But...nothing seemed to stick. I just couldn't get it. There wasn't any magic lightbulb moment. It never clicked for.me. I'd read these testimonials in my email, and wonder what was wrong with me.

The other morning I realized why.

It's not me. I was trying to be someone I'm not.

I'm never going to be a super homemaker. It's just not in my blood I guess. I do other things super well, like cook or craft or read. Cleaning my house, not so much.

When I do get around to it, I do a nice job around the house. But sometimes its an exercise in futility. I can't keep up.with the 8 year old.tornado that blows through my home on a daily basis.

When I haven't squandered away my mornings, what works for me is to dry swifter my tile floors, swifter duster the furniture & woodwork and wipe down the bathrooms. It only takes a few minutes, and it instills a bit of pride in my home.

What also works for me is spending about 15 minutes a day focusing on 1 room in my house. Its the more deep cleaning-polishing furniture, vacuum, wash windows, that sort of things. Every Saturday I'd spend time deep cleaning one room-lemon oil the woodwork, really mop the floors, wax the surrounds in the shower, clean the oven. That sort of thing.

A lot of that changed when I became a mom, and then when I went back to work full time it got harder.

And I continued to beat myself up because I couldnt make someone else's system work for me. I got.frustrated because no one else bought into the system with me. But it doesn't work for me, no matter how hard I try.

So I accept defeat. I admit it.

Instead, I'm going back to what works for me overall.