Ducks 'n a Row

FlyLady

Five Minutes to a Clutter Free Home

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How out of control is your home? Should somebody call FEMA to come clean up the disaster? Or should you go straight for the demolition crew, tear it all down and start over!
 

Don’t let home organizing get your down. Start where you are now, no matter how dismal it looks, and take baby steps to freedom!  

“You can do anything for 15 minutes.” That encouragement from Marla Cilley, the FlyLady. It is her theme song!
Take just 15 minutes – even as little as 5 minutes – per day and clear a space to the worst room in the house. You know, the room that is so cluttered you’d be embarrassed for anyone to see it. Just work your way in, clearing clutter as you go, for five minutes a day. Do it faithfully for a month and see the transformation. It’s simple and it works!
Marla encourages the use of a timer so that you don’t get caught up. When the timer rings, you’re done! Move on to the next task at hand, one of which might even be some special time for you! Read a book, take a brief cat nap, catch up on your emails. Relax for a few minutes. You deserve it!
The FlyLady is popular because her no-pressure approach to organizing, cleaning and decluttering is so simple. Simple, and fun! “Baby steps”, that’s all it takes.
Another five minute technique: the Bathroom Swish and Swipe  My friend, Paula,  has been a FlyLady fan for years. “I love it all, especially when I keep on track. I always do the bathroom swish and swipe. Keeps the grunge and yuck at bay.”
The “Swish and Swipe” is a five minute “fly through” in the bathroom before you leave the house in the morning or start your daily routine. Quickly swish the toilet and sink, swipe the mirrors and you’re done!
One of my other FlyLady enthusiast friends,  Kristen,  says “The things that I have stuck with the most over the years are the shiny sink, the bathroom wipe down, and the 5 minute declutter. These are things I still do almost daily.”
As a high school principal, Kristen leads a very busy life. “The 5-minute declutter and using sticky notes have definitely helped me at work, too. I open my mail at the garbage can both at home and at work, and have a designated place for bills, keys, etc. It is amazing how these little things have made such a big difference.”
So, find your TIMER…get ready, get set, GO! 

 
 
      
Photo credits:
Asian woman by Num_Skyman on Freedigital Photos 
Note: this author is an Amazon afiiliate. Anything purchased from Amazon through Ducks ‘n a Row will result in a small commission for me. In advance, “thank you.” … Sinea

5 Best Organizing Tips I Have Ever Learned

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We have so much to learn in the World of Organizing, don’t we?  I know I do. That’s why I fortify myself with reading great material on decluttering, organizing, cleaning, decorating, time management, and so on. It is encouraging, invigorating and brings focus. Here are some tips that I’ve learned from the best!

The 5 Best Organizing Tips I Have Ever Learned are 
fundamental keys to getting the job done!

1. Shine Your Sink – this one came from the Queen of Organizing, Marla Cilley. Otherwise known as the FlyLady, Marla has started zillions of us off on the path to an organized life. I’m proud to say that I’ve met Marla personally…by phone but we spent 90 minutes talking one afternoon about organizing and writing. She has taught me so much. 

The Shiny Sink 101 lesson was monumental. Somewhat skeptical, I took it on.  Following her instructions almost exactly, I emptied my very full and grungy sink, shined it up real pretty and WOW! It looked so good, I just had to do the counters, too. 

Keeping my Windex nearby, I continued to keep it empty and shined and it really did what she said it would do…REPELS DIRTY DISHES! No one wants to be the first to put a dirty dish in it.  Check out her tutorial Shiny Sink 101 and try it. (BTW, the same concept works in other areas of the house, like the dining room table.)

clean modern kitchen #organizing #cleaning #decluttering #tips by Ducks 'n a Row

2. You Can’t Organize Clutter – Clutter is just that…CLUTTER! And clutter cannot be moved, regrouped or organized. It must go. It MUST go! Recognizing the truth is a huge step toward conquering it for good. 

Erin Doland on her website “Unclutterer” shared an eye-opening reality in her post “Single Socks and How They Can Help You To Process What-if Clutter.”  We’ve all experienced the paralyzing thoughts that oppose throwing or giving things away. “What if I might need it later?” torments us till we do absolutely nothing but maybe move it aside. Fact is, that thing MUST go.  Be brave. Be strong. Get rid of it!  

chaos and clutter; disorganized; #organizing #decluttering #tips by Sinea from Ducks 'n a Row

3. Do A Little Bit Every Day – organizing projects take time. Especially if decluttering has to take place first, don’t try to do it all at one time. Why not? Because you’ll fail. You’ll give up and then the clutter will start to climb again. If you set a habit in place and let it become a lifestyle, soon whole rooms, entire closets and finally your entire dwelling will be neat, clean, manageable and “drop in company ready“.

Laura Wittmann teaches an easy to follow “How to Get Organized” process on her website “Organizing Junkie” and she even provides a beautifully designed bookmark with the steps right on it (free printable pdf). Even the top organizers refer to her process and it’s a good thing for all of us to learn from. Then, while we are doing a little bit every day, we’ll know WHAT to be doing! 🙂 

4. Many Hands Make Light Work – if you can get the family involved in the process, do it. Not every family falls into line like we might wish but Organized Home writer Cynthia Ewer has some great suggestions on how to make it work in her Five Tips for Spring Cleaning With Kids post.

5. Don’t Let New Things In The House – Yep! Sounds severe but sometimes you’ve got to really attack the situation. How’d the clutter get in? You LET it in. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits has a great article entitled “15 Great Decluttering Tips” that tells it like it is. Point #2 is “don’t let new stuff in”!  Makes sense. Until you get the other stuff out, don’t compound the problem. It’ll make you want to get control faster, too because, let’s face it, we all love new stuff!

      

“1950’s Kitchen Remodeled” by NancyHugoCKD.com on Flickr Creative Commons.  
“View from the Floor” photo by Puuikibeach on Flickr.com

 

Make the Bathroom Shine!

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Sxc.hu 1209273 by engindeniz

The ultimate goal is to minimize bathroom cleanup time. This tip first takes a major cleanup, and then 2 minute daily maintenance thereafter.  Yes, JUST 2 MINUTES!
First, clean your bathroom till it shines.
Tub, toilet, mirrors, counters, floors and all those little bottles that sit in the shower area to collect soap scum.  This may take a while but, be encouraged, you will seldom have to do the full job again.

SLOW DRAINS? If you have slow drains, this will be a tedious process.  First, get those drains unclogged.  Pour 3/4 cup baking soda into the drain followed by 1/2 cup vinegar.  Set your timer for 30 minutes and go do something else.  Come back and pour extremely hot water–even boiling water– down the drain.  Voila!  Free flow.  Now, get back to cleaning the bathroom.

Tip #10 is wisdom learned from FlyLady called “the bathroom swish and swipe”.   
Keep glass cleaner in the bathroom along with a clean rag or paper towel.  Before you leave the house, or go downstairs for the day, shine the mirrors, counter, sink and tub with your cleaner.  Use the toilet brush to swipe around the toilet bowl (add cleanser if it’s needed), flush and you are DONE!  Drop in company?  No problem.  Your bathroom looks awesome…doesn’t it feel good?
Here is another good tutorial on how to clean a bathroom in 10 minutes or less from “Ready Set Baby Blog”. 

31 Great Organizing Tips

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A whole basketful of great organizing tips has begun. The first is definitely the foremost.  It is:
Tip#1:  Shine Your Sink
The kitchen is the hub of the home.  If it isn’t clean, the mess just spills into the rest of the household as well.  And, there is no way to properly clean a kitchen with a sink piled up with dirty dishes.   
Why shine it?  Because a shiny sink is less likely to collect more dishes anytime soon.  Try an experiment:  Clean it.  Dry it.  Shine it.
No one will want to be the first one to dirty it. 
Photo from: casasugar.com

It’s true! 

To help out, put a 

“Please rinse and put in dishwasher” 

sign above the sink.  

How to Clean & Shine Your Kitchen Sink

  1. Empty the sink of everything inside and on the ledge.
  2. Fill one side with hot water, nearly to the top.Add liquid bleach and let it soak for at least an hour. (Be certain that the room is well-ventilated and never, ever combine cleaning products)
  3. Drain and Rinse, after the hour is up. 
  4. Repeat on the other side of the sink.
  5. Scrub the sink thoroughly. Use a powdered cleanser like Ajax or Clorox, that has bleach in it.  
  6. Clean the edges around the sink and faucets where grime collects.  Use a sharp instrument, like a table knife, or an old toothbrush to loosen it up.
  7. Rinse well.
  8. Shine it! Now, using Windex, shine the sink and faucets and dry them, polishing them.  If it isn’t shiny enough, use car wax.

I defy anyone to put anything in that sink now.  It may be necessary to put a note near it telling the family to rinse their dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

These ideas are not original, but have been proven to be 100% successful over and over again.  They were first published by Marla Cilley, known as the Flylady, and if you are not familiar with her you need to be.  

Check out her website and also buy her book “Sink Reflections”, available here, to learn from the pro!  All of the rest of us are her proteges.  

Thank you, Marla!
…Sinea


Video Advice from the FlyLady

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A blast from the past…revisiting an article to inspire us to move into a higher place of GETTING ORGANIZED!

Today was a decluttering day for me!
27-Fling Boogie in the most cluttered room in the house and, voila! You can actually walk into the room danger-free! (i.e. nothing will fall on you and the floors are bare!)

Sometimes a picture is truly worth a thousand words so, go to my article on Examiner.com and scroll to the bottom for a great article with video featuring Marla Cilley (the Flylady)

(For those who read the article, too…Thanks!)

Five Minutes to a Clutter Free Home

Getting all of our ducks ‘n a row!
Sinea