Many years ago I had a housekeeper come every couple of weeks. It would take me days to just get ready for her to come. The sad part was that I lived alone. There was no one to clean up after but myself. I had not learned the trick – that if you get it out, then put it away when you finish with it.
My life was in total CHAOS. Even though it would take me days to get things put away enough for my cleaning lady to come over, it was still worth everything I had to go though just to be wrapped in that beautiful clean feeling when I got home after a long day.
I had spent most of my life chasing after mystery smells. You know the ones that greet you at your door when you have been away all day. My least favorite is the cat box smell. When you open the door to that odor; it is as if you have been hit in the face. How can anything that cute make such an offensive smell! That is when we try our best to cover up those smells with scented candles, potpourri and pine fragrance.
We have some dirty little secrets. When we have hyperfocused on a project and let our house go to pot, we know how to look like we have been working all day. When we wake up from our obsession, we get every machine we have in the house going at the same time. We turn on the washing machine and run it again. That could be where that soured smell is coming from. Then we pull the plug on the mystery water in the sink and run a load of smelly dirty dishes in the dishwasher. After that we pull out our vacuum and sprinkle carpet deodorizer on the floor and vacuum it up right quick. We conveniently leave it in the middle of the floor so we look can turn it on and look busy when someone pulls into the drive way. After that we light a candle and pour pine cleaner in every toilet. Does any of this sound familiar to you!
I am here to tell you that I don’t live this way any longer. With my routines in place, my trash gets emptied. No more falling in the floor and knock you over with the smell garbage in our home. My sink is not filled with dirty dishes and stinky water and my toilets don’t offend my nose when I walk into the bathroom. I no longer have potatoes and onions sprouting, science project growing in the refrigerator or that lone rotten potato under the sink. We use our produce and eat our leftovers. Money is saved and so are our olfactory senses.
Nothing says “I love you” like walking into a home that hugs you! You can have this beautiful clean feeling too! Let go of your “I don’t have time” perfectionism and FLY!
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS, check out Marla Cilley’s website and join her free mentoring group at www.FlyLady.net, listen to her www.blogtalkradio.com/flylady show, or read her books, Sink Reflections, published by Bantam, and her New York Times bestselling book, Body Clutter, published by Fireside. Copyright 2008 Marla Cilley. Used by permission in this publication.
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