Flying with Fly Lady

This is not an ad.  This is an attempt to get a little control over my life, starting with my always messy house.  Retraining starts with me, and trickles down to the rest of the family.  My husband is already doing better at helping out!  We really have to work with the teenagers, getting them to pick up after themselves to avoid extra work for everyone later.

http://www.flylady.net/

So.  I recently started working (or putting an attempt into it) the Flylady.net method of getting the house cleaner.  I'm happy to report that my kitchen and bathroom has never been consistently cleaner, and last Saturday I got my iphone, ear buds, audio book, and got started on a humongous job of cleaning out old mail and paperwork, just me, my dog (lying on my feet, he was not happy about all that paper stuff around me), and my heavy-duty shredder.

Yesterday I got my flylady products in.  I had ordered the Rubba Sweeper, Rubba Scrubba, the rubba dish scrubbing set, and 3 purple rags, which are some kind of microfibre towel that you don't find in stores. 

Here's my take:  The Rubba Sweepa is GOING BACK and I want my money back.  It's designed with little rubber bristles to keep from scratching anything, but they stick to my ceramic tile floor and the detachable bristle section (for easy washing) just keeps popping right off.

The rubba scrubba and rubba dishscrubbing set are okay, also made with little rubber bristles to avoid scratching surfaces, but you should probably keep a good ol' bristle brush around for certain tough jobs.

The purple cleaning towels ... YES!  they wipe and shine down anything!  I did wipe down my black coffee pot and it did leave some lint on that black plastic surface, but now that I think about it, I have to wonder if washing those little towels (in a mesh bag that comes with them) with a couple of bath towels didn't cause that.  I'll have to try washing them without towels next time.

All in all, the purple towels are the best thing out of the $54 I spent.  And I do intend to get some of that back with the return of the rubba sweepa.  Don't buy that thing!

Now.  The absolute best product (And it's free! ) you can find at the flylady.net, besides the daily encouragement and instructions on how to get your house clean to begin with, is the Cozi calendar.  Do you have a PC, ipad, or smart phone (apple or Blackberry)?  The Cozi calendar is a free app that you have GOT to check out!  This is the first time EVER I have gotten my whole family on board with a family calendar app!  It includes a calendar, to-do list, shopping list, and a journal, and each and every member that you sign up can edit, add to, remove.  Everyone's phone syncs up, so hubby at the grocery store knows what we need because when Dara uses all the Miracle Whip for chicken salad she grabs her phone and puts it in the grocery list.  The calendar can send text message reminders to all or select members, the to-do list can also be sent, etc.  And the journal can be a fun way of snapping a quick shot and uploading for the rest of the family to see, though I'm the only person to use that feature so far.

You can use the Cozi with your computer and/or smartphone ... I use both.  It's FREE, and the best, easiest, and most simple organizational app I've tried yet!