As I settle into my second year of graduate school, I’ve been re-evaluating some of the tools I used in my first year to make things so smoothly. And in doing so, I’ve come up with five things that have been SO helpful, that I couldn’t imagine life without them.
So, over the next few days, I’ll be counting down the top 5 things that have helped me balance grad school and motherhood.
So, without further ado…
I first found Flylady a few years ago, when I just had two kids and wasn’t in school, but still everybit as busy! (Isn’t it funny how you’re always busy, no matter what?)
Flylady cartoon from Flylady.net
Flylady describes herself as “your free online coach, cheerleader, and fairy-godmother for decluttering and organizing your home and life!” What I’ve learned from her has been INVALUABLE as I try to balance kids, housework, classes, homework, kids’ homework, dinner…. the list is pretty endless.
You’ll have to check it out for yourself, but the basic premise of Flylady’s advice is that you have to take babysteps, and make those babysteps a part of your routine. She walks you through a new way of tackling housework and decluttering the house. And, most importantly, keeping it decluttered.
But its more than just organizing your home, its about organizing your life. And the best thing about it, is that you can jump in wherever you are, and if you fall behind, you don’t have to catch up….you just join back in on the plan.
Flylady has an effective mix of practical tips and advice – from tackling messy rooms to tackling perfectionism.
She has a system of breaking up housework into small manageable pieces, and you can sign up for emails to get daily reminders of these steps. I used the emails a lot when I first got started – it was a great kind of checklist- as soon as I got the steps done, I would delete the email. But these days I find myself using the emails less and less.
I won’t say my house is spotless, but it sure is better than it was. And I can’t imagine what it would look like if I started grad school without some of the routines she’s taught me!
1 Comment
September 10, 2009 at 7:40 pm
Hi! I was surfing and found your blog post… nice! I love your blog.
Cheers! Sandra. R.