Great Improvements with Decluttering

I thought this was a nice little essay to share with you. I like how she's had such a dramatic transformation and didn't even realize it. That's why I'm so adamant about you taking your before and after pictures. That way you can really SEE the difference.

Dear FlyLady,

Hi, I just wanted to say thank you for what a difference you've made in my life, and very much in my marriage. When I started dating my now-husband, I lived in an apartment with my(cleaning-challenged) younger brother and two cats (one of whom made it his mission to pee everywhere, no matter what I did or sprayed on my furniture, and rugs - ew). It was cluttered, messy, smelly and, thanks largely but not entirely to the cats, dirty. My now-DH was silently horrified, and only when I reformed did he tell me how disgusting it was.

We now live in a 1-bedroom apartment with a nice open feel to it. Why? Lots and lots of clutter purging, very minimal furniture, and lots of little cleaning. Thanks to your FlyLady system, both my toilets are almost always clean, my bed has a pretty comforter and is almost always made, we have a working mail system that keeps bills at the front, and before my pre-bed moisturizing etc, I lay out my outfit for the next day (saving much sleep-fogged time in the morning!). I have especially found helpful your reflections on eliminating martyrdom, and blessing our families with cleaning, so not only is our apartment clean and welcoming, my attitude about the cleaning is also (again, mostly :)).

Several months ago, my best friend and former housemate of 3 years (I even shared a room with her for several months) came to visit and walked around the apartment thoughtfully, and finally said to me,"So... is your house always this clean?" And I just looked blank for a second while I looked around, then said, "Um, yeah, pretty much." That's when I realized what an amazing transformation has taken place.

Thanks to you FlyLady, the contrast could not be more amazing. I can assure you this transformation did not start with me, but it has become a part of me.

Thank you very much!
Flying in Northern Virginia

FlyLady here: If I can help you do one thing it is to declutter. When you do...you fling the clutter and CHAOS out of your home. It is so much easier to keep your home clean when you don't have piles of stuff sitting everywhere and falling out of closets and cabinets.

Today we are starting our Super Fling Boogie. We are in zone 4 - the master bedroom. Kelly's mission today is to declutter the tops of our dressers. The first thing to do when decluttering is to throw away anything that is trash. Those receipts, post it notes, etc that are just claiming space - toss them!. The next thing is to look at what is left on your dresser - Do you need it? Do you love it? Do you use it?

Do you have anything on your dresser that needs to be put away someplace else? Pick up, put away, then pick up and put in a give away box that you will donate later.

During the next month we will declutter in every zone. As you declutter we want you to post the pounds flung in the Super Fling Boogie Meter!! If you throw it away, donate to charity, give it to a friend or neighbor, post it on freecycle.org. ..you post the pounds on the meter. http://flylady. net/pages/ sfb_meter_ 1.asp