Just curious if anyone else is doing Flylady right now. It has been a big help for me that they have been focusing on the back to basics stuff. I've never done a control journal before because I just didn't know where to start, and the whole process is so much clearer with the control journal babysteps that have been posted. I feel like such a dork about housekeeping sometime - I guess I do best when someone is holding my hand and walking me through what needs to be done. Today, I did my very first Home Blessing Hour (ok, so it really took me about three hours with interrruptions). I've been a flybaby for over a year and never real saw the point of the Home Blessing Hour with all the other cleaning I've done, but it has definately made a difference. I really feel like my house is starting to fall into place. :)

I am right there with you. I have a control journal but I need to start using it LOL. Have you tried the saving dinner sample? It is actually pretty good, I was pleasantly surprised. I have been fluttering for about two years now, off and on.

I borrowed Leanne's book, Saving Dinner, from the library and tried a week of the recipes. I loved the shopping list - I saved money and was in and out of the store fairly quickly. Unfortunately, my family did not like the recipes at all. Most of them, they would eat but two they wouldn't even touch. I have to admit that it was a bit hard for me to stomach those two as well, and I am not a picky eater at all. Maybe I'll try another week later since I really like the idea, but it just didn't work for us this time.

I can't believe I didn't even think of borrowing the book from the library. I just put it on hold LOL. I swear these pregnancy hormones. I like the idea of the shopping lists and the different recipes. The layout is nice and sometimes we just need an example to pattern our own shopping lists after. I figure if there is something on the week that I know the family will not like, I can substitute something else and just add those items to the list and take off the ones we won't be using.

I like the idea of going back to basics. I start feeling like I am overwhelmed and just tell myself, get back to the simple things ie. do one load of dishes a day, one load of laundry, washed, dried, and folded, and make the bed. That is my basic day routine. Then I just add what I feel like. I might do the zone mission for the day or I might not. I also try to clean the living room once a day. Then I just add from there, and if I start to get overwhelmed, I go back to my simple routine. It works for me.
Glad I am not alone here!! What are you using for your control journal? I have a binder, but I want to get something smaller, like an index card binder.

My control journal is just an old green binder I had laying around that I filled with blank white paper. It doesn't look at all like how I would really like it to. Everytime, I work on it, I have to keeping telling myself "it doesn't have to be perfect - I can change it later." I know that if I tried to wait until I could do it "right" it would never get done.

About two years ago, I did the "A Plan of Attack" yahoo group where they have you split up your chores into daily chores, weeklies, monthlies, quarterlies, semi-annuals and annual chores. For that I wrote everything on 3x5 cards and placed them in a little picture album. I really liked that set-up although I could never quite stick with my chores. I hadn't thought about using the cards for my control journal though. You'll have to let us know how that works if you end up using them for yours.

I recently re-joined the Fly Lady Yahoo group and started on my control journal again. I've been doing really well and when we had friends over for dinner yesterday all I did was vacuum the living room. Everything else was already clean enough for company.

I also do better with someone "holding" my hand and directing my efforts. I'm not a perfect Fly Baby- I don't WOH so no need to lay out clothes the night before and I don't plan my menus quite so rigidly. With only one child and a small house I can be organized and have a clean home without such extreme rigidity, kwim?

My morning and before bed routines have really helped with giving the dog his supplements which is really important but something I just never could remember to do every day. SO far I've only skipped one dose in the course of a week.

The whole week dedicated to catching up on laundry was not applicable for me since I've had laundry under control for some time now (again, only one child makes all the difference in this area I know). I did do all of the hand washing that had been sitting in a milk crate in my laundry room for years. There were about 25 pairs of tights and pantyhose and I can't even remember the last time I wore panty hose. lol Most of it is going into the garbage now of course. I also started painting my laundry room and will probably finish this week now that swimming lessons are over.

Good luck with your Control Journal Babysteps. Right now all I have are Morning and Before Bed routines. I'm hoping to do a Weekly Home Blessing Hour for the first time this week but we will see.