Control Journal: I made one when I a while back, but do I follow it (no). I don't really like the name either. I think flight manual is a little better, but it still doesn't fit me (still looking for a name that will make me want to use it). Additionally, I think I made it to complicated to use (I don't know about you but I have a tendancy to do that - make things more complicated than they have to be).

I've done most of the work for the Flight Manual (CJ) but decided last night to nix it, at least some of it. It was too much for me to live up to. I don't think I'm ready yet for a FM. So, my OIB is now empty. Not sure that I'll need it again or not. Do I fling it? Having everything in one place is great, but if it's not something I tend to use all the time, then what's the point? And out of sight is out of mind for me. Sticking my bills in there hasn't been the smartest thing I've ever done.

So now I use my much loved and much used address/telephone folder for emergency info and contact info. I've also included a page that lists all the important anniversaries and birthdays I need and a page of insurance information. Anything related to bills is in a bin on the kitchen counter. That's what makes sense to me. I can write all the stuff down in a FM, but if it's going to overwhelm me or bring on expectations I can't meet, then I'll do what I did - take it apart and fix it so it works for me.

(talk about being a brat )

well .. if looking at the binder will make you feel guilty or bad or mad.

Then put it up somewhere.

I dont want my bills in a CJ.. I put them in a stand on top of the frig. I empty out the unneccary paper, write the $due and date on the front, and thats where they go. That makes sense to me. I can grab them at night to take in the morning - to pay online. And then I throw them away. Im not keeping all that.

Trust me I have years and years and years of my parents insurance papers, car insurance, health things etc etc that I dont know what to do with. Im holding them until probate is done (which is taking forever)

You are doing fine girl. Give yourself a breather...
Youhave tackled alot lately.. you should be proud of yourself.
You rock!

RS

I agree with Rhonda, be proud of what you accomplished Sam! You are doing great.. its babystepping, not giantsteps! You will get it all figures out in the end, but for now, you are doing great!!

Thanks for the encouragement, ladies. I think I was worried that I was bucking the (FLY)system. When I got up this morning I felt much better about the choices I had made. It's what works for me. And that's what it's all about (or is that the hokey pokey ).

I've been listening to the archives and there was a call where Leanne said something about hoping people don't think they need to do exactly what FlyLady and Leanne do. She also said that even they had different morning routines. So, adapt it for yourself. Hey, here's my new morning routine:

Wake up.
Go to couch.
Drink big coffee.

See? Three easy steps!

Just kidding, of course. I have kiddos. They require just a few more steps than that, yes?

That is, however, my ideal vacation morning routine!

-Rebecca

I like it! A Saturday morning routine! There is no reason why we can't have a vacation every weekend.

Friday night before bed: Set up the coffee pot, make a fruit salad and bake/buy some muffins. Plan something for the kid(s) to do while Mommy caffinates. Morning: dress to yoga pants and tee, put hair clip in, brush teeth, S&S and go. Ignore doorbell, LR forts, dishes and phone until noon (check-out time.)

I think my saturday routine will start off like...

watch the weather channel. Looks like another hurricane is inching it's way towards Texas... and its already saturated. Its sooo humid, its like walking in a sauna. All the house windows are steamed up. greaaat.

Im waiting to see the newest updates on TWC and its taking forever.

One things for sure.. keep all the clothes washed. If we have to book it outa here.. I aint taking dirty clothes!

Rhonda

hi,
it took me a few months to get together a CJ, but I'll explain how I did it and why.

I wanted it to be nice an p*rf*ct, so it was never a good time to do it. That's why I needed a strong motivation to begin it. In July 2005 I called a cleaning service to send someone to clean my home once a week. They were going to send a lady in September, and I had to let her in!!!

If I wanted her to CLEAN there had to be little clutter, or she would spend way more time cleaning, so I started to declutter. She would also need a list of what to do and how frequently (weekly blessing hour and zone cleaning). That way I started my CJ. I made an excel spreadsheet with weekly and monthly chores, and wrote who was going to do what. I copied all this lady's tasks in a word file, and added at the end a list of the monthly tasks, so she could do one or two in the 40 or 50 minutes she had after she finished the weekly cleaning.

The rest of the tasks were for me, so I listed them as my daily, weekly, monthly or yearly routine.

This brought a mini spreadsheet with all the yearly events (sort of a calendar): birthdays, curtain cleaning, a/c filters cleaning, doctors, etc.

I printed out everything and, voilà, my CJ.

Little by little, I added phone numbers (printed from outlook, where they belong to different categories), routines (which I don't follow ), holiday clecklist (which I use a lot), etc.

After a year, I only had to do little "retouches" to my CJ, and I printed out every changed page and replaced it in my binder.

The CJ sits in a drawer and I never look at it but I know it is there in case something happens to me or someone needs it.


Sorry about this novel-long message. it won't happen again

You didn't write too much at all!

Back in the day when I had it in my budget, I had a cleaning serice too and they are SO nice for getting to the things that took me longer to think about than to actually do. And, they are a great motivator to keep things on an even keel and decluttered. Of course, I always cleaned before the crew got here. CHAOS = Cleaning House Assistants Over Stress. LOL!

I think your CJ sounds great in that it is a home management tool that works for you. I would do the same thing with a binder version...use it for "just incase" and not daily.

I've been thinking a lot about the CJ today. I wanted to make mine just the way Marla said to make it. I wanted it to be the P word. And so I did that (I thought ).

Only problem was that I wasn't really using it. I had it in a room that I don't go into every day, it wasn't personal to me, and it didn't all make sense. So I didn't use it.

It wasn't until I got through my paper clutter that I realized that my CJ had become just paper clutter itself. Most of the stuff in there was already online or sent to me each day in the FlyMails. So I didn't bother looking at the CJ very often. I think my thought was that the fuller the binder was, the more 'control' I was in. Duh!

I did keep all my bills in my CJ (OIB) but they were out of sight, which meant they were out of mind. I often forgot to pay a bill because the system I set up wasn't a part of my daily life, it wasn't part of my daily routines.

So I took apart the 'perfect' CJ I had put together and really questioned what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to do with that stuff. I also had to keep in mind that this was very much something that I was setting up for my DH to use in my absence and that he could get to daily, while I'm here, if he needed to.

I already had a binder that I used frequently (my telephone and address binder) and it made sense to me to add to that, not reinvent the wheel. So I put my emergency information in there, important insurance information and phone numbers on one page, lists of current medications, family info, and a birthday/anniversary list. My husband knows where this binder is (in the drawer of the table between our living room chairs - easy access), looks in it frequently and knows what it looks like. My OIB was a mystery to him. It had too much in it. And for my DH too, bills put in there weren't seen because they weren't labeled. I knew what they were, but he didn't. I knew where they were (in theory ) but he didn't. It just wasn't working.

After I had my "CJ" (my telephone and address binder) put together, I still had the bills and mail to deal with. Putting them in a folder didn't work for me because: out of sight, out of mind. I needed to be reminded of them every day. So I set up my mail station in the kitchen right above my trash can (bye-bye junk mail), brought my shredder into the area, and put just 7 files into a small, portable bin for mail and bills. My DH knows where all the financial stuff is now and that's what it's all about (that and the hokey pokey ). He's actually been using the financial bin, whereas before he just dumped the paperwork and mail on my laptop (boy, did that bug me ).

I also thought about my 'routines' and whether or not David would benefit from having them available. What we realized was that my routines were MY routines. He has his own routines that work well for him. Whenever I've been away, I always come back to a shiny, clean house (he must get very bored without me ). So it wasn't a problem for me to follow my routines off of the FlyMails. David wouldn't need access to them.

So my CJ looks different than others do. I'm okay with that now. And it's not perfect, also okay. And it does work for us. I'm sure it will evolve over time, but for today, it works just great.

So to make a long story short: I do have a CJ that I now use daily.

A very long-winded,

Found this website/download page:

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/flplanner.php

It's a flylady compatible thing. I wonder if it's useful?

Those forms are neat. I think I might use them like the Body Clutter Investigator, to keep track of what I'm doing to build routines and menus (I have the BCMM, but it would help me remember which recipes we liked and didn't like). I don't really like having a To Do list as much as I like to have a Done list. I think it would be helpful to see what I actually do and then put together my routines.

I did make a list of what I actually do each day and realized that I already have a daily set of routines. Before I was trying to follow routines that basically I had made up based on other peoples routines. Once I figured out that I really do have a routine, it was much easier to add in some of the things that FlyLady suggests (decluttering for 15 minutes, Zone work, etc.). Here's what my daily routine looks like:

get up; make the bed
let the dogs out
feed and water the dogs
let the dogs in
give dogs meds
flip the FlyLady Comfort Zone calendar
weigh; brush my teeth; check calendar
dress for walk
get tape/CD player for walk
walk 1 mile
take meds with water
rest for 15 minutes; drink water
shower
dress to the lace up shoes
breakfast (try to have a protein smoothie)
start/reboot laundry
empty/reload dishwasher
15 minute break; drink water
Zone Work
5 minute room rescue
hot spot fire drill
15 minute break: snack; drink water
Think about what's for dinner
15 minute break; lunch; drink water
time for me/pamper mission/nap
open/trash/shred mail; go through financial/mail bin
15 minute break; dinner; drink water
clean the kitchen; shine the sink
update blogs, forum
brush my teeth; check calendar
lay out clothes for next day
clear off hot spots
take meds with water
go to bed at a decent hour

I don't have to do every single thing on the list every day. This is just my guideline. I am not going to lock myself in to 'checking off every item on the list'. I'm going to use the list to help me to stay focused.

Way to go, Sam! You are really getting in gear to FLY!!!! Good for you! I'm sooo proud of you!!

I found that I was running tons of copies of FlyLady's reminders and routines, but then didn't know what to do with it all, so I chucked it all and ordered her CJ, which I admit I have not put together yet. I don't know why I have such a mental block about this... Maybe this week I can get it into a binder and start filling it out. Last week was a zoo around here. But my kitchen and bathrooms stayed presentable and the laundry is almost always under control, so I didn't have to apologize very much when out-of-state company dropped in.