A New Routine for a New Year

Friday, January 9. 2004

Page 14

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

A New Routine for a New Year

By J’AMY PACHECO

The holidays are behind us, and we’re about a week into a new year. Around my house, you’d never know it.

Christmas dishes are stacked on my dining room table, waiting to be re-boxed for storage. Holiday candles give companionship to poinsettias on tables and countertops, and the Christmas tree still twinkles in front of the living room window. Santa towels hang in each bathroom, and a herd of reindeer loiters on the front lawn. Even Ebenezer Scrooge’s ghostly visitors still haunt the Dickens’ village in the living room.

My Christmas vacation is over, but the memory lingers on. So does all the “stuff.”

Wrapping up after the holidays is no easy task for a disorganized procrastinator like me. I admit I find it hard to bid farewell to stuff that I like having around, knowing I won’t get to see it for another 11 months.

There’s hope, however, for people like me.

Several months ago, I picked up a women’s magazine and saw mention of someone called “The FlyLady.” What caught my attention—besides the bizarre moniker—was an acronym the FlyLady was credited with originating. The acronym, C.H.A.O.S., was coined for people like me, and stands for “Can’t Have Anybody Over Syndrome.”

Boy, do I understand that.

We are, I confess, a clutter family. Not only do I collect fashion dolls—a hobby that can overwhelm a house by itself—but I own around a bazillion books. I like to relax with a sewing or craft project, so my cupboards are filled with fabric, patterns, paint, glue, sequins, and anything else I might find useful in a creative moment.

My husband counters my doll collection with computer stuff from every generation of technological development. Our daughter, who has more toys than Mattel, can’t bear to part with anything, right down to the paper placemats given to her at restaurants. Computer games, movies and music also interest all of us, and we have plenty of each.

But we’re also really busy. Between work, school, Brownies and fun with friends, we’re not home enough to devote more than a few hours at a time to household chores.

So, while our bathrooms are usually reasonably clean and our dishes are nearly always washed, it’s a pretty safe bet that at any given time, some part of the house will be filled with an embarrassing amount of clutter.

Usually, it’s an enormous kitchen counter. That’s what the FlyLady calls a “hot spot.” It was a tremendous relief to me to learn that nearly every house has its hot spots—places where “things” tend to collect and quickly get out of hand, if not attended to.

Scheduling hot spot maintenance moments is just one method the FlyLady uses to encourage people like me to de-clutter and get organized. Using humor, the FlyLady shows people like me to take “baby steps” while developing simple schedules and methods to de-clutter a home, and keep it that way.

She does this not only by providing a wealth of “pull-yourself-together” advice on her Website, but through e-mails sent periodically throughout the day. She even e-mails when it’s time to go to bed, and reminds you why you should do so on time.

Intrigued, I signed up for the FlyLady’s e-mail reminders. At first, I found the volume overwhelming, and deleted the majority of them. But as the weeks passed and humorous items caught my eye, I started scanning them, and referring more and more often to the Website (www.flylady.com).

It was fascinating to learn that my clutter is nothing compared to what some people have managed to accumulate. I spent hours laughing at the confessions of the “fly-babies” who e-mailed stories of their holiday disasters, or the weirdest things they’d managed to hoard.

At some point, it must have started to sink in, because in a departure from previous years, I managed to get my home decorated more than a week before 20-some guests descended upon my home for Christmas dinner. For once, my husband and I were actually close to being ready when our guests arrived. We got through the holidays with surprisingly little stress.

So, yeah, my dishes and decorations are still hanging around. But I’m not worried about it. A couple of baby steps, some hot spot maintenance and a little encouragement from the FlyLady, and the holiday C.H.A.O.S. will be gone.

Until Easter, anyway.