By Marla Cilley (The FLY Lady) (Bantam, 2002)

Every year or so another book is published that purports to magically turn your chaos into order, your messy house into a showplace, your negligence into diligence. I am a good candidate for this type of book, because I have a “high tolerance for clutter” and tend  to find lots of better ways to use my time than housework. The idea of spending 5 to 8 hours a day on housework makes me ill.
Marla Cilley put together a method that’s just about as good as any. She began by trying out the Sidetracked Home Executive (SHE) methods which I latched on to many, many years ago…I still have my box of 3×5 cards, and every once in awhile I dust them off and get with it. I last about five days max.
Cilley, who calls herself the FLY Lady, because she says using her system, you can FLY! (FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself) “Her simple flying lessons will show you how to get your home and your life in order…and it starts with shining your sink!”
Well, I can get my sink shining and probably keep it that way for upwards of a week. The next step is to get one clutter-catching space cleaned off and keep it that way. OK. I can do that and the space will stay clean for about 3 days. Then there will be one piece laid there, followed by another innocent, small piece. Before I know it that space will have a stack 6 inches high, and sorting it all out is an hour-long process.  Well The FLY Lady knows all about these setbacks, and her book is entertaining as well as instructive. I know the process will work. But…
If you haven’t already got a how-to-end-clutter book, this one is a dandy. Someday when I grow up, I’m going to follow through all the way to the last lesson and I’m going to live in a tidy, pleasant house. And pigs will fly, too.