The House That Cleans Itself

How often do you get confirmation that you have been on the right track all along?

How often do you get the feeling that not only are you one the right track --but that you're probably 80% of the way to your destination?

I had a happy, happy epiphany this weekend reading Mindy Starns Clark's book The House that Cleans Itself.

This is an amazing book.

Clark says, "Rather than change your behaviour o fit your house, change your house to fit your behaviour."

What does that mean? Well, if you put your coat down on a chair by the front door over and over and over again, the solution is not to "train" yourself to hang up your coat. No, the solution is to put a coat rack where the chair is. That's the idea.

Since way back in the days of following Flylady, I have not only been learning how to keep house, but I have been trying to make it as effortless as possible. I am forever grateful to Aby Garvey and the courses I've taken at Simplify 101 that have helped enormously. Garvey's courses, albeit on organizing (and not cleaning per se) are all about how to set up your house and the things in your house to make it easier for you to get things done. Aby and Mindy are definitely kindred spirits.

Last night, I started searching around on the web for people who have followed Clark's approach. There were many, of course, who found the book, got excited about it and blogged about their intentions to follow it. Whether they did or not, they didn't blog about it. But I did find two people who followed through on the majority of the book: Plant City Lady and Proverbs 31. The book has its own blog, here.

I want to join them. But, as I thought about her approach and what I could do, I realised I am about 80 to 90 per cent of the way to a house that cleans itself already. I'm not sure that a series of posts about my using Clark's method in my home wouldn't just turn into a bunch of self-congratulatory nonsense. So, I called my Mom and asked her if we could work on her house using this approach--and if I could blog about it here. She said we could!

I think I'll do both. Mine --because I think it might be interesting to see what I might be able to tweak and improve and because I'd like to share some of the solutions I've discovered. And, I need to "get" that I already know what I need to know. Mom's --obvious. She is de-cluttering with gusto. This project will not only encourage her to keep going, but also give us a comprehensive approach to figuring out what to do and what to do next.

It'll be fun.