My Mechanical Servants

When it comes to cleaning house, I've got it pretty easy- and I'd venture to say your average American does too. Wouldn't it be nice if you had a huge, specialized sink that would wash all the dishes inside it at the push of a button? Just learn to put dirty dishes directly in the dishwasher, and there you have it. Then there's the amazing laundry-washing machine. All you really have to do yourself is fold and put away your clean, dry stuff. If you want to make things really easy, learn to put dirty clothes directly into separate, sorted laundry hampers; then they can go right into the machine, no sorting necessary!

I've learned a lot of this from FlyLady. She teaches anyone who cares to read about it how to streamline your life and F.L.Y.- finally love yourself. Learning to incorporate new habits into my daily routine has allowed me to keep things neat without even thinking about them, which is so much more important now that I've got both a two year old and a newborn baby to take care of! My house isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but every improvement (no matter how small) is a blessing to my family- that's a big FlyLady lesson.

So now my life has gotten even easier, with the purchase of a little red robot called Roomba. I love this thing. You charge the little guy up, push a button, and he vacuums your floors. And he vacuums them better than I would with a normal vacuum cleaner! Sure, I have to get stuff off the floor that could get sucked up, and I have to empty out the dust in the end. But that's stuff I had to do before; now it's all I have to do. Roomba goes over every part of my floor four times, even around and under chair legs and tables. And my favorite part- under beds! Dust bunnies beware. All this for about $100 if you bargain shop; about the price of a nice upright vac.

By the way, my house would be a wreck if it weren't for my most amazing helper- my husband. He does so much more than I could ask or expect. So you have to be pretty lucky (or better- blessed) to have it as easy as I do, because my Josh is one in a million.