Sidetracked Home Executives has been in business for 42 years! That means there are thousands of women out there who have used the 3x5 card file system for organizing their homes and families. One of the best parts of the system is that it’s flexible and easy to pick back up if, in the course of life, it was abandoned for a few months, years or decades. Here’s a neat letter from one such woman!
Dear Pam,
Wow! 42 years! I think it was about 1995 (just guessing since it's been so long ago!) when I found you and started using the file system. You saved my sanity, and probably the sanity of my 5 children and husband.
We were a poor military family and I discovered yard sales. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, because now I could actually buy clothes for my children without making them myself. I was a pretty good seamstress but even that was expensive. But of course that backfired on me, and I became addicted. I bought everything I could afford! I started to get my life under control and started clearing things out. Not very efficiently, though, because my kids had by then also become my accomplices at yard sales.
Anyway, many years have gone by and now the kids are all grown with kids of their own. I'm cured of my addiction, but some of my kids aren't. I have one son, a stay-at-home dad with 4 children, ages 2-12. His wife is a doctor so she's W A Y too busy to help. He's on his own with the house. He's pretty overwhelmed, but he’s NOT a clutter bug, so he's wearing himself out trying to keep the house clean. He's usually making excuses that he's too busy picking up after everyone to get them to help, or teach them better habits.
They're moving from the east coast to the west coast, (I live in Oregon and also have a part-time home in Washington. Do you have any suggestions about how he could help his family? I think he might be interested in the card system. It might be simpler for him, and for the kids. Do you still have the "Fairy" for the kids?
Sorry to talk your ear off, but I've wanted to tell you for years how much I appreciate you and all you do!
Take care,
Lisa
This book is now available as an E-book! Just click on the cover to purchase.I told Lisa the 3x5 card file system would be perfect for her son! For one thing, it’s the best delegating tool around! And the House Fairy is still flying high helping parents inspire their little ones (ages 3 to 9) to keep their rooms neat and clean and help around the house. The House Fairy's motto is, “She flies, she spies, she leaves a surprise.” To sign up for the House Fairy video program just go to www.housefairy.org and you’ll see how to get her program.
Since I’m celebrating 42 years helping SHEs get their homes organized, I thought it’d be fun to show this video of Peggy and me on television with Regis Philbin, way back when.
When you think about it, one thing hasn’t changed in 42 years! We still have homes that get messy. One big thing that has changed is our society seems to have put homemaking on a back burner. Being a homemaker is no longer looked up to as the most important job on the planet. Our kids don’t have role models of happy homemakers. Even the curriculum for Home Economics has its emphasis on economics outside the home.
I’m most proud that my three adult children, two daughters and one son, put being a stay-at-home presence ahead of economics. My first granddaughter has chosen to stay-at-home to raise her baby making her a fourth generation stay-at-home parent. Way to go kids!
Since I’m celebrating 42 years helping SHEs get their homes organized, I thought it’d be fun to show my fun side of being a homemaker. Here's a clip from a live television show I appear on regularly in Portland, OR.
Love you!