Flylady's gone commercial :(

[boysrus]

I joined flylady back in 2001. I did really well for a few months, and then lost it when I was moving out of state. I have tried again a few times, but never got momentum. I decided to try again now.
Has anyone else noticed how commercialized the site is now? There is all this stuff to buy(which will clutter up your house btw) to be clean
sigh

[PurpleBasil]

I hear ya, I'm so lost on that site now along with sheintouch.com. I just received my feather duster and I'm confused how this is supposed to get cobwebs off my ceiling which is why I ordered it.

I have been flying for about a year and I never signed up for the daily emails, never read the book, never bought anything except for the duster. I ignored all that. Just follow zones and mission. Plus she has some weird books promoted on that site and I don't agree with the content of those books.

Seems like so many places are going commercial...like a favorite mothering board.

[Cynthia Mosher]

Sometimes sites get so popular what started out as a public service with the best of intentions becomes a financial strain. So perhaps her ability to continue with what started out as a bare bones website of info she wanted to spread to the world turned into a heavy traffic spot on the net with the hosting and administration costs to boot that she could no longer afford and had to bring in some revenue... like a favorite mothering board.

[Breathless Wonder]

[mhurst]

I agree, I hate that about every third testimonial is raving about how good one of HER products is..with a link to buy it at the bottom.

I have some stuff and I like what I have, but...

[HelloKitty]

Yes I'm really bothered by this. I'm a Fly-baby so I'm not familliar with what things use to be like but the "advertisting" e-mails are annoying to me. Advertising the products on her site is fine as would be banner ads or whatever but the e-mails are bothersome - it's like extra SPAM which I definetly don't need.

In contrast to a certain mothering site where, IMO, the advertisting isn't so blatant

[bugmomma]

When I first started the fly lady I HAD to have one of those 'authentic ostrich feather dusters'. So I found one..but at a local store for 1/2 the price...which is a good thing, because I only used it once and realized a good 'ol rag does better than any ostrich can for me

LOL

Lacey

[ShannonCC]

It bugged me too

Let me first say I think Flylady is awesome and I give her a lot of credit for my house looking as good as it does right now (well, her and the fact that my kids are getting older :LOL). I still recommend her method to everyone, just not the emails.

I got really tired of all the advertising in the emails. I understand her selling stuff but it got to where every other email was an ad in disguise. I used to really enjoy reading the testimonials but eventually she seemed to only be posting the ones that raved about feather dusters or timers or something else bought on the site and it just got annoying. I started deleting all the advertising testimonials but after awhile I noticed almost all of them were ads! I never really got into the reminders anyway so at that point I had no reason to stay on the list. I miss the *real* testimonials that were so inspirational, but they were too few and far between to be worth staying on the list.

So now I follow the Flylady ideas on my own and go to the site every now and then for inspiration

I do love that calender though and plan to buy it off of her site this year I want one anyway and that way I'll be supporting her by buying something I'll actually USE instead of just clutter :LOL

[boysrus]

yeah, thats the thing. I mean, here you have a site where the biggest complaint is she sends out too many emails. So, then she turns the emails into ads!! How annoying. I do not begrudge her selling stuff, but people will buy it just by visiting her site. She has a link to flyshop on the emails.
I cancelled my sign up

[PurpleBasil]

You said it, bugmomma!

I think I did myself a huge service by never signing up. Just did the zones, routine, sink, hot spots and missions. I honestly thought I might be doing it wrong all this time because I read so many complaints about flylady. I would never want emails like that, just as I would never want a message board where I would discuss how I cleaned that day, the mission, etc.

Flylady has given me enough structure and flexibility to regain some sanity and a feeling of accomplishment in my days. My husband loves the changes and even when I get frustrated that every room isn't clean/de cluttered , I do see how steps build upon each other.

Feather duster was a waste but my kids love it and especially my older son will dust all over so that is a good thing!

GREAT post, Cynthia! I have new respect for what goes on here and very much appreciate your sense of humor and honesty.

[Cynthia Mosher]

I felt much the same way about Dr. Andrew Weil when he went so commercial. Now I find it hard to read anything he writes without thinking about the commercialism tucked in all his corners. So it can be a turn off. I guess it depends on the level of the push.

[journeymom]

I dunno. I guess I don't have a problem with it. I'd never even noticed the increased advertising. I joined a year ago, quit and then re-signed up about a month ago. I should say I noticed an increase in extraneous emails, but figured that's just FlyLady. By the time I quit the first time around I was regularly deleating 9 out of 10 emails.

She's got to support the web site. And the web site is IT. That's FlyLady. Yes, you can get her book through Amazon.com, but I'm guessing most of us heard about the book from the FlyLady web site.

Also, people are asking for these products. So she provides them, and the only way to get them is though her site. She wouldn't bother if there wasn't a demand.

My only complaint is that my brain hasn't somehow sucked up the FlyLady routine by osmosis. I'd like to wake up one morning and just automatically do the routine and do "the zones", without having to fight with my very contrary personality.

I have never cleaned a room for 15 minutes.
I have never kept my sink shiny for more than a couple of days.
I have never gotten dressed to my shoes for more than a couple of days.
I have never cleaned a particular room during that particular zone (like this week we're in the kitchen).

Sorry, didn't mean to get off topic!

[AahRee]

I just delete the *testimonials*. I don't have time for them (even the ones that aren't ads) and they *clutter* my inbox. I don't like how much she pushes her products, but she is providing a valuable service, to a lot of people, for free. It makes sense that she'd need to support her site somehow. I created my own Control Journal, but if I didn't, I'd buy hers. I wouldn't buy the feather duster or any of the rest of it, though. I do just fine with the cleaning tools I have.

[heatherdeg]

Dude... I get ENOUGH spam everyday (up to 50) without having to delete all her e-mails! But I DID read the book--which was so much more laid back than the site and the e-mails. It was wonderful... and between the book and LACK of e-mails, I find it a great system.

I am getting dressed every day
My bed is made every day
I actually wear makeup (minimal) every day
I have not had my laundry pile up since starting

And that's really enough for me right now... and without the e-mails hounding me, I feel like I'm doing great. The book really pushes the whole "baby steps" and "a little at a time". I've been working on just these few things for a few months and they're finally second nature.

I only found her over this summer, so I've never known her as commercial; but I have to say she could do worlds better with her site navigation and layout. I don't even bother with it any more. And the e-mails... well, 'nuff said.

[HelloKitty]

I would KILL to only get 50 SPAM messages a day... I get way more then that (probably closer to 500) - it takes me an hour each morning to download my mail of which 99.8% of it is SPAM. So the testimonials urk me. I agree the advice is great though, and my sink it *usually* sparkling now and my bed is *usually* made each morning and less laundry is piling up so I'm happy.

[Kristine1980]

I agree!

When I joined Flylady, I thought it was the greatest thing under the sun. It took me only a little while to figure out that it was just another marketing gimic. I mean...her ideas are great...but she just recycles her e-mails every week! I could print the e-mails once and just read them over and over myself!

Anyway. I agree. I joined another group and am much happier.

I will tell you one thing. Nothing beats the feeling of a clean house! My dh and I are getting ready to start our family and I don't want junk around when the baby arrives!

--Kristine
www.starorganizer.com

[magemom]

Her timer idea has saved me. It was the best thing to happen in my life. it didn't last any longer than the others I have purchased for less, but I do have 5 kids.... lol

I am getting there, but I have noticedthe commercial side of things. I delete. I have several email addresses, so theone for FLYlady had a folder and I ignore the rest of the incoming mail. Sometimes I ignore herfolder.

And, not whining, but it is durn hard to keep things picked up when you have 6 other folks in your house who don't/won't/can't.

[lunchbox]

Has anyone tried www.motivatedmoms.com? Someone at another site mentioned it - I have it bookmarked but have not signed up.

journeymom - ITA. I have a serious problem with authority so it makes it hard for me to follow these things.

[dharmamama]

Originally Posted by Kristine1980

www.starorganizer.com

I tried this for a while but it felt like the tasks were really random and didn't really get much done in the way of getting things organized. It was just a random list of things to do. Am I missing something?

Namaste!

[annettemarie]

You could always come join us on the flylady reject thread...
Annette