Have you ever done FLYlady?

[Justmee]

Just curious how many people have tried it and if they gave up

[gottaknit]

I tried three years ago when DS was a baby, and lasted two days. The emails drove me crazy!

I have recently signed up again and have been trying to stick to it for about 6 weeks. I can't stand wearing shoes in the house, though, and have never actually "shined" my sink. And I haven't made a control journal.

BUT, some of the suggestions have been great. "I can do anything for 15 minutes." is a great one. The "Weekly Home Blessing Hour" works very well also. And I've been making a menu every week and sticking to it, which impresses my DH to no end.

Overall, I like FlyLady a lot. She's got a great attitude.

[Mama Rana]

I think Flylady can give you a great starting point if you're overwhelmed. I did her religiuosly for about 6 months after I got married, and felt great about it. Then we moved into this house and I've never quite gotten back into the swing. But I do try to do some of the things: keep my kitchen sink as clean as possible, daily swishing of the toilets, 15 minutes at a time, home blessing time...
But I do things MY way. My shoes are rarely tie-ups, but I do usually wear shoes in the house (more so I don't step on DS's toys and hurt my feet). My zones are different. I can't seem to keep a consistent weekly schedule. But I do menu plan, and make a shopping list. I do have a "Master Packing List" for traveling. I'm working on a "Master Shopping List".

[jillian+1]

I think FLYLady is a great example of a well-thought out, complex program that you can take parts out of as they work in your life.

I like:
-Tackling overwhelming projects 15 minutes at a time
-Incremental clutter control
-Keeping on top of "hot spots" where junk inevitably collects

In my house, crap accretes crap. That means that one piece of it on a flat surface attracts another, and another, like rock candy forming on a string. The best solution for us is to not have things that "live" on flat surfaces. For example, my bathrooms have good storage and soap dispensers built into the countertops so that NOTHING lives on the bathroom counters. It is amazing how big a difference this makes in the cleanliness of the bathroom. Now if only I could apply this to the whole house!

I don't like:
-Doing dishes last thing every night so the sink is clean
-Wearing shoes inside the house
-The meals she recommends, which are.... not my taste :

I think it's great what the program has done for some people who are overwhelmed with clutter. When we bought our house we told the previous owner that she could leave what she didn't want (she was pretty overwhelmed). We (and our workers) filled a roll-off dumpster with what the garbage company billed us as 3 tons of junk. The poor lady was an empty-nester and simply had no way of getting out from under all that except simply leaving it behind. The memory of all that junk is enough to keep me decluttered for decades, I'm sure.

[Justmee]

Wow Jillian what a memory! I couldn't imagine, I thought I had a lot of junk

I agree with a lot of what has been said. I take and pick parts, I do try to keep my sink pretty clean, but there is NO room under my sink for an extra pan for dirty dishes, so they do get stacked in the sink, but after the sink is empty I clean it and wipe it down.

I am really trying to get into amorning routine, problem is usually I am woken up because a child needs me. It's not like the baby can wait to nurse until I swish and sweep!

Speaking of... he's stirring so more later

[hellyaellen]

i do parts.

i never wear shoes in the house. i often don't wear shoes outside either though so its not like i'm going to put off something like taking out the garbage b/c i'm not wearing shoes.

i do the zones but not every zone every month.

i do have some routines going but i haven't written them down in a control journal.

i do the home blessing hour but not necessarily on the right day....i just do it when i have a day off.

i never signed up for the e-mails b/c i rarely check my e-mail.

i do more than 15minutes at a time usually, but i don't declutter every day.

etc etc etc....

[slymamato3]

I looked into it and didn't last long. The emails were too much for me!

I have however found some great motivators and tips here on MDC

I am sure some of the stuff I have set in motion in my home has come from the mamas that are into flylady so I reap the benefits without the emails.

[Best Feeling]

I found Flylady way too overwhelming. And the emails were just too much. Not practical enough for me.

[chinaKat]

I tried it and I still use a few of her things, but I found a lot of it to not be useful to me.

For example, FlyLady must not have pets or kids, because she allots something like 10 minutes to vacuum the whole house!!! I understand the concept of "something is better than nothing" but seriously, I could never ever vacuum my whole house in ten minutes... and mine is only 1200 sqft, so not huge.

I do like the hotspots, the zones, and keeping the sink empty, if not outright shiny (I do that anyway). But the shoe thing is definitely not on my radar! She's also a little too cutesy for me, but that's just my taste.

I'm subscribed to the daily digest but I always just delete it without reading it... I ought to go unsubscribe...

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by chinaKat

I tried it and I still use a few of her things, but I found a lot of it to not be useful to me.

For example, FlyLady must not have pets or kids, because she allots something like 10 minutes to vacuum the whole house!!! I understand the concept of "something is better than nothing" but seriously, I could never ever vacuum my whole house in ten minutes... and mine is only 1200 sqft, so not huge.

I do like the hotspots, the zones, and keeping the sink empty, if not outright shiny (I do that anyway). But the shoe thing is definitely not on my radar! She's also a little too cutesy for me, but that's just my taste.

I'm subscribed to the daily digest but I always just delete it without reading it... I ought to go unsubscribe...

I do get what you're saying, but I do want to clarify that she doesn't vacuum the WHOLE house in 10 minutes. She vacuums the middles of the rooms, the high-traffic areas. And if she doesn't get to all the rooms in that 10 minutes, she just lets it go, and moves on to the next thing in her list. : Me, I have a hard time doing that. I try to do at least a little in every room.
And she does, or at least did, have a dog. Her son is grown though.

[AngelBee]

Gave a half hearted effort.

[jaidymama]

I think it's a good place to start. I wonder how many of us really thought about needing a system for keeping the house clean prior to having children. I remember before I cleaned when I felt like it/when it was needed... although things stayed cleaner longer.

I like that she has a LOT to offer; depending on what you're looking for/what you need I think it's great to try her whole system for a while, then tweak it to suit you. For instance, I hadn't read that she recommends wearing shoes in the house... we have a shoes off policy because I don't want to clean the floors that often. Of course I've come up with a system that works for me. I took seeds of wisdom from different areas of hers that have really benefited me. I hadn't signed up for the emails though. I think if you're a computer person and have one handy in a central location it would be nice to help someone getting into a routine. Of course, learning anything new there's a learning curve so I'm guessing it would take a little more time getting started than when you actually have everything streamlined.

I do plan my menus in advance, it helps me stay in my budget, use things onhand and it's easy for either my dh and I to get dinner ready.

I guess if you're looking for a recommendation: I would say it's worth trying.

[trini]

I like your poll options.

I set up a journal when we moved to our new home 4 years ago. I really did try to follow it, but failed miserably. I'm pretty good on the clutter control aspect, but awful on the cleaning.

It's funny how everyone hates the emails. I didn't sign up online. I just checked her book (Sink Reflections) out of the library and set up a control journal after reading it.

[Ruthla]

I get daily emails from a knock-off Jewish Fly Babies group (actually from the spin off yahoo group from the main JFB group, Shticky Notes.)

I get daily email reminders of things that are relevent to my life (reminders to prepare in advance for Jewish holidays, etc) and I have those go to a separate email account, not my main one. I check it when I feel like it, and it doesn't clutter up my regular email box. I generally glance at the titles to remember what I should be doing, rather than acutally opening any of the emails.

I do the morning and evening routines- zone cleaning does NOT happen around here!

And I've adapted the "you can do anything for 15 minutes" because there are days when I'm not physically capable of cleaning for 15 minutes without getting dizzy! On those days I aim for 2 minutes of cleaning- just get off my bottom and do SOMETHING to keep the house in order, even if I don't have the energy to do much.

[lovemyfamily6]

I did it for awhile three different times. I agree with someone else that it's a good starting point.

The emails didn't bug me because at first I just deleted them, then I had them go directly to a different folder, then the third time I did the digest.

I have to say, when I am wearing shoes in the house, I am more productive.

I have found a system that works for me and my family in our home, so I don't plan to try Flylady again, but I am still happy for the times I did it because I have some good principles in my head that stuck with me.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I love her quote "Any job worth doing is a job worth doing poorly"

I can't tell you how many times that has motivated me to half-heartedly mop my kitchen floor

It really works! That is my least favorite task in the world...but she is right...just doing SOMETHING makes such a difference.

I don't get the emails because so often they are hawking her products...her dusters, her calendars, her timers...and all those testimonials about how great these things are. Nope. No time to read that.

But I do love her system...she based it on "Sidetracked Home Executives" (the book) and she credits them for the system. So I read that book and I set up a card file like the authors of that book recommended.

Their card file system works better for me than the Flylady's morning/afternoon/evening routines do.

I do owe her a lot though because my house is 400 times cleaner and more organized than it was before I heard about her website and book.

[lovemyfamily6]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

I love her quote "Any job worth doing is a job worth doing poorly"

I can't tell you how many times that has motivated me to half-heartedly mop my kitchen floor

It really works! That is my least favorite task in the world...but she is right...just doing SOMETHING makes such a difference.

I need to remember this! I'm a total perfectionist, which is mostly why I stopped doing things the flylady way. So if I don't have time to do a hands and knees scrub of the ceramic tile, I do nothing an moan about how messy it is.

[SonomaMom]

I've been following her on and off for about three years. Recently I made a control journal which has really helped me stay focused. Even though I have everything memorized as to what chores I need to do in the morning and evening, it keeps me on task to keep that binder open on my table.

I never used to wear shoes in the house, but in an attempt to give following her a shot, I started and I have to say, I am *way* more productive when I have sneakers on. I also am more motivated when I put on a cute little apron too.

As for the e-mails, I switched my yahoo group setting to get only the daily digest instead of the gazillion single e-mails. This way I only get one per day and it's much easier to keep up with.

[Mama Rana]

Originally Posted by lovemyfamily6

I have found a system that works for me and my family in our home, so I don't plan to try Flylady again, but I am still happy for the times I did it because I have some good principles in my head that stuck with me.

Anything easily sharable, or something you worked out for yourself?

[GinaNY]

I loved the put a load of laundry in the AM. I set up a laundry schedule so that each day I do just 1 load. It isn't quite as daunting as all of the laundry in 1 day. This really helped me.

I didn't know she recommendes master lists. I just made one last week and I have had a diaper bag checklist on my son's closet for about a year. He's 14 months.

I think overall it's a good idea to HAVE a system, so I think it's a great starting point. It helped me get started and I think I'll give it another shot, but with a few tweaks.

I don't like
-the emails!!
-The website is poorly organized The formats are annoying
-Um that logo on anything and that blue vest, yeah I just can't swing those
-Her shine your sink recipe.

Just my .02 though.