For those who don't get flylady .... - Page 2

[Scribe]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

What if we built a monthly calendar for those of us who want to use the Flylady's approach towards cleaning but don't necessarily want to have the whole Flylady experience? I would be willing to maintain the calendar using google calendar and then it would be available for everyone.

anyone interested?

That would be a fantastic project! I'd love that.

[elephantmargaret]

mine is a clear counter and dinning room table!

[Patrick's mummy]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

What if we built a monthly calendar for those of us who want to use the Flylady's approach towards cleaning but don't necessarily want to have the whole Flylady experience? I would be willing to maintain the calendar using google calendar and then it would be available for everyone.

anyone interested?

That would be great!

[rhiandmoi]

Ok so introducing http://mdcnoflyzone.blogspot.com/

I am going to have us all "start" yesterday so I'll update our calendar. As we have brilliant ideas here, I'll transfer them over to the blog. As we build our calendar I'll make the changes over there.

So hehe, now I'm excited about planning to clean. Silly I know.

rebeccalynn, is it ok if I repost your great messages about the babysteps?

[lyterae]

Joining in
I've tried flylady before and never was able to really get into it.. Now that I'm working again I'm finding it more important to maintain a clean house so that it doesn't creep on me again...

[Doula Dani]

You know, I tried to sign up for flylady. I got so many damn emails it was driving me nuts and so I turned it off. And I agree with op, I'd much rather make my bed then shine the sink! Also strikes me personally as a waste of time since it's something I don't care much about.

[Scribe]

What is the "To Do List" on the sidebar? I am confused...

[rhiandmoi]

Originally Posted by avengingophelia

What is the "To Do List" on the sidebar? I am confused...

I am trying out some different widgets. I was thinking since Flylady has like daily things you're supposed to do every day, we could have the to-do list there. I am not sure I like it though. Since we barely got started yesterday the only things on our to-do list are 1. Do our "hug" item, and 2. Get all the way dressed. I think it might be useful later when we have zones and such.

I think I am going to take it off for now.

[Scribe]

Well, I get all the way dressed every day for work, so that's done. I need to go home and figure out what my "hug" spot is, though.

[starling&diesel]

I'll play along ...
I'm not a routine kid at all. Not. At. All. Yet I have the cleanest house of anyone I know. How? Eensy, weensy baby steps built around CONVENIENCE.

I do shine the sink. That's the only flyladyish thing that ever stuck. It makes me feel happy to see a sparkling faucet when I get up in the morning. But I do it with the final rinse of the water glass at night, with the tea towel that has also just wiped the counters one last time. After, it gets tossed in the laundry.

I wipe the mirror and shower when I get out, with the hand towel on the day I'm going to do towels anyway. I do the toilets whenever it occurs to me, which is about once a week.

Each night before bed, I pick up the dog toys (hopefully this will translate to the baby's toys come February ...) and make sure the tabletop is clear.

We make the bed everyday. No exceptions. Our bedroom is our calm place, so there is never anything on the dresser tops and no extra furniture to collect clothes. Clothes get put away right away.

I vaccum about once a week, sweep about three times. I have a home for the vaccum upstairs and down, so I don't have to lug it back to its resting place every time I use it.

I keep cleaning supplies where I use them, which means a kit in each bathroom, and a handy spray bottle of water and soap in the kitchen.

As for the getting dressed everyday ... I work from home, and nothing fits because of being pregnant right now, but before I did get dressed completely. Now I put on whatever fits, which is usually pj-like. But then we sleep nude, so it feels like getting dressed. Let me just say that Stacey and Clinton from What Not To Wear would have a fit if they caught sight of me on any given day. Then again, crocs and sweats is considered formal wear in my tiny town.

[fechera]

Originally Posted by mamavegan

I actually liked flylady. Flylady is what got me into my routines and getting our home clean on a regular basis.

I have two issues with flylady. One is the christian tone of some of her emails. It's been a long time, so I can't really remember specifics. I'm not into religion with my cleaning, though. The second, is the visual clutter that overwhelms my inbox. If I could just get the simple cleaning missions, or whatever they're called, I'd be happy.

I agree about the Christian tone. I'm a practicing Christian (only taize), but it kind of wigged me out a little...got some Handmaid's Tale vibes or something. But I really just got sick of my inbox being completely invaded. I left the group and got a patronizing automated response email about how those who are put off by flylady need it the most or something like that.

[lovemyfamily6]

Originally Posted by momma4fun

i recently posted my thoughts, but here's what i've discovered about why flylady and other cleaning routines just don't work for me

1) I know what it takes to clean a house. I don't need a list of regular chores that need to be done at certain times.

2) I am way too free-spirited (not that I'm saying it's a good thing) to be happy with such routines. I could see myself trying to get stuff done in the a.m. as a rule, but I can't do certain things on certain days as a rule. It just doesn't happen.

3) AllieFaye just blew my mind. WHat she said is so true about loving to clean with no time to do it, versus not wanting to clean but wishing you had clean. I AM BOTH of those, alternating at various times, or sometimes at the same time. All I know is that more than anything else, I LOVE TO REST and do nothing at all when possible, lol.

So since the beginning of summer, I've been doing something that makes a huge difference, for the first time ever.

My house kinda logically splits into 2 areas, the Upstairs, where the computer and sleeping areas are, and the Downstairs, where the kitchen and toys are.

I'm good about decluttering and everything has a place. It's the actual cleaning and putting things away that never happens

So, very simply, one day I work downstairs, doing what I please when I please, just keeping in mind that today, I'm cleaning downstairs. The next day, I do the same upstairs.

Sometimes, I totally forget and do the same floor a couple days in a row. Some days I only do the tiniest thing, like straighten the magazines in a bathroom. Somedays, I feel energized and resourceful and accidentally clean the whole floor!

All that matter is, I've quit being a perfectionist and beating myself up about my messy house. I learned THAT from Flylady. And now, although my house is rarely clean, my house is so much cleaner than it has ever been and I'm truly ok with that like I never have been.

Can you tell that I'm excited about this? I feel like I really "grew up" this year when it comes to cleaning house.

I just wanted to say that I've been following your "plan" since I read it on the workable routines thread and it is GREAT!! It's perfect for our busy schedule. Some days we have a lot going on, so if I only do a little, I feel good because I did something. Before I would feel bad because I didn't do what I was supposed to do. Thank you so much for sharing what works for you!

[rhiandmoi]

I was talking to a friend of mine about getting into a routine so that chores get done a little bit at a time each day, and suddenly I realized that this will probably help with the constant building up of anger and resentment towards my DH. A long time ago we had a daily chore routine and it was great, what ever was his chore for that day, he did and whatever was mine for that day I did, and it was all great. Then we got lazy and we moved and now 3 years later I do all the chores on Saturday and get really mad because I want him to do something to help me, but he is either asleep, or when he is helping me, he is actually in my way. He operates best from either a specific request or off a detailed schedule, which is why the old routines really worked for us. I hope that this sticks for us. Our place wasn't ever really spic and span with the routines, but we could always have people over and not have to close off rooms or do an emergency cleaning session.

Today, he had to work late, so I did a few tidying projects. I did 15 mins in the dining room because that is our dumping ground, then 5 mins in the living room, and 2 mins on our stack of mail. It is so not completely cleaned up, but definitely decent enough for average company. And maybe another 22 mins would make those areas MIL ready. I think the real secret is breaking of a manageable chunk. I can totally tidy up a limited area for 15 mins. The rest of our 2 bedroom place is probably going to take 30 chunks, I think my desk is a 15 min project all on its own. But I think I can faintly see the light at the end of this tunnel.

I think for DH he's going to have a regular schedule of things to do each week, like he did before, but I think I am going to eventually identify our major zones and then just make a list of them and spend 15 mins a day on whichever one I feel like doing that day out of the list that haven't been done. So some weeks I'll probably want to get the bathrooms out the way right away, and some weeks I'll put them off to the end.

My actual biggest problem with doing the flylady thing was the journal. I think it's a worthwhile idea to have a journal, but I am not sure how to adapt that concept to my life where I can't really be toting around a big binder or even a dayrunner everywhere but I'd really like to have like a list of everyone's sizes, and bdays and all the other stuff that she recommends carrying around all the time.

[Patrick's mummy]

Originally Posted by rhiandmoi

Ok so introducing http://mdcnoflyzone.blogspot.com/

I am going to have us all "start" yesterday so I'll update our calendar. As we have brilliant ideas here, I'll transfer them over to the blog. As we build our calendar I'll make the changes over there.

So hehe, now I'm excited about planning to clean. Silly I know.

rebeccalynn, is it ok if I repost your great messages about the babysteps?

Thank you. Off to make the beds (my hug!)
I don't know about getting all the way dressed. I am a SAHM and for the first time in a long time, a friend has taken my eldest to school so I can save myself some time and gas. I'm not sure I want to waste that time dressing up to clean my bathroom!
What's next?!

[SAHDS]

To answer the OP's question, my "hug" is vacuuming. I love to vacuum and can't until the floor is clean so it's a win-win. It's like the "shiny sink" rule. Obviously your kitchen has to be clean to shine your sink, right? I mean, I can clean the entire kitchen but throw some dishes in the sink. If my sink is clean, then the rest is clean too.

As for Flylady, I may try it.

BUT...

I will never follow the dressed/shoes rule. I don't work and love to live in my yoga pants and tees. We also have a no-shoe rule (I guess I could wear my slippers). Even when I do get dressed and leave the house, the first things I do when I get home is take off my bra, kick off my shoes, tie up my hair and put some comfy pants on.

Oh... making my bed. I admit that is one thing I never do

Flylady here I come...

[Justmee]

I like flylady, but I like Pam & Peggy more. I like the card system and doing different things each day, as opposed to the zone system of concentrating on one room a week. Plus her zones don't work for me. Sorry I can't do kids bedrooms & bathrooms & spare room together in 1 hour of zone cleaning a week. Maybe when the kids are grown, but I hope that by then I won't *need* flylady anymore.

I don't really get her weekly schedule stuff, the home blessing hour (would take me way more than an hour) but I do like her lists of each room, etc. I like her routine thing. I like what she says about loving yourself and sometimes you just have to get off your franny. I do find her insipring even if I don't use her system 100%. I use a combo of both systems.

I *love* the "you can do anything for 15 mintues" because you CAN. I think she has helped me maintain my own routines, and the hardest things for me now are the less used areas I don't have a routine for. I think I will go back to zone cleaning for those (mostly the master bedroom). The master bedroom / bath I could focus on for 1 week a month and it could stay clean (after decluttered, etc) but I can't imagine only cleaning out the microwave 1x a month. I have the Pam & Peggy card file (trying to get back in the box after the holidays) and I think it works better for me for most things.

Anyway, I"m subbing in. I might start with the baby steps again, I could use some routine in my life

[jrpbrown1]

Originally Posted by fechera

I agree about the Christian tone....got some Handmaid's Tale vibes or something.

Thank you for putting words to that vibe I get from some of the emails! That describes it perfectly.

Ever since we became a family of 4 I have been in a tailspin and the daily FlyLady missions only make me feel more guilty and inadequate. So I stopped reading them. Maybe the MDC version will jive better with me now.

[Scribe]

I decided that my "hug" is our laundry room floor. The cats get litter on it and I hate walking in there. So my daily chore, which takes all of ten minutes, is to scoop the cat boxes and sweep the floor in there.

What is today's task?

[Masel]

I learned a lot from Flylady and she made a serious difference in my home around 5 years ago. I was never one for the routines though. I still get her emails but they are in digest so I generally have only one a day. I don't have to look at them but sometimes I do for ideas or check ups.

I really like the idea of a MCD version. Thank you Rhi!

[rhiandmoi]

Day 3

Today we're doing what we've already done, and reading reminders for 2 mins. I don't know if anyone here is actually getting the reminders, but I'm not. What I'm doing today is spending 2 minutes here getting inspiration and ideas.

----

Things I'm thinking about for the future of our project:

As far as I can tell the day-to-day thing is based on doing an activity for 15 mins, 5 mins, or 2 mins. So I think we should start gathering a list of activities/chores/areas/etc to put in those categories.

Here's what I'm thinking of for my home so far:

15 min areas
Our bedroom
Our bathroom
Guest bathroom
Right half desk
Left half desk
Under desk (might be 2 or 3 areas)
Guest closet (I think this is 6 or 7 areas!)
Kitchen
Garage (I think this is 4 or 5 areas)

5 min areas
Living room
Dining room
Front closet
Laundry room

2 min areas
Mail
Shoe area