Fly What???

O FlyLady, FlyLady, wherefore art thou FlyLady? The condition of my home is what happens when someone gets lazy and forgets to put on her shoes and shine her sinks.  After yesterday's big push (a marathon 6 hour all-hands-on-deck cleaning frenzy, the kind NOT recommended by FlyLady) I've recommitted to being a better FlyBaby...15 minutes at a time.

Oh wait, you're not familiar with this Flylady of whom I speak? 

The FlyLady is Marla Cilley, author of the book "Sink Reflections" and chief de-clutterer in charge of the FlyLady website. She devised a system for cleaning and organizing your home and life in small, manageable blocks of time. Here is a little cut/paste from her Wiki page: 

Key points in the FlyLady system include:

Babysteps and Routines

New recruits to the FlyLady system are called "Flybabies" and are introduced to "babysteps" - a series of 31 small daily tasks which introduce and then reinforce aspects of cleaning and decluttering, building up to creating personalized routines for morning, afternoon and evening.

Shine Your Sink

Cilley's first instruction to new members is "Go shine your sink!" She asserts that even in a messy kitchen, the cleaned-out and polished sink provides positive reinforcement to the person who cleaned it, encouraging further cleaning in the rest of the room and home.

15 Minutes at a Time

Cilley that recommends using a timer to work for only 15 minutes at a time. The short time commitment helps stop procrastination, and reduces opportunities to get sidetracked or bored.

Clutter Cannot Be Organized

Cilley recommends that her followers get rid of excess items in their homes, and bring in less items, rather than attempting to organize them. This reduction "decluttering" is done 15 minutes at a time. One such exercise is FlyLady's "27-fling Boogie," in which the follower quickly selects 27 items in their home to discard or give away.

Weekly Routines

Marla advises the use of a weekly routines, whereby each weekday is assigned an additional task or focus; Monday is daily cleaning, Wednesday is errand day, Thursday is grocery day and Friday is "desk day", focusing on paperwork and finances, as well as the day to declutter the car.

Weekly Home Blessing

Cilley's adaption of the Pam Young and Peggy Jones' "Slipshod cleaning" is the one-hour housecleaning mission called the "weekly home blessing." Using their timers, followers are instructed to vacuum, dust, mop, empty trash, change bedsheets and clean up old magazines. Each task is allocated ten minutes only.

Get Dressed to Shoes

Cilley insists that her followers "get dressed to lace-up shoes" before beginning their housekeeping tasks.

Zones

Flylady divides a house into five sections or zones, which are allocated to the five weeks or partial weeks of the month. Each day the email list will provide a "mission" with a detailed cleaning task in the current zone.

Control Journal

Flylady advises the use of a "Control Journal," a household management notebook or binder, to store the owner's routines, lists and other important household information.

Flylady Reminders

Daily reminders of the routines, zones and missions, as well as "testimonials" of the system and products, are sent to subscribers of the FlyLady list.

Perfectionism leads to Procrastination

FlyLady asserts that the most frequent reason for procrastination and inefficacy is perfectionism, as people won't start a task if they think they don't have the time or the ability to do it perfectly. Some frequently repeated sayings in this respect are "good enough is good enough" or "housework done incorrectly still blesses your family".

No Whining

FlyLady often repeats that her website, chat room and Facebook page are "No Whining Zones", and that "If you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all"

Support

FlyLady followers have a webchat on the website www.FlyLady.net that allows them to talk to other FlyBabies and keep each other going throughout the day. Typically, they chat after doing their 15 minutes of work. Top Of The Hour is :00 on the clock, and it generally signals the start of 15 minutes of work as well as Bottom Of The Hour. On the :15 and :45 is generally breaktime, where they get some water to drink and chat with each other to help each other along. The regulars in the chat state they couldn't get done what has to be done without the help of each other.

Does it sound intimidating? Well it isn't. It's not hard either. It really is about "jumping in where you are" and working for only a few minutes a day and in no time at all (okay, maybe a few months) your home and most likely your life will be more organized. And you'll live happily ever after! (okay the FlyLady NEVER actually promised that, that's totally me! *wink*) 

If you're curious, check out her website at FlyLady.net. 

And by-the-way...I've been a FlyBaby since 2003!

Off now to lace up my sneaks and get in a 27-Fling Boogie before my next cup of coffee.
Laters!