so is your life, said someone famous (I think it was Darla Shine). As we are being busy in my parents-in-law house, I once again have realised the importance of regular decluttering, but as usual, I'm running short of time. We are officially in a semi-lockdown right now, and it'll probably get worse after the school vacations are over, as of now you can still visit a zoo, for instance, though all bars and restaurants got closed.
However for me, life is pretty hectic at the moment, though I have done an attempt to organise my own household, which in combination with all the other things I have to do, nearly cost me a burnout. Anyway, I turned to FlyLady for ideas and that's what I would like to talk about. Is there anyone of my readers who uses her system? What do you think about it?
In my opinion, she has some great advice and her detailed cleaning lists and the concept of zones are very helpful tools, however...
However, you can't really clean your house well in 15 minutes blocks. In her schedule example, she suggests that on Mondays you should vacuum, mop AND dust your whole house in 1 hour. Well, if you live in 1 small room, it's doable, but otherwise...It would take me more than an hour just to vacuum mine, for instance.
I found a more realistic schedule example over here, but it's a lot of work, and some ladies were complaining that even FlyLady is too much for them to accomplish, and I can sympathise:)
Well, how about you? Feel free to share in the comments!
The length of time it takes to clean a house is contingent on how easy it is too clean surface wise and how cluttered it is. Years ago I cleaned house to bring in extra money. Every Monday I cleaned a 5000 square foot house in 5 hours. That included two bathrooms, a master bedroom bed linen change and laundry; cleaning out the fridge and wiping it all down; mopping/vacuuming all the floors and dusting. There was very little clutter to move around to dust, vacuum or mop. The house was fairly new, less than five years old and all the surfaces were easy to clean. And there was a central vacuum. It was tiring, but doable; I did it every week for a year.
ReplyDeleteThe house I currently live in is about 4400 sq.ft. but it is much more difficult to clean. I have too much stuff for the amount of storage space (cupboards, closets, etc.) so until I get rid of it or build storage for it, I have clutter. The surfaces are old (123 years) and difficult to clean. Yesterday I did a five hour "blitz" and got a lot done, but didn't get to everything I wanted to.
Decluttering is the cheapest way to make things easier to clean. Then as you do a deep clean, and keep it maintained regularly the speed at which you can do a full house cleaning increases.
Just my two cents from a long life of housekeeping!
Yes, I agree about clutter, but I also think professionally cleaning is somewhat different. You come to your working place and do what needs to be done without interruptions (well, may be a lunch pause), but I noticed it seldom happens in your own house:) There is always something else to do, and I never have time to work 5 hours straight after each other, and frankly, I doubt I could, it would require too much concentration for me. I prefer to do things leisurely, but it means more time.
ReplyDeleteI like FlyLady a lot. First she's very down to earth. Then she preaches against perfection. It IS better to do something than nothing. I think her system is very good for younger people and those with alot of clutter (to first declutter), for people who do not have much experience on housekeeping for one reason or another. In my opinion the weekly home blessing hour (on Monday) is meant to be just a ''straightening'' after weekend and you are not supposed to clean every nook and corner perfectly. I have adopted from her things that work for me (for example, with pets there are days that vacuuming is needed every day) which are the zones and especially the Desk Day (planning) which I have found to be an excellent tool. A designed time every week to plan what ever needs planning (weekly, monthly, in season, yearly), budgeting, writing letters, and such.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if zones is really her original idea, because I heard that's the way social workers over here operate, each week cleaning a different part of the house. Anyway, it IS helpful and it's her site where I heard about it first, long ago.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Desk Day, the schedule which I link to has a special decluttering day, which I guess, could be combined with weekly planning. I just don't see in her own personal example which day does she really clean, like vacuuming the whole house, bathrooms etc.
http://www.flylady.net/d/getting-started/flying-lessons/routines/#weekly-plan
Of course, everybody is different, but personally I can't manage doing ALL of my cleaning, including zone cleaning, bathrooms, fridge AND laundry in 2 days.
You can also check this video for suggestions:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPbQCeFNPC4
Our house is roughly 3000 sq.ft. I can clean all the major areas including floors in about 2 hours if I am uninterrupted, which never ever happens. I also rarely have to think about cleaning the whole house because the kids are old enough to do a fair share, and they do.
ReplyDeleteWe basically give both bathrooms and the kitchen a relatively thorough cleaning every day, including the floors. Everything else is tackled a couple of times per week as needed.
As for Flylady, years ago she was a great blessing to find, and later I started compiling a system that works best for me in the context of our homeschooling life. Now that the kids go to school twice a week (although we're still technically homeschoolers), I use the days the days I have free to do a lot of the work that I can't get when we are more involved in getting their work and assignments done.
Somehow I'm not really sure how to convert square ft. into metres:) I agree FlyLady can be a great tool to develop your own system. I like how she encourages you to develop a routine and good habits.
ReplyDelete