Aibu/alone/a lazy cow to find Team Tomm too much?

[MrsHookey]

It seems like a lot to do every day. There's no way I could get all of it done in half an hour.

Two SEN kids and work full time and am solo parent but maybe I need to sharpen up somehow?

Just had to google. Looks like Fly Lady except you have to pay..... Is that what it is?

It's not only half an hour though. You have your every day stuff like clean the kitchen, wash up, laundry or whatever and then it's 30 minutes focus on 1 room. Each day of the week has a different room so the house gets done over the course of the week.

In principle, I liked it but the FB group put me off it, those people are crazy. I follow it lovely in that I stick a load of laundry on and in the hour and 15 minutes it runs for, I do my chores, cleaning, phone calls, meal plan, shopping list, whatever needs doing around the house. Then hang the laundry up, make a cuppa and sit on my arse and mumsnet. Works for me.

I got her second book about organising time and it's a bit naff if I'm honest.

*follow it loosely! Bloody autocorrect

Yep. We tried it for a week and even making our 8yo do the hoovering we still got nothing like the whole list finished.

I don't know how any family can manage it + work + ferrying kids around + all the normal crap like shopping, finding an open petrol station, having to spend 2 fucking hours travelling to and from a covid test because your child has a cold, staring endlessly at your finance spreadsheet to miraculously find another £100 for the gas DD this month...

I like the principle of it. But the reality is that it's too much everyday. It's 30 minutes every day AFTER you've cleaned the bathroom, hoovered downstairs and cleaned the kitchen. Nah.

Her bootcamp is really good though. Have an absolute cull of clutter and blitz the cleaning so that it is easier to keep on top of day to day. We did this when we moved house and we've been able to keep it up two years later. I have a good clear out regularly now.

Glad I’m not alone in finding it impossible.

It's been life-changing for us but my husband and I share it so it genuinely does it take us that time or less.

I wanted to love it but every morning when she pops up she gets told exactly where to go 😂 i ought to delete it really.

There's just me and my partner, no kids. In lockdown we tried a version of this and it was OK. I feel like on the official version there wasn't enough time allocated to some things and then too much for others.

Also as things opened up and we are doing more we didn't have time with work to do cleaning and then go out on a weekday. So we've gone back to doing a twice weekly clean which we both do.

I liked it, helped provide structure but it still took me like an hour a day to complete minimum (excluding ironing the laundry) I do have a lot of clutter though. I thought I was just slow.

I felt really let down by it.

“Thirty minutes a day? Excellent!”

“Oh. Wait. Thirty minutes a day AND all this other stuff? Nah. Not for me”

I much prefer doing the basics every day, then having a blitz for an an hour so each weekend.

Also you don't have to do all. You stop after 30 mins and anything you didn't get to you just do the week after. You probably don't need to clean the windows every week so if you don't get to it one week, you know you'll get to it the next.

It's worth reading the book instead of just looking at the lists. It puts it into context. It also gets a lot quicker over time. The first time I cleaned the inside of the microwave it took me 7 or 8 mins or scrubbing. Now it takes me 30 seconds.

But I think what made the difference for me is the realisation that if I want a clean house where I'm not embarrassed to let people in if they show up unexpectedly, and if I don't want to spend hours at the weekend cleaning, then I have to spend time during the week doing it. It sounds simplistic to say 'if you want a clean house, you have to clean it' but I never really understood it like that before. We just let stuff build up and blitz, build up and blitz and our weekends were hours of laundry piles and trying to catch up.

Just had to google. Looks like Fly Lady except you have to pay..... Is that what it is

You don't have to pay, no.

Oh and we change days and tasks to suit us. You don't have to do what she says - that is her list and a starting point, not gospel. I've deleted stuff off the lists, added my own stuff, switched days around to suit us. It's more the mentality than specifics, I suppose.

All these systems are bullshit.

Just do the minimum you can get away with.

@rrhuth

All these systems are bullshit.

Just do the minimum you can get away with.

I’d buy your book @rrhuth

I follow it but I modified it. I do the bathroom on the day she does the Friday focus and I don't do any other daily chores apart from the dishwasher and the laundry. So the only cleaning I do is the one room, which I do find doable in 20/30 mins.

It’s basically daily hoover (high traffic areas only, not whole rooms) + make beds + bathroom job (1 job, i.e. toilet, sink, floor, not whole bathroom clean) + 1 load of laundry = 15 mins.
Then daily 30 mins focusing on one room in turn.

Think the advertised times are rather undersold, it always takes me longer. Luckily I don’t need to do a load of laundry every day and I hoover every other day.

Have been able to keep it up while wfh as I spend what would have been my commute time on the cleaning, would be very difficult for me with a normal work routine.

@8dpwoah

I wanted to love it but every morning when she pops up she gets told exactly where to go 😂 i ought to delete it really.

This is also my morning ritual! I think you've freed me from my hesitancy to delete it, thanks!

I’ve done it and it does work.

You’ve got 15 mins for the same daily jobs and 30 mins for the ones specific to rooms.

Best thing is to chunk it down. To be honest if you want a clean house, it does take a few hours a week so this way just spreads it out.

The best approach is to stick to the time, and slowly but surely you’ll get more efficient and it gets easier as the house is tidier!

Also try amending the list to suit you - I also did that.

I want to love it and I want it to work for me but I honestly find that finding that 30 minutes plus hoovering, dishwasher, laundry, is a lot for me. The idea of allocated days has been helpful for me and has stopped me running myself ragged as much because it’s given me permission to leave some things until I tackle that whole room.

It also felt a bit pointless during covid to go all out to have a housework free weekend when I was going to be doing….nothing.

That said I love the theory, hopefully one day I’ll be able to make it work and I do do an amended version but nowhere near as ‘on it’ as the real deal. I do like the Facebook group though, I find it really supportive.

@jetadore

It’s basically daily hoover (high traffic areas only, not whole rooms) + make beds + bathroom job (1 job, i.e. toilet, sink, floor, not whole bathroom clean) + 1 load of laundry = 15 mins. Then daily 30 mins focusing on one room in turn.

Think the advertised times are rather undersold, it always takes me longer. Luckily I don’t need to do a load of laundry every day and I hoover every other day.

Have been able to keep it up while wfh as I spend what would have been my commute time on the cleaning, would be very difficult for me with a normal work routine.

That IS Flylady.......total plagiarism

I love it. I live in a clean (ish) house now.
I have adapted it, though. It would take me too long to do all the stuff she says each week, and I don't think that some jobs need doing as often as she says.

So every morning I make beds and open windows for a bit. I put the washing on and empty dishwasher. I do the wipe of bathrooms every other day. Fridays I clean the bathrooms instead of focus (but if I don't get round to it that's fine - the wipe around will suffice). The 30minutes in rooms - I'll do 30 mins or less. There will be some jobs I don't get round to, so that's where I'll start the next week. Maybe. I don't think my sofa cushions need washing every week. Most weeks a spritz of febreeze will suffice. And some days I don't do any cleaning because I'm too busy, but it's fine, it doesn't all go to pot in a day.

@SylvanasWindrunner I did read the book. Maybe I'm just slooooowwww