Does this Flylady thing work?

[Mog]

Go on, give me your success stories. I've been reading another thread on here about what your house is like when you invite people round for coffee. I had some mums round today but it took hours of tidying beforehand.
Does following flylady really get your house at 'anyonecan drop in' stage? Bear in mind I have three children under 6.

It does, it's encouraging and you find housework stops being a deadly chore. You find whipping round becomes 2nd nature.

Just give it a go, don't fall for it hook line and sinker, just take the bits that works for you.

Is your house sort of ready for inspection at any given time. I'd love to have a house where I didn't panic when the door bell goes.

It transformed my house. Even dh noticed. I don't do it religiously but there are certain things that I've found really helpful and have continued to do. The swish and swipe in the bathroom for one thing, and a daily load of washing for another.

I've let things slip again, but as soon as dd is at school in Sept I'll be trying to get to grips with it again.

I post on the FLY threads and my house isn't ready for unexpected visitors all the time but it is easier than it used to be to keep on top of the worst of it
And anyway the FLY ladies are a nice friendly bunch for a chat so who cares about the housework?

That was the only downside - I had to turn the PC on every morning to see what the daily task was, and then really tear myself away from mumsnet!

lol! I do find that a problem but at least the others give me a shove if I ask

Yeah it definitely works. I think the biggest thing for me was the clearing out - getting rid of ALL the clutter in the house. I have none now and cleaning and tidying is such a doddle (at least it usually is but dh is in the process of fitting a kitchen... ) I spend a FRACTION of the time I used to doing housework, infact only I spend a few hours on a Wednesday and a Saturday having a dedicated clean. The other days it is just a few minutes clearing up a the end of the day.

FLYlady encourages you to have a really good clean of ONE room each week so nowhere has the chance to get too out of order. It's great BTW I have 4 kids and work 4 days a week so if I can do it anyone can.

that's inspiring parcel, I think the more children you have the more organised you have to be. Just long for a bit of order really. I started yesterday with a polished and cleared sink and it was great to see it this morning.
I'm terrible at getting rid of clutter, even though I do know it's the answer. Any tips anyone?

Concentrate on just one room a week - and work in just 15 minutes bursts. Go through cupboards as quick as you can aiming to get rid of as much as you can in those 15 minutes. Get rid of anything that hasn't be used in over a year, anything you don't REALLY like and anything that you don't have a particular use for or that doesn't hold very special sentimental value (be careful with this one though as it's easy to place sentimental value on just about anything if you are a hoarder lol). Don't do more than 15 minutes as you will just feel over awed by the ensuing mess of all the drawers and cupboards emptied... a little at a time really is best. Sort it out into piles to be given away, recycled, charity shop or dumped. Then get rid of it as soon as you can otherwise you run the risk of changing your mind about items, dipping your hands into the bags and ending up with all of it back in your cupboards! It can be very difficult to start de-cluttering if you have spent a long time 'collecting'. It's almost like you are giving part of yourself away at first. But decluttering is incredibly therapeutic - you feel SO much better afterwards that it becomes hard to stop! Hope this helps!