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Housekeeping

Find cleaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Housekeeping forum.

Can somebody explain the whole flylady thing?

10 replies

hellogoodbye · 25/06/2008 21:09

Sorry to sound dumb, but I know I am not the only one who doesnt really understand how it works. Have had a quick look on the site but I am a bit confused.

Probably really simple but just need it explained! lol

OP posts:
hellogoodbye · 26/06/2008 07:55

Anybody? I thought there were lots of fly ladies on here?

OP posts:
Jas · 26/06/2008 08:19

There are, but everyboody appears to be off having a life right now!

FLYlady is designed to help people like me (and possibly you) who find it difficult to keep on top of their housework, to get into a managable routine.

If you do the babysteps,it takes a month to get everything going but it will add a tiny bit each day to your routine,so you end up with something that works for you.

She breaks the house down into areas (called something else but the last letter of the alphabet in my keyboard doesn't work!) which you work on each month, so for example this week we are concentrating on the master bedroom.

It means that you do the basics daily and everything else gets done over time so you don't need to panic and try and do everything at once, fail and then give up and do nothing.

If you sign up to the site you will get alot of emails reminding you what to do, and most of us don't have them any more.

There is also a fairly heavy religious element which I chose to ignore.

Come over to the daily thread again, and someone will explain more clearly, and in less words than me!

Jas · 26/06/2008 08:27

Thursday

We all follow it to varying degrees, but find it helpful just to have likeminded houseworkphobes to chat to.

Ambi · 26/06/2008 08:40

Her book sink reflections is good.
I'm a very cynical atheist, but find the perkiness and fluffiness of her very charming. Sign up to the email, you might want to set up a new account for them as you'll get 10 a day. It's all about starting very slow to initiate habits, starting with the babysteps and do one regular thing everyday. To declutter, use a timer and just do 15 mins then stop. Do another 15 mins later or tomorrow. The idea is that you'll be more motivated because you know it's only 15 mins and you can stop no matter how much you've done.
I think she's fab and one of the very few people prepared to help others for free. She described me to the core and of course my house isn't perfect! But its tidy and clean and I'd never thought it would be.

stitch · 26/06/2008 08:43

the shiny sink.
tbh, i neverreally got beyond those firwst baby steps. i got too many emails, and the whole keeping notes and a diary made me confused.
keep your sink shiny. thats it just every night, befoe you go to sleep, shine your sink. you dont actually have to wash the dishes, just shine the sink. and keep it shiny. i thought it a bit daft, but it works. because when youge tinto the removal of the dirty dishes to shine the sink, it is actually much simpler to wash up, and clean work surfaces, voila, a clean looking kitchen you actually want to be in.
so just shine that sink!

hellogoodbye · 26/06/2008 15:28

Thank you.

OP posts:
Notquitegrownup · 27/06/2008 10:49

10 emails a day! Crikey! I'm glad that I didn't sign up for this bit.

hellogoodbye I've just started to follow the babysteps and to chat on the Fly thread. I agree with Jas that one of the most useful things about this is just to be able to chat to other folks who find housework a pain too.

Do you think it might be worth starting a new "Babyfly" group for those of us just starting out? I wonder if there are any others, who might be taking smaller steps than the grownups over on the fly discussion?!

Notquitegrownup · 27/06/2008 10:57

The flylady babysteps are here by the way Babysteps

I haven't read the whole site yet, but these seem easy enough to get started on.

barnstaple · 27/06/2008 11:12

I read the fly thing once. My problem started with the shiny sink. We have an old plastic one which is horrible and stains at the drop of a hat (and will be replaced some time in the next 20 years or so). I gave up immediately, loser that I am.

Notquitegrownup · 27/06/2008 12:33

Hi Barnstaple

I think 'the fly thing' has lots of shortcomings. The really useful thing is to be able to chat about housework on MN. How else do you make it interesting?!

Could you find another job which is the equivalent of the shiny sink? Something small, manageable and satisfying that you can do each day? The clean bath? The loaded washing basket/washing machine?

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