Someone please tell me more about 'Flying' I want to get into a rountine but dont know where to start?!?

[mum2becks]

Hi, I have 1 dd 26mths and am 37 weeks pregnant with my 2nd dc, and all I ever seem to be doing is touching the surface rather than actually getting on top of everything! I would love to have a rountine so that everything gets done but it doesnt take a great deal of time to do as know it will be even more chaos once DC2 arrives!

Its very difficult with dd as she either wants me to play or wants to help when I'm doing housework so it takes twice as long and needs doing again!

I have looked at the Fly Lady website and have tried starting by shining my sink but it doesnt seem to motivate me to keep it up so wanted to know how you all got started and your routines to keep everything in order!!!

I must admit all the shining your sink and put you shoes on stuff put me off Fly Lady! BUT I do think the weekly routine ("blessing your house" I think she calls it?) is pretty good. You can have a look on the Fly Lady site, but it's basically having a hoover, dust, wash floors etc once a week. Then there are daily "missions" which are pretty quick and easy to do. I'm sure someone from the Fly Lady thread will be more help but maybe you could start with the weekly routine and missions?

The key is building up slowly, so if you follow the FLY babysteps you'll start by shining your sink, then gradually add an extra element to your routine each day. By doing a little each day and spreading your chores out over the week you do get everything done without it being overwhelming. The other key to FLY lady is getting all the decluttering done before you start trying to get into a cleaning routine. You focus on decluttering for 15 minutes at a time, it's amazing how much you can get done when you focus for 15 minutes. When I'm in a proper FLY routine it all falls into place and my house looks lovely. I hate it when I slip out of the routine (like now!)

Ok thanks, so perhaps focus on the decluttering first, will give it a go in 15 min chunks then it might not feel like such a big job!!

I'd definitely say try and swallow the 'American feel' to it, don't think too much about what she asks and follow the 31 babysteps first. It's a kind of slow brainwashing approach and even if a task doesn't make immediate sense, if you do it anyway and take it a step at a time - the logic of it all will show itself. To be honest I was in such a state when I started I really needed to follow someone blindly and trust that it would work - as none of my previous efforts have done, I thought what have I got to lose??? The decluttering is absoultely essential and she has various methods by which to do this, to make it feel quick and painless. I would recommend signing up and getting the emails. But first just concentrate on the 31 day babysteps. Give into it and it may just work for you! (I sound very evangelical at this point don't I? lol. Good luck, L x

I found the 31 babysteps impossible as I don't want or need to be told to get my clothes out the night before or put on lace up shoes Also I was impatient to get started on the real work. And I could not bear the hundreds of emails cluttering up my inbox (for someone who is so keen on lack of clutter she surely creates a lot herself!).

BUT doing the daily mission and a few other things like the quick clean of the bathroom every day and a 5 minute tidy round morning and night have been very useful to me.

I have to say that in your condition I would not be worrying about this for several months to come. You have enough on your plate and the reason you are not living in an immaculate house is that you are 37 weeks pregnant with a 2 year old as well! (I will be in the same position in December). There is no point putting yourself under pressure now. You need to rest up and accept that the house will be chaotic for a while. If you could afford a weekly cleaner or someone to do a big spring clean, now would be a good time to organise it. We are not well off but I will have a cleaner for 4 hours a week for a few months to help out with the basics once the new baby is here.

Actually I have never managed to get my clothes out or put lace up shoes on....and i know what you mean about the emails!!! Still, it's working for me. I guess we all have to take our own pragmatic approach.
I'd definitely opt for the cleaner though! I had my second child when my first was just 19months old and lived in an absolute pigsty. But I had more time to spend with the children because I didn't bother myself with cleaning. But my regret is I didn't have a cleaner then because after a while the dirt and chaos does kind of pull you down and you don't need that when you have two very young children - I was knackered enough!! Now mine are 2yrs and 3yrs 9mnths I'm getting on top of it. I'm a slow learner

Thanks for replies, I know I am perhaps being too hard on myself in my current situation but like laurasmiles says I dont want to get to the point where its so out of hand it gets me down!!

Not sure if we can afford a cleaner (never looked into one so havent a clue how much they cost!)

I think thats were I struggled ProvincialLady with the baby steps I was too impatient so lost interest after a few days, might try doing just the short things that you do as these should be easy enough to fit in and see how I go??

Another one here who needs to join. I wok so I tend to do a big tidy up every week but I would rather have the discipline to do a bit each day. Started this week by making sure I have clothes ironed for every day of the week, which means less running around in the morning pulling clothes out of laundry bins and scrabblinig for tights. Am going to look at the website, though am not sure about the need to shine my sink!

OK - so I'm going to look at the website now, but can you just tell me:

We moved house in January, haven't unpacked about 1/3 of the boxes because we're waiting for FIL to build us some shelves (he's made a start but has had lots of reasons - legitimate and otherwise - for the delay. Not that we're not grateful...). As the vast majority of our clutter is paper, files and books, I reckon there's little point in trying to do anything major until all that stuff has a home.

What d'you think?

I could, however, clean the bathroom more often. At the moment we only do it when visitors come or when DD has had her face painted so there's a very visible blue line around the bath after she's been scrubbed!