FlyLady - estimated time per day???

[laurasmiles]

Hi there to all - a question for you Flylady experts!

If I were to follow the WHOLE routine...can anyone tell me approximately how long it takes on housework a day/week?

I really like the concept and now my housebuilding is out of the way, I want to get stuck in but as each thing is added I'm wondering where it will all end???

I know that every house is different and every person moves as differnt speeds, but I need to know roughly what I should be expecting in terms of 'womanhours' .

Many thanks. I have a four bedroom house and am not the speediest!!

L

Bump. Cause I would like to know the answer to this one

I think the big trick is to follow the "30 days" plan at the beginning - basically, you start off on Day 1 doing 1 thing (probably "shine the sink", if I recall correctly). Then the next day you do day 1's task plus 1 new thing. Each day, you build on it.

At the beginning, you may find you spend a lot of time decluttering and deep-cleaning but the general idea is that once you've got on top of it, then the daily "maintenance" doesn't take that long.

Things like in the bathroom - Flylady recommends "swish & swipe"... which is basically just giving the tops a quick once-over, takes a matter of minutes. HOWEVER, if you're starting from scratch with months or years of ingrained crud, you may find you spend longer at first. But as time goes on, you have less crud to clear off so it becomes a matter of just maintaining it.

Maybe have a read of the Flylady website and get a feel for the routines and the "challenges" she sets each day?

Hope this helps a bit

Thanks Tigurr. I've had a read an I can see there are some very helpful tips etc that take only a few minuts but when you actually get down to looking at the Control Journal and the full routines and the weekly blessing hour etc.... well, I'm wondering - is this 3hrs a day???

Agree with profiterole theif - it saves so much time, and also saves the feeling of drudgery. Like I used to see my bathroom get grubbier and grubbier and keep thinking 'I really must get that cleaned' and if I had people coming over, I'd get really stressed at the 'huge' job I had to do before they came. Now I do it every other morning (flylady says every morning) and it takes me 2min for the bathroom and 2min for the downstairs loo and it always looks nice.

My sticking point is the weekly home blessing hour, which I never seem to get round to, so while most of my home is sparkling, the carpets (only upstairs) are desperate for a hoover . There just seems no way of doing that 'quickly'.

IT's sounding good so far....
I guess my problem is I have hardly been doing ANYTHING!! Before our building work I was never organised and rarely prioritised housework (yawn!), then came the builders - so no point really cleaning .
Now though, I have a reasonably clean slate and need to keep it that way. So how long do you guys spend on average - 1-2hrs a day?? I ought to know but I don't and I will need to factor this time in if I'm ever going to crack it.

Thanks

I would say actual "cleaning" ie dusting hoovering and wiping the bathroom less than an hour a day.

Manual boring tasks like sorting clothes after washing etc that takes longer but if you do some very day then it is easier. So if you did 10 minutes a day it would save you an hour on the weekend.

My Fly trick is I take the duster upstairs at night then in the morning I flick it round the bedrooms (it is not even 1 minute per bedroom) then as I come down the stairs I dust them.

As you are coming downstairs anyway you can dust as you go (I reckon I have the dustiest house ever)

The getting in the shower before I come downstairs also starts me off in the right mood. Previously I would come downstairs in my dressing gown with the boys in their PJs and eat breakfast, then I would jump in the shower, but I did laze around a bit before the shower. Now I crack on as I have more energy in the morning so I can have lazy afternoons

It took me about 6 months to get on top of everything with decluttering but it is so worth it.

Thank you for your replies - they are very motivating and it's nice to hear how it works for people on an individual level. I think I'll take the advice and go to the babysteps as instructed and build up from there. Perhpas I'll be able to answer my own question by the end of them!!

Lurrvvve the image of flying dowstairs with a duster in the morning - very Mary Poppins!!

Happy Flying!

Hi there

I am a regular flyer too, flying has made a hugh difference in the amount of time each day I spend doing housework. I now have a routine rather than a panic clean.

I guess I spend about an hour to 2 hours a day in total for a 4 bed house and this includes ironing and changing beds.

The great thing though is that I have been unwell for the last eigth weeks and only the basics have been done and the house has not decended in to chaos.

We have started babystepping on the fly thead here, so why not join us.

We try to keep each other motivated

I work two days a week, Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday is my main FLY day. I have a three bed house with 4 he'd dds.

So on a Wed I spend probably 3 to 4 hours giving the house a good general clean and tidy.

The rest of the week I spend about 1 hour a day just keeping on top of everything. If I want to tackle a specific task (i.e. more detailed cleaning in a certain room, clearing out cupboards or decluttering) I will spend an extra hour.

Because everything is kept more or less in order it is so much easier to clean and keep on top of it. I feel that I am in control of the house rather than the other way around if that makes sense. And the fly routine is fab for making sure each room is cleaned properly once every four or five weeks.

HTH

Fab replies to this - thank you so much for your time. That really gives me a good idea of the input needed and the benefits!

I shall come over and join you porperly then! Many thanks.

Look forward to seeing you there soon

its not much actual time, but it takes over your head for a while as its kind of an inspiring way to keep on top of things..but then you settle down (ime) and find the routines that suit you. The great thing is its habit forming - so now I automatically clear 'hotspots' for example, and don't keep clutter as a result, so its easy to go back to after not doing for a while as well. My sink is not that shiny, but my house is pretty tidy and cleanish and I don't have set 'housework times' it just happens as part of daily life through the week.

Oooh that's definitely something to aim for. I think you know it's worked when it's automatic! How long did it take you to get to that stage???

I think that if you do the babysteps, it if def automatic after about three months, the second month though I got really anal about things with DH.

I have been flying a couple of years now and even DH knows my routines and does them if I cant

Cirkey - that's beyond my wildest housecleaning dreams!!!