so flylady didn't work. Now what?

[mrs.m]

I remember when she was the cleaning plan to use years ago. I've tried flylady probably about 5 times in the last 8 years. The system just doesn't work for me. But I still need to figure out how to stay on track with all the little details of regular cleaning. Anyone else pop-up along the way?

 

I mean, I KNOW that I just need to do the work. And everytime I tried flylady, I picked up something that helped and my home does like so much better than it did 8 years ago. I've never really been a clutter bug, but we all have a problem with putting stuff away and cleaning up after ourselves. I can't blame it on the kids because I don't set a good example. And it's not like it's terrible, it just gets MESSY and then we spend a day here and there cleaning up. I get overwhelmed thinking of all the little areas in my house that need organizing.

 

So any ideas? What "plan" seemed to work the best for you?

[grace'smom]

Would it help if you modified flylady into a weekly/monthly checklist? Post it on the fridge and check it off, then when they're all checked wipe it off and start over?

 

That's how I modified it to work for us.

[coffeegal]

I remember when she was the cleaning plan to use years ago. I've tried flylady probably about 5 times in the last 8 years. The system just doesn't work for me. But I still need to figure out how to stay on track with all the little details of regular cleaning. Anyone else pop-up along the way?

 

 

:bigear:

[Jennifer in SC]

I like Motivated Moms. It's just enough to keep things clean without being overwhelming.

[Closeacademy]

I have a rhythm or routine to our days and our week.

 

Morning chores: make bed, put away dishes, get school ready

 

School time

 

Lunch

 

Afternoon activities:

Monday--library, once a month orthodontist

Tuesday--trash, litterboxes, bathroom

Wednesday--kitchen, fold clothes

Thursday--main room, prep next week's school work

Friday--errands, play group

Saturday--bathroom, sweeping, laundry, bedrooms, family afternoon time

Sunday--church, shopping

 

Dinner

 

Evening chores: dishes in dishwasher, baths, bedtime

 

The zones didn't work for us. I declutter as we have time for large projects. I try to hit the bathroom twice a week and every room gets attention once a week. I generally give myself an hour to put away clutter, wipe down counters, sweep and make sure every thing is tidy and clean.

 

Just another idea.:001_smile:

[runmiarun]

I had very minimal success with flylady. Like the op, I picked up one or 2 things but nothing "stuck". I found this website: www.kristensguides.com and it has been a bigger help. I'm a checklist person. Kristen had checklists for daily, weekly, and monthly chores that help me stay sorta on top of my housekeeping. Some days, I just can't get my body to move so cleaning is out of the question.

[starwarsmomma]

Thanks for the suggestion to motivated moms!

 

I was just whining to myself that I'm a flylady dropout... LOL

 

This seems much simpler to me, and some of these I can "delegate" to the children for help.

 

Thanks!

[mrs.m]

I was just whining to myself that I'm a flylady dropout... LOL

 

 

:lol: imagine being one 5 times! And DH & kids know when I'm trying again. "uh-oh, the sink is shiney again. HIDE!!!"

 

I like all these suggestions. Keep 'em coming. I'll figure something out!

[3and3]

I changed the way my zones work. Instead of spending a whole week in 1 zone I did a different zone each day. But I only use it for basic cleaning. I have 6 zones, zone 1(Mon) FR, downstairs bathroom, laundry room, zone 2(tues) Kitchen, zone 3(Wedn) my bedroom and bath, zone 4(thurs) kids room, upstairs hall bath, zone 5 (Fri) den/office, hall and stairs, zone 6(Sat) LR and Dining room. Then I wrote down on 3x5 cards check lists of what I wanted done in each room. Then put beside it how often I wanted it done. Then I also wrote down who could do it. Hope that makes sense:)

 

The only thing I haven't figured out how to get done is the extra cleaning. I just don't have time while doing school. KWIM

 

I love to hear what everyone else is doing.:bigear:

[Garga]

I only do the minimum cleaning and will do the rest for when the kids graduate (in about 13 years :) :001_huh:)

 

Dusting/vacuuming (2-4 times a month)

Laundry (about 4 loads a week --the kids are still small.)

Dishes (1-3 times a day)

Clutter--paper piles, migrating toys, books not put away, etc. (I try to do this every day, or at least every 3 days.)

Toilets and bathroom sinks (once a week, but sometimes 2 weeks go by.)

Tubs (once every few months.) But it's just soap and water in there anyway, so they're not all that dirty, right? Right??

Sweeping the kitchen floor (once every few days, though it needs it twice a day.)

 

That's pretty much all I do. There are cobwebs on my wreaths, there are dustbunnies under the bed, I rarely mop.

The fridge gets washed out maybe 3 times a year.

 

Honestly, it's not that bad in the house. Even though I don't do a lot of cleaning, it still looks pretty nice, and I'm not sure that the cobwebs and hidden dust bunnies are all that big of a deal.

Edited July 16, 2010 by Garga

[cat in black]

Another Fly Lady Dropout (we should form a club) who had great success with MotivatedMoms.com :-) I've been using it for 4 or 5 years now.

[3and3]

I keep up with the dusting/vacuuming.

I keep up with the laundry.

I keep up with the dishes.

I keep up with the clutter. (I try to put things away every day, but if I can't, then I use Monday afternoon to put all the stuff away that migrates around the house.)

 

 

I do like another poster said. Each day of the week is loosely devoted to a certain room. (Monday is when I dust/vacuum the living room. Wednesday is when I dust/vacuum the bedroom, etc.) It keeps it easier to handle if I know that I only have to do one room a day.

 

This is what I was talking about I can find 15-30 minutes a day for 1 or 2 rooms but cleaning the whole house in 1 day was just not happening:tongue_smilie:

 

Not to mention I can justify not cleaning 1 day if I know it got done last week and I will get it done the following week.

[Caryl]

But I got some great ideas, and I appreciate the site and the emails and everything she gives away.

 

I ended up creating something particular for our house that is similar to motivated moms. I created a chart in Word that includes each room in the house. The chart lives on our refrigerator door. Each room has daily tasks and weekly tasks and monthly tasks and a few yearly tasks. I assign each kid a room or two. Each day they do the daily tasks and either a weekly, monthly or yearly task. If they hustle, they can get the job done in 30 minutes a day. The kids rotate through the rooms and the littles are assigned to help big kids.

 

Included with the rooms are things like "sweep outside steps" or "pick up all the garbage in the van."

 

It took a few months to find stuff I missed putting on the chart (e.g. cobwebs in the corners) and to balance out the workload so it was fair, but now things hum along pretty well and the house is rarely really dirty. We also do a mid day and night time pickup.

 

The kids have kitchen chores assigned as well. I do most of the cooking and major kitchen cleaning, the laundry, and general "organizing" to keep things that tend to migrate to the wrong place and stay there.

 

To help them "see" things that need to be cleaned or put away, I sometimes play a bonus game. I'll note something that is in the wrong place or dirty in their room and if they put it away or clean it without me telling them they'll get a reward (50cents to a buck).

 

I've been trying to add in an hour a day of "home blessing" for me, during which I'll clean something big (a closet) or focus on an area to make it look nicer or work better.

 

I am not a very good housekeeper, but I like a clean organized house. One thing I learned watching my MIL, an amazing housekeeper, is to never let things go. Sometimes I'll walk by a mess that would take 30 sec to clean up because I just don't want to be bothered. She never does. She never walks thru a room without picking something up or putting something away. I've been trying to do better about having a "just do it" attitude.

[mycalling]

The kids help. That's out system.;) I have chores for morning and evening written on index cards. On a corkboard, I have each child's name on a colored index card and underneath they get posted 2 chores, which I rotate weekly. These cover most of the basics around the house. I pick up all day, make meals, organize, file, etc.

 

Then I also have bonus chores on index cards filed in a box. The kids can earn extra internet or video game time, even money, by doing the work on the card. I can also use these as punishments and I do them myself when I get a burst of extra energy. These chores are based on those 5-minute things FlyLady sends out daily, but written for our household's needs.

 

None of this includes laundry.:glare: Don't get me started on that dreaded chore.

[mrbmom77]

I've dropped out of flylady a few times, too.

 

Another vote for Motivated Moms - somehow the checklist just compels me...:tongue_smilie:

 

The biggest thing I did was get the kids doing their own laundry two years ago, then added "Monday chores" last year, then added kitchen and bathroom duty this year. I am NOT super-mom! (Oh, and I found assigning days to things an absolute must - they don't see overflowing laundry baskets, garbage cans, and dirty sinks!)

 

This schedule keeps the basics covered and leaves me free to tackle the bigger stuff, or plan lessons, or get my own homework done. My house is not spotless, and kind of crowded, but it is clean enough that I can ignore it when I need to.

 

Daily:

Mornings - personal hygiene, DD feeds dog

Afternoons - both pick up anything they've scattered around the house and do assigned chores (see below)

Evenings - DS feeds dog, another pick up, prep for the next day (clothes out and stuff gathered if we're going anywhere), shower

 

They switch off daily kitchen & bathroom duty each week

kitchen - dishes, wipe counters, wipe stove, sweep

bathroom - wipe down sink area, scrub & wipe down toilet, sweep

 

I pick up and sweep the living room daily, and of course keep up with my own room & bath, and whatever is on MM that wasn't covered by the kids

 

Monday - DS does his laundry, windexes mirrors & glass tables, gets trash from all rooms

DD vacuums kids' rooms & hall, mops, dusts

Tuesday - DD washes towels (b/c she wants to!)

Wednesday - I bleach the whites

Thursday - DD does her laundry

Friday - I do my laundry

 

HTH

[tofuscramble]

I came close to trying flylady years ago. I knew it wasn't for me when I read "get fully dressed every morning, including your shoes". Pffft, I have one pair of flip flops, I use them to run to the store in and they are falling to bits, I don't even put them on when I go out in to the garden. The rest of my shoes are high heels and wedges and you wont catch me scrubbing the sink in those! :tongue_smilie:

[ma23peas]

Can I offer that it gets surmountably easier when your youngest is above the age of 10? I say just do what you can with what you've got...get the toilets/sinks atleast weekly, vacuum/sweep as often as you can manage, work on training the kids at this point..here's what they can do..

 

1. Have a designated bin for dirty clothes, make sure their drawers are manageable (undies in one, socks in another etc.)

2. Assign a kids clothes day...designate Wednesdays (Wacky wear day) as their laundry day. Stick to it, all about building routine.

3. Give the youngest a dusting wand, let him/her have a blast...then sweep/vacuum after that....

4. Show them (I've had to show my kids 10x in 5 years but they've finally gotten it) how to clean toilets/empty trash/empty dishes etc. my kids (now 15, 12, 11) automatically wake up, make their beds, undo dishes, take trash out, feed dogs, feed horses, water animals and exercise them first thing every morning...

5. Accept that you're a mom, it can't all get done, just keep that sink shiny at night and during the day and job well done! :) My shiny sink has 3 pans in it right now but it is shiny! :)

 

Just know that you need to build habits with your kids...it is so good for them to have a schedule and predict what is required of them....Pick one thing a week you'd like for them to do...manage their own laundry...then bathrooms the next, just add one thing a week until you've got them doing 4 things consistently...stick with that awhile then add as you see fit!

 

Here is our schedule now that all my kids are over 10.

 

Mondays....weed flower beds/spray the pasture fences

Tuesdays....toilets/sinks/windows

Wednesdays...sheets changed, carpets vacuumed floors mopped, laundry

Thursdays...organize socks (we have soo many!) and laundry

Fridays...sweep garage/screened in porch/tidy outdoors

Saturdays...barn stalls and pasture cleanup, dust inside and vacuum/mop

Sundays rest....

Everyday (sweep, dishes, make beds)

 

It stays tidy enough but I could not have done this schedule 5 years ago! :) But building a bit as you go helps!

 

Tara

[OrganicAnn]

...but we all have a problem with putting stuff away and cleaning up after ourselves. I can't blame it on the kids because I don't set a good example. And it's not like it's terrible, it just gets MESSY and then we spend a day here and there cleaning up. I get overwhelmed thinking of all the little areas in my house that need organizing.

 

So any ideas? What "plan" seemed to work the best for you?

 

There is a book with a sort of "game" for families to help them always be on alert and pick up. It really targets the picking up rather than the actual cleaning or decuttering. I think the book is called "Get Your Act Together" by Pam Young and Peggy Jones.