Calling all FlyLady Dropouts: Report to me!

[Night Elf]

Me! I'm at least a 3-time dropout! So then I tried the SHE's system of using index cards. That worked better than lists for a while. Then I got tired of looking at the index cards. Then I tried the master list on the refrigerator, but I got tired of checking off the boxes. I don't think there's any hope for me in having a cleaning routine. At least I don't have to worry about decluttering. I hate clutter and periodically throw things out that we don't use. Just 2 weeks ago we cleaned out the attic. 7 bags went to Goodwill and 6 bags went to the trash.

 

So if lists and index cards don't work, what else can I use?? :)

[Stacia]

Oh, I"m a member all right. I can't figure out why it bothers you all so much to get those emails. I have no trouble at all ignorning them. :rofl:

 

Seriously...I just deleted my 'Flylady' emails...about 550 of them...all unopened.

 

:iagree: :D

 

I was just going to post something similar -- I'm not a FL dropout, as I'm on the list & get all the emails. I'm just really skilled at ignoring all the suggestions. ;)

 

So, can I still join the club? I need some motivation to tackle things around here. The playroom & my office are the first two items on my hit list.

[Peela]

Thanks for reminding me about the Baby Steps, Rich with Kids.

I always thought I didn't need to do them because ya know, I have been with Flylady for years and I am beyond needing them.

No way. I need them. I am going to start with them this time.

I have shined my sink this morning. It felt so good! Then I spent 15 minutes decluttering the bathroom and shining the bathroom sink. Yahoo!

It makes the rest of the mess feel less of a burden just to have some shiny spots. I also did three loads of washing.

The emails have never bothered me much because I already get many emails a day so i just delete. But you can do the system without the emails, ladies. They seem a bit much to me nowadays....it was easier to find the core of the program a few years ago, before they added all these other things, when it was simpler.

[lauranav]

:hurray:I did it!

I got the kitchen sink shining and then cleaned the bathroom sink before I went to bed. I got up this morning and emptied the dishwasher. Of course, I'm the only one here this week so it's easier than usual.

 

I went back to the website and reviewed the baby steps. I need to remember to use this method when my nephew gets back in August for the school year. The dh is another thing altogether. I could use the 15 min decluttering a week, but it builds up too fast for him to ever get ahead.</div>

[Christine]

I'm a flylady drop out (multiple times). I get stuck on the "getting dressed to the shoes part". . .and then the constant "cheerleading" causes some insane reaction in me that give me a weird sensation of wanting to truly know what if feels like to wring someone's neck.

 

So, I'm afraid I won't be joining you with the Flylday thingy. . .but I do seriously need to get my house reclaimed / in order.

 

Maybe you could just have a daily accountability group? And those that choose to go Fly can, and others could just hop on and give their own method a go. . .

[ClassicMom]

With what baby steps to do that day. Little steps??

 

Those emails got so overwhelming for me. I can shine my sink, get dressed to my shoes (have to wear shoes around here or I trip all over those silly matchbox cars and legos! :auto:)

 

What's next for today?

[Pamela H in Texas]

candace, did you start a load of laundry? and make your bed?

 

baby steps have us doing VERY basic things today....

 

I'm gonna go ahead and do the 2 minute hot spot and 5 minute room rescue. I'll probably even go for the 15 min decluttering.

 

I know it says not to rush ahead but I do more cleaning that THAT daily anyway. No reason not to do 15 min of work (well, 22 altogether).

[Sharon in SC]

[Good grief, this got long!]

 

On busy days, I don't want to spend all my family time cleaning house. On days where I'm not teaching and the dc are in school, I don't want to spend all day cleaning house, lol.

 

Oh, yeah. This is another reason I lOVE FL. I grew up in a home where there was one huge cleaning day. You cleaned from sun up to sun down on that day to get it all done. I just thought that was how life was supposed to be until I read FL's book. :D I love, love, love just having to carve out a Home Blessing hour each week in addition to my 15 mins/day of housecleaning method.

 

Trusting with you, Diane, that by the start of this school year you'll have your arms around the very things you need to do to meet your housecleaning goal(s)!

[Sharon in SC]

Must be a southern thing. :D

 

 

Hee, hee. You may be right. We may have to do a poll as to who (northerners, southerners, westerners, etc) suffers the greater number of stubbed toes in a day!:lol:

[ClassicMom]

candace, did you start a load of laundry? and make your bed?

 

baby steps have us doing VERY basic things today....

 

I'm gonna go ahead and do the 2 minute hot spot and 5 minute room rescue. I'll probably even go for the 15 min decluttering.

 

I know it says not to rush ahead but I do more cleaning that THAT daily anyway. No reason not to do 15 min of work (well, 22 altogether).

 

I did the hot spot and 5 minute room rescue just by chance (didn't know that was what we were supposed to do today). Um, can't make my bed because I started a project. Yea, I'm one of those people. I started cleaning out my closet the other day. It was going really well. Then I got distracted. Then my son threw all of my well-laid out piles onto the floor...then the dog laid on the piles.......and now the whole mess is on my bed. :willy_nilly:

[Sharon in SC]

.... does my house really NEED to be THAT clean? To beat myself up if I don't clean my SWITCHPLATES? Good grief.

 

FlyLady feels like a bad diet to me -- something you go on and off of, but never really adjust yourself to as a permanent way of life. I mean, it just seems to be begging for burnout. Just my two cents.

 

FL, like so many other things in life, are what you make them out to be for *you*. Your home only needs to be as clean as what *you* want it to be, kwim? For me, FL is just a method to a means to meat my goals for my home. Take from it what you want, leave what you don't. Switchplates not important to you? Don't clean them. Seriously.

 

I think switchplates became important to me when we were cleaning the old house (that we'd lived in for 15 years) to prep it for the market. I did not start FL until last year (after we'd begun to make the transition to the new house) so the old house became an example of non-FL cleaning and the new an example of FL cleaning. As I removed switchplates in the old home to paint, I found myself thinking, "Ewww!" Literal 15 years worth of grime was downright cruddy to me. It was at that point I found myself thankful for my new way of housecleaning life ;-)

 

In any case, you don't have to do anything you don't want to in your home. FL is just a way to approach the things you do want to do.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Candace, the 5 min and 2 min and 15 min things are all later...like at a week and week and a half or something. But we had a ball! My worst hotspot now looks the best in the house! It really wasn't as overwhelming as I've built it up to be the last couple weeks!

 

DS (13) is NOT happy about doing FlyLady <sigh>

 

I think it'll be good for us. I'm not BO and we work way too hard to get the house decent and it doesn't stay good enough. I know we can do better if we just have a little guidance.

[Sarah CB]

Ok. I'm in, too. Dh still fondly remembers what he calls the best three weeks of his life - then I dropped FlyLady.

[Tammyla]

:lol::lol::lol: Too funny!

Ok. I'm in, too. Dh still fondly remembers what he calls the best three weeks of his life - then I dropped FlyLady.

[cajunrose]

I'm a drop out. I need help staying motivated! I'm in

[Rich with Kids]

Ok. I'm in, too. Dh still fondly remembers what he calls the best three weeks of his life - then I dropped FlyLady.

 

:lol: That made me LOL! I start and finish so many things which is why my house is in this mess...

[CLHCO]

I remember her personally giving me advice 10 years ago when I was way behind on my taxes and freaking out. She walked me through things.

 

I did "okay" on her system but never did great. I did a bit better on the 3x5 cards from Sidetrack Home Executives but that didn't stick either.

 

The emails do not work for me. My husband doesn't want me to do that bar above the browser she has now. However, the cards are better and I also have all chores already set up on my outlook tasks, forwarded after being checked off. I just don't look at it.

 

I'm in. I'll jump back and look at all the last comments to see where things are headed.

[scooterandrat]

I think it might be helpful if you want to avoid the email reminders is to take it back to the simplicity of her plan. (I'm saying this as my house is in shambles-VBS hit me like a ton of bricks this year; before that it was kept up pretty well). I thought about just labeling my calender each week with the different zones and do the concentrated cleaning like she has you do when you need to clean in a hurry: 15 min. in one room, then move to another room for 15, then back to the first room for 15, then break for 15. Work 45 min, rest 15. That's reasonable. After a while, the jobs in the zones are pretty much the same each time without suprise. So, in the control journal for that zone, list her missions for the week, and knock them out. You could also get the kiddos involved in the "fun" of housework, letting them do some of the work, too. That will be my focus this year with our household. Actually teaching mine to work alongside me. Wish me luck!:tongue_smilie:

[CLHCO]

You guys are about to see every inch of my house as I get it clean. :blushing: This should be humbling...

 

We get pictures, right? :thumbup1:

[VickyKinLA]

I've dropped out many times. but, i'm game for trying again!!1

 

Thanks for the motivation.