Flylady routines update

We hit a really busy week where we were both working long hours, falling asleep on the couch by 8p, with the 5 to 10 plan ignored, and the Flylady routines forgotten for more than a few days. No laundry getting done, no routines. Its clear they are working for me because it was VERY clear when they are not working.

Even the husband noticed and remarked, it gets dirty around here awful fast.

Although I was quite tempted to do an all-out- stay- up- half- the- night- get-everything- cleaned- at -a- frantic- pace- spree then forget it all again for a week or so,  the flylady system is the opposite of that mentality that I keep wanting to slip back into and  I am trying to embrace it, retrain myself and actually work this system of doing a little, often. Because clearly it works, if  it is actually done.

Its Saturday, and I am jumping back into it with both feet and trying to do it joyfully...…  and with a lot of coffee.

I did not go back to bed when my husband left for work at 5:45a like I wanted to, instead I wrestled with the kitchen and got yesterday's dishes into the dishwasher and got that started,  took a pork roast from the freezer for dinner tonight, started  a load of laundry and wrote a grocery list for a trip to Walmart later this morning.

And as always, I was surprised at how fast it really went. In 20 minutes or so, I felt pretty accomplished.

Now, the weekly home blessing.

My basic plan:

These videos have been pretty inspirational as well, here 

flylady weekly home blessing hour- little and often

I feel like I've been somewhat fighting against the flylady system more than embracing it.  Embracing the little and often method and leaving the marathon cleaning session mentality - its been a job and the flylady is trying to rewire my thinking.

The flylady weekly home blessing hour system is one system I had been avoiding putting into place, although now that I've been doing it I don't know why I was so reluctant to start it. 

The system is designed to all work together, and since I knew I wasn't doing the entire system, and I'm feeling bad about that, I didn't think this sprucing up would work to make a difference. I guess the only way we'll know is to start doing it and we will see.

So, I am already spending time questioning the system instead of spending time just working the system. This is the exact reason I need the system. 

I also wrestled with exactly when to implement this weekly home blessing. I finally settled on Saturday morning which is what she advises anyway. 

The basic system is in  this video  (and here is another example).

The system is a 60 minute time frame to:

• strip the bed and start washing the sheets (I usually do this on Mondays)
• clean all mirrors 
• empty all trashcans
• vacuum all floors
• mop the bathroom and kitchen (I ended up doing the dining room, entry way and bedroom as well)
• dust (my least favorite thing to do)
• pick up books and magazines

Of course, I had trouble with following directions. I added a few things and wanted to add a few more and had to stop myself.  The whole point is to do these little things often, (little and often) not to turn it into a marathon all day cleaning and exhaust yourself and keep you from doing it again next week. 

I did end up adding to the list filling all the outside bird feeders. It seemed like the right time to do this each week. I also added mopping all the floors and not just the bathroom and kitchen. Because it goes pretty quick with a fabreeze swifter, and when else am I going to do it?

I wanted to add  doing laundry, clean the bathroom and clean the kitchen but I know theses things are included in other routines, one of which (the morning routine) I have not started yet.

But I have started this one and the little and often continues on....

Being blessed in the long run- Fly Lady Evening Routine- the 5p to 10p plan

She calls the evening routine, the most important part of the system. My pastor calls it the 5p to 10p plan. The flylady suggest you put this into place first. My pastor says its not going to just fall in place, you have to actually put it in place. I have not done this. Instead, my routine is struggling along. 

I do typically clean the kitchen before bed, but one day last week, as I was unpacking some boxes from my husband's last home, looking for a place to put things, and had dishes, glasses, and silverware everywhere, I just went to bed and left the kitchen a disaster.  I woke up to a mess. 

Remembering  that feeling of starting the day already behind is enough for me to finally turn my attention to get this system up and running.

My evening routine, it sounds like a lot, but in reality it gets done pretty quick:

Come home and feed everyone (Jack the cat included). 

Sometimes this happens at 5:30p, sometimes at 6:30p, and occasionally at 7:00 or later. My husband asked me recently, don't you want to sit down and rest first?  No, in fact, I do not. That is the last thing I want to do, because I wont get up and start anything else.  So I am learning how to best approach this. I need to start immediately.  I've also learned that after working all day, I usually do not want to cook much. I depend heavily on having leftovers or something in the crockpot, or something very fast and uncomplicated. Tonight we had hashbrowns, eggs and sausage. Last night we had chicken breast and baked potato, the night before we had cereal. Tomorrow, its soup in the crockpot.


If I have really been on the ball about it, on Sunday evening, I have cooked and planned  and shopped and only have to consult the planner for the week and wont have to fret much about it. Most of the time, its not that easy. Except for Jack the cat. He always get the same thing.

Fill the ice box with drinks from the garage. I like to keep the top shelf full of cold drinks ready to grab.

Put the husband's lunch box away (in freezer for tomorrow) and empty out the Tupperware containers from my purse into a sink of hot soapy water.

My husband will usually sit in the beakfast nook visiting then we eat together.    

The dishes go in the dishwasher and it gets turned on for the night. 

The kitchen gets a  good wipe down and all counters are clear. Sometimes I do this and sometimes he does this. We don't take turns, its mostly whoever feels like doing it at the end of the night.

Schedules in day planner are checked.  Where do I have to be in the morning? Is there a court appearance to dress up for? Do I need to leave earlier than usual? Will I be leaving from home to the office or to an appointment? Will it be rainy and cold? Do I need a jacket?His schedule is checked as well.

While dinner is cooking, lunch and dinner tomorrow are being planned. Something is taken out of the freezer or I sit down and make an online order from Walmart or Sams, or if I did my Sunday routine work, I just check the planner and the fridge. Left overs from dinner are packed for lunch the next day.

Same goes for clothes, when I figure out what I have to do, then I figure out what I have to wear to do it. Most of the time, I just leave it as an idea living overnight in my head.

On the rare occasion, I can actually plan ahead and get something laid out, just like a third grader. These are the days I always look the cutest. When I take the time the night before to find my outfit and just put it on in the morning, it is always a win. My goal is to always have this out and to have a designated place in a nice organized closet (when it gets built) to put my next day outfit, like Diane in Denmark (here)  and Dominique Sachse (here).

I am suppose to do my 15 minutes fly lady routine here, but, this is hit and miss......

Currently reading before bed 

A hot bath, my skin care routine (Mary Kay anti-aging), and reading and relaxing and in bed by 10p.

That's the 5 to 10 plan atleast. 

re-entry- flylady update

Returning from the 5 day weekend (and the impromptu road trip)  has been more than a little difficult.

The trip did not come at the right time. In fact, it came at a really bad time.  We've both been busy at work, and in the middle of selling his house, and combining it into this house and the list just goes on and on, and coming back to it all has been difficult. 

Is there ever really a perfect time? No, but this is a particularly chaotic time to add a little extra mess to the mix.

The kitchen has been overwhelmed with sudden unexpected large dinners needed with little advanced warning. The husband and the men in the family are moving stuff over which means they show up at dark, hungry, grumpy and looking to me for a solution. I'm pretty darn proud of myself for getting a full dinner cranked out three times so far (thanks to white beans in the freezer, chicken sausage from Sam's club and one night of breakfast for dinner.)


But the kitchen, already a daily challenge to stay on top of,  took a hard hit.  Not to mention the rest of the house. The guest room furniture is currently sitting in the entry way, and that is just the half of it.

I am pretty sure the flylady has no system for this particular situation. My system thus far has been go until you have to stop, take a hot salt bath and hide in bed.

But I am happy to report, I keep at it, and plug along and almost each day I get my 15 minutes of zone cleaning in, one load of laundry and at least part of the evening routine (which I am still working on... more on this later).

I've also been decluttering/cleaning/rearranging upstairs and I've been pretty ruthless. Old pillows  that have seen there better days- gone. Old sheet sets with bleach spots- gone. The dining room chandelier that I was never in love with and had to be taken down for the rebuilding- not going back up and gone.  Clothes that were expensive but don't fit quite right- gone. Fluffy pink bathrobe that is just too hot to wear- gone. If I stop and think about any of it, I can easily talk myself into keeping all of it. (Its still good! What if I need it?! it doesn't take up much space1 You cant have too many pillows!) But, the truth is, we just don't have the room, physically or mentally, for 2 households of stuff to live in one household.

And what is probably the real real truth is I am tired of living in upheaval and disorganization and I am willing to do radical things to get my house back to where it once was, calm and clean.  The flylady system is one of those things, ruthlessly tossing out some pillows is another. And I just joined an online organizational group called get your life totally organized. Doesn't that sound like exactly what I need.  I have also scheduled a pick up of items to donate to the Vietnam Veterans Association. All I have to do is drag it to the front porch and they will do the rest.  

Perhaps the combination of the fly lady and the Organizational group is what is going to propel me to see some real results and ease some of the re-entry. That and making some realistic to do lists.

flylady Friday- purse and car day

Out of all the routines that the Flylady has,  and she seems to have quite a few to master, the area I've seen the most success with is the daily assignments. Everyday is something different to focus on. Thursday is errand day, Wednesday is desk, day, Tuesday is your free day.

Each Friday is purse and car clean out day. How did this one stick  while I flounder with the rest of them?

Who knows.

But each Friday, I take everything out of my purse, wipe it all down, clean it out and change purses if I am so inclined. This is the brand new Kate Spade purse I picked up from my friend at the yard sale. I changed out of the black tote from Rebecca Minkoff and into the brighter slightly smaller one for fall.

Then I take a garage bag and hit the car. After three weeks of this routine, I can say there is not much trash to comb through. I'm not going to lie though, the first few weeks were a different story. Its shocking how easily an area can be tamed with constant attention.

Then I go get gas and  I sometimes go get the car washed as well. Not every Friday, the full car clean up inside and out is a treat. 

Friday Flylady routine is working for me.

Flylady this week and Sunday kitchen diaster again

Another Sunday, another destroyed kitchen. I'm tempted to say the Flaylady system is not working for me... except I can't blame it all on a system I am not 100% participating in. Sundays are just hard at my house. We are both scrambling to get things picked up from the last week, and new things done for the week ahead, and this weekend  involved a late night wedding out of town and a lot of errands on Sunday. It was busy but did not feel productive.

To top it off, I don't get to stay home on Mondays to get everything back to normal. This is exactly why I need a system.

I did jump back into it and set a timer, did 15 minutes clean up and  its shocking how much got done. So I guess it really does work after all, it just requires me to actually work the system.

The system has a lot of moving parts and  I haven't jumped in fully.
Morning routines? Evening routines? Weekly home blessing? Laundry routine? I'm trying... slowly... trying.

I started with the weekly zones and officially, its my second week committing to the weekly zone cleaning. This week it was the living room. But I don't think it went as smoothly and certainly doesn't look better for the attention.

Why? Maybe because this is where we hang out a lot and it just collects clutter. Maybe because its easy to set something down in this room as we are moving through? Maybe because its not where I want it and feels unfinished. 

Just like the master bedroom, I feel like I've got day one down well. This is my kind of cleaning. I typically start out slow, just muddling around. Also like the bedroom last week, I did it all unenthusiastically.  I guess that is the point of the system, not to wear myself out with marathon cleaning but to teach myself to do a little at a time and constantly is the key. 


Still trying....

More working the Flylady program- a week in the master bedroom

Still working on getting (back) into the Flylady program, a little at a time. This week, the third week of the month, always focuses on the master bedroom and starts with a 15 minute - and only 15 minute- general tidy.

I'll be honest and tell you it was done without much enthusiasm.  But I guess, you don't have to feel like it, like or even want to do it. You just have to follow the program, set a timer and do it for 15 minutes.

The general instructions are to focus on the week's area for 15 minutes each day, every day of the week. While your doing the general tidy on the first day, your suppose to keep your eyes open for four more things you want to give some attention, write them down and then pick one each day this week. 

My list: 

Honestly, I just thought I was unenthusiastic about it on the first day. Turns out, I was even more lackadaisical about it the other days, too. But  I talked myself into doing it because I didn't have to use what little energy I had trying to think about what I was going to do and I knew that I only had to work at it for about 15 minutes, so each of the little things was actually done, and I guess that is the whole point of using the system. 

Flylady nightly kitchen cleanup- Sunday night

Every other day I can pretty much stay on top of keeping the kitchen clean and in order but Sunday it goes out the window.  Why just Sundays? Rushing to get out of the house and get to church in the morning starts it and means leaving breakfast dishes and half empty coffee cups and this sets the tone for the rest of the day.

Sunday mornings are hard. I want to go to church but I also want to lounge around and make a big breakfast, and I try and do both. 

I do usually get some lounging in and by Sunday evening, the kitchen is a straight up mess. The breakfast dishes are still sitting around, the  dishwasher is half unloaded with the clean dishes sitting on the countertops among the dirty ones. Lunch leftovers are still out. Its just a mess. A mess I want to forget about and leave until Monday to tackle. But I don't. Instead I set the timer for 10 minutes and get to work. 

Part of the Flylady program includes setting up an evening routine for yourself (more on that here and an example here) and includes a fast kitchen clean up before bed.  (like this). This evening routine sounds sensible, simple and a no-brainer but its not quite as seamless as it sounds. Thinking ahead is the key.  I feel like I've just dipped my toes in the water and I'm still working on setting up my routine, but I have incorporated the evening kitchen clean up. even on Sunday,  I am always shocked at how put together everything is and its all done in just 10 minutes. 

I'm not doing this system perfectly, but what little I've managed to incorporate it's having results.

An added benefit is walking into a clean kitchen in the morning just makes me happy. Its a nice way to start the day.