The FlyLady Cleaning System- 7 Months Later

Back in June of 2019, I wrote a post all about how I tried the FlyLady Cleaning System for a Month. I wanted to share with you (well, those who are interested anyway!) how I’ve been keeping up with it and if I love it and if I recommend it still.

Photo by Curology on Unsplash

First off, I’ll share what the Flylady system is, from Wikipedia –

“FlyLady is a support and self-help group that offers advice to help people with housekeeping, founded by “The FlyLady”, Marla Cilley. … FlyLady’s messages cover topics include clutter, the value of routines, weekly and monthly cleaning, increased self-esteem, and letting go of perfectionism.”

The FlyLady has you separate your home into five zones that you work through one each week. It’s a nice system that keeps you getting through your entire home every five weeks which, if you’re like most people, is more a more faithful timeline than otherwise you’d be doing those guest room closets or vacuuming under the furniture. Here’s what my home looks like, put into zones:

You might notice that the dining room somehow didn’t get put into a zone. I’m not sure how that happened! But I’ve been seeing which zone it fits into the best (i.e. which one I’m more likely to get to it) before absolutely sticking it into one.

Since my original post, I have updated my lists – they are still handwritten although I do want to type them up one of these months.

I know, you can’t really read it that well what with it being handwritten and handwritten by me. (I’m telling you, my script hasn’t changed since I was about 10 years old. It’s terrible.) But hopefully, it’ll give you an idea of what I’m talking about with zones and such. I have written the lists so that the cleaning goes from top to bottom and I do try to stick with that although sometimes I just clean what I feel like that day. I have also changed/added to some of the lists as I realize that some things aren’t getting done (for example: cleaning the dishwasher and mopping the bedrooms).  The FlyLady is big on encouraging you to make it work for you.

Since I am human as well as having a chronic illness, my dedication to this cleaning system has waned at times but I am always glad when I come back to it. I took some (much needed) weeks off around the holidays and am still feeling like I’m trying to catch up, but that’s okay, I’m not pushing myself.  A little at a time is still progress.

All in all, I would still recommend this to you to try! I was greatly relieved when I was able to get off the FlyLady’s email list as there were several coming in each day, and all I needed was the daily/or weekly, cleaning list. So, once I had those all written down, I unsubscribed. If she pared down (significantly) what she sent out each day, I would still be getting them most likely, as it’s good encouragement and reminders. But, as frustrating as the deluge can be, it’s worth it to deal with them for the month-odd in order to really get a feel for the system.

I will add that I’m doing a very pared down version of her cleaning system. There’s also a focus for each day – paying bills, cleaning out your car, anti-procrastination, etc. that are very helpful! There are also missions for each day that are lickety-split cleaning focuses (like tossing the empty soap bottles in your bathroom) that I’m contemplating adding to my routine. Check out the website for more info.

I can’t finish this post without doing a shout out for the lady who got me turned onto the FlyLady system and that’s The Secret Slob. She’s so much fun to watch and she really breaks down the system into an easily understandable thing. Check out this video to see her one-year into FlyLady.

If you’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the state of your house, I suggest you give this a try. Even if you don’t end up using the system, it might spur you on to looking at cleaning as less of a beast – and feeling motivated to just do one small area of your house and feeling accomplished for having done it.

~Laura

Tags: cleaning, cleaning systems, flylady cleaning system, messy house help, trying the flylady cleaning system