Contrary to your 20 hr calculation for a surface clean, I think the Home Blessing hour is just in your living areas, not your whole house. Just so it is neat, tidy, ok for guests. The zone cleaning is where all rooms get tackled, different tasks over time, not all at once, ie progress not perfection. I love Flylady, it has given me relatable and doable goals and time frames.
I agree but I think we all have To Each His/Her Own. I work full-time and the chief cook n bottle washer, brings home the bacon, fries it up in a pan and pays for it!! It's crazy I have MS and get exhausted after working and driving home. I am sooo happy with the Fly Lady system. Works for me able to dedicate myself to the tasks!!
These women all have different VALUES. Example renewing your spirit, so many people have completely excluded going to church or any type of devotion. Being a Pastor’s wife, I see this happening all around me. Marla states that we must stop saying “I don’t have time.” I actually clean more than one hour every day. I do agree that a 2 minute task MIGHT be putting out a fresh roll of toilet paper or dusting 1 small room, but you cannot accomplish true cleaning with such small amounts of time.
I think of it as whole house but quicky brush through - some tasks may be quicker than 10 minute, feel free to eat up the extra time on something more time consuming. Say stripping a bed (or beds), (+starting that first load), and emptying garbages - each supposedly 10 minute tasks each take closer to 5, that means I can spend 5 extra minute on dusting, and 5 extra minutes on glass. But the point is once those 10-15 minutes are up, I get to move on to the next task. Will I get my whole house perfectly dusted in 15 minutes? Of course not. Will it all add up and bless my family if I keep doing it week after week? Definitely. Can I choose to supplement the weekly house blessing with Clean Mama and dust for an entire HOUR every Tuesday??? (Is that what she does? That sounds crazy. But whatever.) Sure! Whatever floats my boat. If catching up on dusting or glass is that important, I can pick a day to focus just on that, and it will only improve that much faster.
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And *then* you start the tasks over again. The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - *fly lady is just a frame to build your system around.* :) So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
Right. Also, the weekly home blessing hour is only for the ‘company’ areas of the house. I, also, don’t clean all windows, mirrors and doors in that hour. I only clean the ones in that week’s zone. The hour is not for dusting all knickknacks or moving furniture, just a quick once over with a dry duster and vacuum/broom.
I'm confused why neither system mentions the kitchen dishes. As a household that eats and cooks a lot, I find that the kitchen takes a lot of focus. But in both systems they seem to gloss over it?!
@@ff2154 I’m no expert but the dishes are done daily. In the morning you empty your dish washer. Through the day you load it as you go and evening routine you clean up after dinner. Load the dishwasher and clean, dry, put up what doesn’t go in the dish washer.
That's what I was thinking too watching. You don't need to do ALL the tasks on the zone cleaning. I just pick a couple myself otherwise it is too much. The things I've changed for me is to cook in the morning after my morning routine. I have more energy in the morning. By afternoon dinner is put away and the major pile of dishes like pots n' pans are done. And I spot clean my fridge on Monday and Thursday to keep it organized and leftovers taken care of, it takes me about 2 minutes.
The beauty of the flylady is that you can adjust it to fit your family. As someone mentioned, once you get the deep cleaning done the first few weeks, it becomes a breeze. I know, I've been flying for almost two years and my entire house is clean. I don't need to spend alot of time cleaning. I spend about four hours a week cleaning. I have a 9 room home, ever room is clean.
I agree!! After getting it going, fly lady system really runs itself. I’m on my 4th month and it’s a breeze! Love it and of course you modify anything to suit yourself and your house!
And many of the jobs don’t need done every month. Your walls do not need wiped down every month. If you don’t have fingerprints on your windows, they don’t need cleaned once a month. Moving the furniture and cleaning doesn’t need once a month either. There are a lot of those kinds of jobs that can be done every 3-6 months which makes it much more manageable!
Seriously impressed, I was exhausted just hearing you talk about all of the cleaning. Makes me even more thankful for our little house. We went from 7/6 to 3/2 (beds/baths) and the stress reduction is incredible but I’m still not a consistent cleaner. I am a painc deep cleaner every few months and really need a routine. Hopefully I can take bits and peace’s and get better cleaning practices. Thanks for the tips!
I talk A LOT so it makes things seem more complicated than they are. I only spend up to an hour a day actually "cleaning" (but if we had a smaller home, it would be WAY less time). Most of the routines are things everyone does anyway... like eating, and getting dressed.🤣
The Dove's Nest. HaHa! It’s great, I seriously wanted to give you an award after that! I’ve added in a few things in my daily routines that’s been an improvement but I’ve got a long way to go. Thanks for the motivation... your seriously amazing!
I can relate. I have a stool with wheels, similar to what the doctor has. Got it on Amazon for under $40. It has really helped me last longer because of my bad back.
i watched the whole video, but my main take away was that it took 4 ladies 8 hours to clean your house every other week. the cost of that alone blows my mind, but (and i understand you have a large house) what could the possibly be doing that would take that long???
I know, right? Cleaners in my area charge $35 Canadian per hour! 😮 If you look back in the comments there is a question that starts "Do you have 25 rooms?" where you'll find the answer to yours. 👍
I wondered the same. I owned my own cleaning business the past 13 years and had half a dozen clients at a time. I spent 4-5 hours per visit every other week, so twice a month, cleaning my "average" homes (3 bed, 2 bath, kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, laundry room, about 1800-2200 sq ft each, some with pets but no kids, I'm not including larger homes with multiple pets and kids) doing all she said (full surface cleaning of all rooms). I had to really hustle to get it all done in that amount of time by myself and I'm quite picky, but after developing a routine in each home I was able to do it, albeit leaving me totally exhausted afterward. How big is her home and who all occupies it that it took a team a total of 32-40 "man" hours to surface clean the home and what did they charge/hour? Yikes!
Hi Morgan! I'm so glad you're taking parts from the various 'cleaning' systems and making it work for you and your family! I've used the Flylady system for many years and love how flexible it is...I change it around according to our current needs (our kids were in kindergarten and needed help with chores, now they are teenagers and preparing to leave the nest, we have had family illness, changes in our jobs, etc). But the basic concepts of Weekly Home Blessing/Zones and Daily Focus still keep us on track 😃 Good luck and adapt as you go! 🖖
I have the opposite problem. I live in a 38ft RV. I had to break it down to only 3 zones! I do my zones on Mon, Wed, & Thur. I love tiny living!! Thanks for all the great ideas for routines!!
Decided to listen to this while cleaning. Bad idea! 😅 It gave me anxiety listening to all the things that needed to get done. 😱 Hearing it out loud is overwhelming.
wasn't expecting to hear you mention me. LOL. I just found your channel. Awesome content! I love how you compared the two systems. both I love and have modified both to fit my life.
Omg...this was so good. I love Steph, and Flylady Dianne!!! I have my morning routine down pretty well...then get lost. I found Clean Mama the other day and thought.....Hmmm...there should be a way to combine the two??? Then this morning I found your channel and this sounds wonderful!!! Except now, I have to binge watch and decide how to divide things up. Thank you...appreciate this video!
Right?! I used to get lost after the morning routine, because so much of the FlyLady's weekly tasks just didn't apply... but now I do some in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening and it's working wonders!💖
One more thing. You mentioned the pink stuff on the shower liner. I haven't had any pink, or mold, or mildew since I started spraying the shower and curtain after each shower. Then when I get out I close the curtain for an hour or so until it's dry. I use a spray I throw together real quick that is just 1 cup distilled water (I used boiled water), ⅛ cup hydrogen peroxide, ⅛ cup rubbing alcohol, ½ teaspoon Dawn, 1 teaspoon white vinegar and 20 drops tea tree essential oil. How much you make depends on how many cups your spray bottle can hold. I repurposed a 32 oz peroxide bottle for this so I fill it up & top it with the sprayer off an empty spray bottle from the Dollar Tree because the tube is flexible enough that I don't need to cut it to fit the bottle. Since I've been using this after each shower I don't have to scrub the shower as often, I have zero water marks or soap scum on the chrome hardware, and I haven't had to take the shower curtain down to bleach it since before I started spraying it. Of course, this spray will work best on an already cleaned shower & curtain to keep them cleaner longer. The bathroom won't smell like tea tree oil after it dries either.
This is exactly what I’ve been trying to develop. I literally told my husband yesterday that I was going to combine fly lady and clean mama. This was great!
I’m new to FlyLady. I have a couple of comments about your house cleaners. It is much easier to keep something clean rather than letting your house go for two weeks. And, if you didn’t spend a few days straightening up before they came, they had much more work to do. There’s a UA-cam gal, Angela Brown. She teaches how to start a cleaning business, and answers homeowner questions. She is fabulous. I suggest you tell her your square footage and how many rooms you have. Along with the number of house cleaners you had coming. It sounds like your house cleaners weren’t cleaning the whole time, if they were only doing surface cleaning. Angela can tell you if that’s the case. She says this happens a lot. Have you been home when they cleaned, to make sure they are cleaning? Angela has a video about this. Some house cleaners even eat the home owner’s food!. Do 2 or 3 days of Weekly Home blessing if you prefer, modify it to suit you. I’m finding it much easier to keep things clean rather than let it get dirty and then clean. The latter takes much longer. Have you decluttered before starting your cleaning? Decor on surfaces slows you down. Even Marie Kondo says to keep bare counters because it’s easier to keep clean. You will enjoy your home more with less on surfaces because your eyes have less to focus on. Maybe, in your next home, you will consider how much house you can care for. And maybe your kids/hubby can do some chores. I think you still have work to declutter before cleaning. It’s REALLY helping me.
I was thinking the same thing. My neighbor has the same size house as I do (about 1700 sq ft) and she pays a cleaning service to come one day every week. They send 2 or 3 cleaners and they're done in about 2 hours (again, doing basic surface cleaning such as dusting, vacuuming, bedding change, etc.) It sounds like she was getting WAY ripped off, to have that many cleaners taking EIGHT hours to surface clean.
I have so enjoyed watching your videos. I love how you are taking the different systems and making it your own. The fly lady got her start with these systems from the sidetracked home executives book. I read that book when I was a young mom with a toddler back in the late 80s. It really really helped me. I still have a copy and recently reread it. Much of the fly lady's system came from that and I see the similarities and the differences and how she made it her own as well. So I think this is great that you are doing the same thing. We are all at different stages of life, now I'm an empty nester grandma but many of those things I learned from sidetracked home executives I still do. Thanks for sharing and I will enjoy watching more of your videos.
I am very glad to find your channel. I had never heard of the flylady until recently----apparently I don't get around youtube much. LOL. The number #1 thing that I am grateful to flylady for is the fact that my MINDSET was the greatest problem that I had. Although I know HOW to do the housework, I was overwhelmed because I work about 50 hours a week and couldn't seem to figure out how to get the housework done. Of course, I have NOT ARRIVED and I am at the very beginning of this journey as well. I had to stop thinking about all the closets, cabinets, and in depth cleaning projects because thinking about all of those things caused me to beat myself up and procrastinate. Right now I'm focusing on my sink and the kitchen IN GENERAL. Yes, I do a lot of other things, but I'm choosing to make my kitchen the ZONE for the month of September, 2020. In October, I'll add another habit. I haven't decided what that will be yet, but I'll come up with something---there are so many things to choose from. I've been doing my laundry at night for many years and I totally love that Idea!
I'm totally new to Flylady but am really excited about it after watching one of The Secret Slob's videos, so it was a bit overwhelming to hear about all the things about it that didn't work for you. However, I'm glad I can expect to need to modify it to fit my own needs, though I should probably try it as is before trying to figure out what needs to be changed. The main thing is, we will be moving into a larger home (5/3 plus a family room) and I homeschool and have 5 young sons and baby #6 on the way. With so many young kids, home with me all day long, there is a lot to stay on top of. At the same time, delegate!! There is no reason I should have to do all the cleaning in my home, so I will definitely be getting the kids to help fulfill the duties.
I do appreciate that you have combined two systems to make it your own. I just started watching "The Fly Lady" and stumbled across "Clean Mama" within 24 hours. I like the simple 5 tasks to complete daily. I have a much smaller house after downsizing about 20 years ago. We are empty nesters and we still have too much house. My goal is to finish decluttering this year. I've been attempting during last year and got discouraged. There is plenty to keep me busy. Thanks for sharing.
I agree the surface level cleaning happens during the weekly home blessing. The zone cleaning is where you can clean deeper. I struggle...I work full time outside of the home and have a family. It’s finding a balance and letting go of perfection for me.
We both work full time also and a little time each day and a weekly focus or two is the only thing we can stick to. I just can't sustain cleaning all day on 1 of my days off and missing out on the time designated for my kids, husband and self to be able to keep our best life going. 😊 Stay safe!
Yep. This is why I had to modify. I can't get through all of the surface level cleaning in just one hour... so I spend roughly an hour dusting, and 2 hours vacuuming/moping each week. Then for my zone cleaning on Saturdays, I do go deeper, but after my huge declutter project, even that goes quickly.
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for working women as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit
I love that you add "wash the garbage cans". This is so important! In my classroom as a teacher, I washed my garbage can daily. At home I lightly clean with disinfectant once a week and deep clean seasonally.
I am so glad to hear that you like REALLY modified and overhauled the Fly Lady system zones. My kids used to help me do a Spring clean every year, now they are gone and I was overwhelmed. I started with Konmari, found Minimal Mom, Decluttering at the speed of Life, and Fly Lady all about the same time, along with Diane in Denmark and the Secret Slob. SOOO much help with those books and UA-camrs. I have the Zones, but my house is larger and I could not get it all done. Between you and the Secret slob who have made it work for YOU, I am on my way to changing my zones into areas like the Secret Slob does and adding more zones like you did. Love LOVE the ideas. Thanks soooo much. I have just heard about Clean Mama and will look into her some, but from what I've seen if you have your personal routines with FlyLady, you kinda have the same idea going as far as what chores you feel like you should complete? I'll look more. Thanks again, and for the Etsy link
I am exhausted after watching this! I’m going to watch it again until I completely understand it. Flylady has never been something I could follow. I know others who have adapted it, and I am going to have to create my own hybrid. I appreciate your telling is all of this.
It SEEMS more complicated than it is. Here's the fast version: Baby Steps everyday (this includes everything you need to do, even if it's not cleaning) 2. Do 1 choice across your whole house for no more than 1 hour every day. 3. Deep clean 1 area of your home for no more than 1 hour on Saturdays.
I went through each or her Zones etc and made a spread sheet and will adapt to my visual I can prob get it down to 5 zones! It took my a while it I really like how detailed her video was! Also feel like I like both systems!!
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And then you start the tasks over again. The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - fly lady is just a frame to build your system around. :) So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
Great modifications and I enjoyed reading the comments and their solutions on blessing their homes. Thanks for the info. Will be watching The Dove's Nest for more tips.
I am also a big fan of The Secret Slob, and Clean Mama, and Dianne in Denmark, and don't know why some of these things you said have never clicked before. The 7 Zones is a great idea and I feel maybe Steph mentioned something along those lines...but it did not click til you laid it out. Thank you....now I have to binge watch and modify my journal.
Thank you!!! Right? I feel almost "guilty" making changes to such awesome systems, but I just couldn't make them work without the changes! Does it fit neatly in a calendar month? No, but does it finally work for me? YES!!🙌🏼
Hi ladies! I have been following the fly lady system for almost 2 years now. following Diane in Denmark and Stephanie the secret slob. now I have come across yours :-) I finally have my system working for me....somewhat but I get what your saying about the 15 minutes per day. I spend more time but not so much I burn myself out. like last week my kitchen garbage can was on the list but i did it today. I have more time I can and want to dedicate to cleaning my home. My goal is to declutter COMPLETELY and clean a clean home! thanks for your insight and sharing it with us. Oh one last thing about 20 years ago I cleaned houses for about a year and I can say there is NOTHING like have your ENTIRE home all clean at once. I know I tried for years to achieve that and its not possible in your own home yourself....we get distracted with our "stuff" lol
I know this video is old but I just found 😃……….I love the advice to combine both systems. I am new to them both so it’s a good time to see what will work for me. My kids are right at middle school age ,but we home school and I’m the main teacher ,so the daily attention they may need equates to having smaller toddlers and babies. We also own our own business ,that requires travel, and there really is “no set schedule. ” I may go from being home all week to traveling all week. I’m anxious to get the daily routines ironed out and work in the 15 min and 1 hour zones. I’m a visual learner so thanks so much for expounding on both systems in list form!
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. I also need more then the 15 and 1 hr time slot. But ofcourse thought something was wrong with my time management. I think I will add an 8th zone for my garage. Thank you so much
I'm so glad! You can do it! It's still a struggle for me. I've accepted that I will never transform into a tidy person... but less stuff to manage definitely helps.
May I just say Kudos to you for handling all the snarky comments in such a kind way. I would not have done it nearly as well!! Please ignore the people who give criticism instead of kindness. I think you’re doing great!!
I just laugh at snarky comments. People whoh have enough time in their day to do it blow my mind. "Go clean your house if you have time to criticize Mr Perfect!" I say! Or come clean mine,😂😂
It looks like you've done a great job combining systems and making it work for you. You're very organized! The weekly home blessing is actually only supposed to be your high traffic areas not your entire home. Also, if people wait a year to do "spring cleaning" then it would be a huge step up to have zones completely deep cleaned every couple of months, which equates to 5-6x a year not just once.
I'm a little relieved to hear that there are other people who just couldn't make the straight up fly lady system work. I tried for years and it was miserable and I hated cleaning. My first attempt at modifying was to do one zone per day and that really kept the house clean. But it was just insane cleaning 24/7 and I never got to enjoy it. I'm in the process again of trying to create a system of my own. We have a smaller house but there are 5 bedrooms plus a playroom and a classroom. We've packed a big punch designing this place and I'm sure now I can keep it not just tidy, but clean! Thanks!
Hey! I do the FLYLADY syrum. It works for me. You should know . She deals with those who are mentally depressed. And the 2 min clean gets them to get up . Dressed. It’s hard for them to do this much. So the targeted people is different from who you will reach.
This makes me dizzy. LOL I am on the FlyLady system and the one thing I think we agree on is that doing one room every 5 weeks means that 4 rooms can be less than perfect for 4 weeks. LOL Because of this, I had to go back and read everything again. She actually has the 1-hour home blessing on 1 day, but there are three other categories of timed cleaning done on the other days, and that doesn't include the daily habits. There is the Hot Spot, Fire Drill, and 5-minute room rescue. That's 35 minutes of cleaning just with those three done every day. They are not specific tasks and can incorporate deep cleaning maneuvers. I consider cleaning my baseboards deep cleaning, but I only do it for 15-minutes on any given day and then stop. Mopping and vacuuming are also considered deep cleaning when it is the zone area because you move all the furniture, etc. You make it sound like deep cleaning never happens, and that isn't true. Or, am I missing something here?
@ S Taylor I’m at 22min and I can’t keep watching this. I am dizzy too. The dove lady you are not the average girl! I’m sure you will help many people who are overachievers lol and I like the way you found a plan that works for you! It’s too much of an overwhelm for me. And if you look at the secret slob & Diann in Denmark their houses look clean. I think it eventually gets to a place of clean most of the time.
I thought it made a lot more sense and was a lot clearer than the flylady. My house is 3,000 sq. feet. Flylady’s slotted times aren’t realistic if you have 4 bathrooms. I think her routines will work better for me. But the whole point is to develop a routine that works best for you!
How can I get a copy of your Zone cleaning tasks ? I like your hybrid approach best of all ! I just found Clean Mama and I have been a Flybaby off and on for several years . You’re right, she does not include enough Zones . Doing a Zone area on one day instead of 15 minutes throughout the week gets the job done completely ! I always felt that I finished Flylady’s zones, but then I had to turn around and start all over again before my other leftover zones had anything accomplished ! I also need to switch Clean Mama’s mopping and vacuuming days as I have throw rugs in my kitchen and bathroom areas and I put those out onto the carpeting when I am mopping floors, so any dirt that falls out of them onto the carpeting needs to be vacuumed the next day . I shall be watching this video a bunch of times until I absorb your routines , unless you offer PDF downloads ? Thanks for doing this video !
I too am working on a hybrid of the two but right now to get started I’m just doing my routines and whatever mission FlyLady has. I wish I had as much energy as you lol. I am a single mom, with health issues that works two jobs but I’m trying to get better at basically everything lol.
Anything is better than nothing! I'm a planner, so I HAVE to plan EVERYTHING before I do it, or I'll die... but I think that most of the time creating a hybrid or personalized system just comes from trial and error. Keep it up mama!
The Dove's Nest I’m one that plans wrong with this so far so I’m doing the missions till I get the hang of it. I either over plan wayyyy more than I can reasonably do or it’s not enough to make a difference. Once the house is in better shape and I’ve practiced I’ll be better at it. I have a mid sized house (and only 2 people) so 1-1.5 hours weekly blessing would work lol.
Flylady was my go-to for years. As long as my house was around 1500 sq ft, it worked. But anything above 2000 was unmanageable for me. So I dropped it for a while and paid someone to clean for me. Now, my house is bigger, but the kids are teenagers and responsible for their own laundry and cleaning their rooms. I'm taking up Flylady again but will be looking at the changes you made.
Thank you for the tips and I appreciate the issue of having a large house. I have not been able to clean my entire house since I moved in ten years ago due to size. I have had cleaning ladies in the past when I was working, but I am currently unemployed so trying to cut costs. I recently re-started doing the flylady system using the Secret Slob's handouts for my first floor only. I have 3 teens/young adults and am depending on them to clean 2nd floor right now. I will clean upstairs when 2 older kids return to college in the fall (hopefully) and only after they visit. I do clean the guest bathroom upstairs weekly but hardly anyone uses it. I have three dogs that are kept on first floor and they are the biggest mess creators right now besides myself :) Once I get into Flylady cleaning routine during the summer I will have to deep clean periodically upstairs.
I don't usually comment on UA-cam videos, but I love that you've taken the two systems I have been playing with and put them together to create your own. I'm finally ready to create my own zones! Thanks for the inspiration!
I like fly lady. I had to rearrange things a bit, too. One thing that is HUGE is working as a family. My kids have their own system and started young. They wake up, dress, brush teeth, swish and swipe the bathroom they use. They unload and reload the dishes. They have a "zone" each day. For example on monday the youngest takes the bottom 7 steps of the stair case and the oldest takes the top 7. Together they dust it down in a short amount of time. They have a list of all the rooms and each day they pick one to wipe down baseboards. Whole house blessings are done together and it doesn't take long. Put on some dance music and go! I can't imagine doing all you listed and working 60 hours. Work together and you have family time while cleaning and after! Plus it gives the kids skills to use when they move out.
Wow! I totally agree! That's why I call it "Family Economy" (as mentioned in my Kid's Chores video) My kids pitch in, but when they get big enough to really help with as much your kids do, that will be great!
systems have to work for everyone...not just those with kids who can help. And lest you say, less kids equal less mess and less general "home" work, you are right,generally speaking, but usually once the kids are out, we are older and not as "quick" nor as "fit"
I love all the systems and the communities around them. I'm grateful for everybody's help. The tips and printables and motivation are invaluable. As a shift worker there's a nurse who does flylady and that has helped a lot. I have a two bedroom home but very low energy levels so doing what I can helps me make progress.
I use clean mommas weekly task list 👌🏻 I love it. It truly keeps everything on track and I homeschool 2 boys :) I still deep clean every week but using the daily list is perfect!
This is SO helpful! I've always been torn between the two and felt like I needed to do one or the other. I did FlyLady years ago but couldn't get all of it to stick. I've been reading and working through Clean Mama for awhile. Your solution is great! Thank you!
Good! I'm so glad it works for you; it seems to work for lots of people to do it just as Marla does. I've tried multiple times, and just had to customize it to fit my life, my family, and my schedule better.
This is seriously SO good!!! I have also been trying to figure out how to merge the clean mama and fly lady systems. I could identify with EVERY reason you gave! Much more house, not enough to just surface clean each room every few months, etc! I’m so glad I found you and this video! I’ll be joining you in this merged system!! Excited to follow along your journey!
Well, I miss you terribly...going to rewatch all of them but this one is my favorite! Did see a really good She's in Her Apron Video this morning that was really helpful. Hope things are wonderful in your life!!!
Hi Pat! I'll be back soon! My days just got fuller, and filming adds an additional 2-3 hours to things I'm already doing so it had to stop for a while!
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for working women as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit
I have just stumbled upon Clean MAMA. Good points for those of us that work outside the home. I HAVE been following Fly Lady. Admittedly, I have had a time of it but finding my own way. My desk day may not coincide with Narka's. I do think more about my garage and purse day. I like that. It is now my routine. The zones have been a challenge. However, I have changed zones to help me. The days are different but the entire system seems to be working..maybe make more zones if you have more house. I am no longer hung up on matching her. But I am forever indebted to her system. She has helped me to feel better about myself and my home. Thank you so much for this comparison. I can see that everyone's schedule is different. Marla even states to create what you can for your family. Love her enthusiasm...
Whaaaaaat.. 4-5 cleaning ladies for 8 hours every other week? That seems insane. We had a 5000 sq ft home and we had a cleaning lady who came alone and worked 2 hours every other week. Did they do laundry and dishes and things like that?
At the time, my house was SUCH A MESS. It wasn't just dirty (needed dusting, vacuuming, etc.) they had to clean everything. Dishes, pick up toys, pick up clothes, etc.! EVERYTHING!
Thank you so much for sharing this hybrid method. I have been looking exactly for this, I think I will now be able to customize my own method! You are a gem!! :-) Warm regards from the Canary Islands, Spain!!
This is so funny. I’ve never heard about the cleaning mama and without knowing I’ve customized my fly lady weekly chores in the app to something very similar to the cleaning mama weekly cleaning routine. I guess without knowing I also combined both programs. I had the same problems you encountered. The one hour blessing on Mondays it doesn’t work for me. I also work from home and from Monday to Saturday I can clean for 3 hours a day. I don’t need time for errands, I don’t even do groceries I get subscription meals. The zones were also a problem because 5 zones is not enough. I had to combine 2 rooms per zones and still left laundry and garage out.
WOW...This was extremely long and detailed.. But I stayed to the end. So very detailed and packed with great tips! I've tried the fly lady but it didn't work for me. Or more accurately I didn't stick with it. I'm going to give your modification a try. Happy I found your channel! 🤗
I find that everything works, if I stick to it.... BUT THAT IS THE PROBLEM. 🤣 I just dont' stick to anything. This system (shockingly) has worked well for me. I think having "Themed days" from the Clean Mama is really helping too. IT's like planning for dinner and having a Taco Tuesday night. It just helps me.
I'm so glad to see this video. I've been so torn between Fly Lady and Clean Mama. They both speak to me. I've been stuck trying to figure out how to mesh them. thanks so much!
Thanks for sharing! Wednesdays (or Sundays for me as I work full time) is a planning and desk day (financials and food). I totally agree it can be hard to get the "home blessing" done in an hour. That said, it kinda works out okay for my space - I split the tasks throughout the week once I get done with work. I do the Zone on Saturday morning for an hour or so. I got this idea from Better Life with Kat. This was really interesting and thanks again.
It's so funny I found this! I have recently been trying to mesh the two systems as well. I have followed both for years and never really got them down. Your routines look very similar to mine. I love your input and suggestions. Thank you for the video. It was really good.
Love this! I have started and stopped the fly lady system so many times because it just didn’t really fit and then I learned about the clean mama system and still not 100 percent for me and then I found your video and had a duh moment lol. Doing a combination of the 2 is genius and makes total sense to me and my household so thank you for sharing how you have tweaked these systems and made them work for you. New subscriber btw 😊
Puting together Clean Mama does add to the Flylady system nicely. I don't follow the exact zones or do my Home Blessing on Monday, I'll do it in bits or on another day because vacuuming the entire house in one go really does a number on my back. Always helpful to hear how someone else does it!
The Awkward Mom did a wonderful series comparing several of the main cleaning systems after trying each of them for a week. My biggest takeaways were - you can work yourself non-stop and still have cleaning jobs that can be done. You have to set limits for yourself to avoid burnout - my generation is clearly suffering from lack of knowledge because many of us were never taught how to run a household. We are now learning for ourselves which makes it so much harder! - most of these systems are quite similar. Just pick one and make it work for you. - none of these systems can avoid spring cleaning. Every home has jobs that ideally need done once or twice a year. However, they generally are very in-depth and get put off for too long. If you get good at the surface level, and mid level cleaning, it will be a little easier to do the deep cleaning later on. Very few people are actually deep cleaning like we say we are. - I don’t care what UA-cam tells you - very few men are going to notice or care about keeping a house. Almost all of it will tend to fall on you. You can either accept it or be miserable and bitter about it.
You know, so many people are doing The Fly Lady on UA-cam. I watch you....Steph...FlyLady Dianne...and I watch She's in Her Apron...mostly for recipes and freezer meals. Don't think I have ever seen one of her Fly Lady videos. Do love her cooking videos. You just clicked with your changes putting the two together. You know, Steph just had her third baby, also.
Haha 😂 I didn’t realize how long the video was until you mentioned it at the end!! Great video! Loved it! I will be copying some of your methods, I love fly lady too, but doesn’t seem to be working out to the fullest for me, thank you!
I watched your video about Flylady 101 and I got the impression that you had trouble with motivation to clean. After watching this video, I think you are obsessed with cleaning and you live in a mansion. I really can't relate but I appreciate your attention to detail and sharing your routines. Thanks.
Would love to see a video of a typical day at your house. I’m not understanding the difference between the 1 hour daily cleaning task and the zone cleaning.
Check out the UA-cam videos of Steph at The Secret Slob, as well as Diane in Denmark. They both explain this really well. I'm finding this video incredible frustrating as all she seems to do is complain about how big her house is!
I have followed Flylady on and off for years. I just found Clean Mama and also listen to A Slob Comes Clean and Clean with Me podcasts. Flylady has a lot of listeners that have ADHD or depression. She also says you cam adapt it for yourself and life. Raani, from Clean with Me, does a whole house approach which takes an average of an 1 hour and a half a day if you count laundry and vacuum( don't do those in the podcast- couldn't hear her).
Sounds like you have a clean and larger home than here in the UK. All systems are meant to be adapted to your needs. I have adapted the fly lady system to what my house needs and it works fine.
I th ink the fly lady system was created for people who were getting overwhelmed because they were perfectionists and felt they didn't have enough time in the day to do everything...or because of covid, they may have lost their maid service and maybe they were never taught how to clean properly. She also has no kids leaving toys anywhere lol. I've had to modify her system as well because I have a large house and I refuse to be the only one cleaning it...but, she gives a nice outline. I swish the toilets at least 3 times a day and clean the shower tiles before I get out...to me it's easier that way, to keep it clean. also, pool tablets are an easy way to make sure the inside of your toilets stay clean and fresh. Great video.
Great video! I love Diane in Denmark, Steph and Becky! I basically follow Clean Mama but am still in the old habit of spring and fall cleaning. I've tried doing 15 minutes zone cleaning a day but am not disciplined enough. That's a great idea to have a zone cleaning day once a week! I'm going to give it a go! Thank you for the idea! I too have modified my zones to fit my house. 12 zones so my deep cleaning would be done every 3 months!
Thanks for sharing!! Ahhh I remember spring cleaning growing up and how overwhelming it was... And I was just a kid/teenager! Even every 3 months is better than once a year!
I can't always do 15 minutes a day. I have MS so I had to modify the program. I purchase myself 4 colorful timers 5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes. If I'm having a bad day I use 5 minute. If I'm having a good days I will use 5 minutes in the morning and then the 10-minute timer in the afternoon excetera excetera. To me it's all about the timer. And all of these systems are adaptable.
Thank you for the affirmation. I've tried many of these kinds of systems that have you cleaning 15 minutes to 1 hour a day and it feels like failure because there's no way that's enough. if I don't clean 2-3 hours a day, my house is an absolute mess. And that's just a surface clean. Granted I have two small children and if I didn't, 1 hour a day would probably be enough for a deep clean, but it just isn't in my current situation.
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for women w young kids she gives great advice as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit - 3 clutter stops a day she reccos may help make it feel a bit less overwhelming
I make my grocery list based off the weekly grocery ad so I usually do it on Thursday (ads come out Wednesday here). You sound so organized. I just subscribed. Sounds like I could learn a lot from you.
Thank you so much!! I never know when the new ads come out so I was planning on Monday, but not shopping until Friday... I could probably get away with planning on Thursday! I currently don't shop based on ads, but based on what we already have in our pantry/fridge/freezer (because we do the bulk of our shopping at Costco).
I buy meat based on the ads too. And I base my meals around the meat. AND I learned that the meat and produce are generally on the front page and last page of the ads and the rest is generally all sorts of non-perishables that I don’t buy anyway. Ever since I heard that tip, I barely scan the inner pages if at all. And I buy stuff from Sam’s Club, but prefer to get my meat from Sprouts or our local grocery chain that generally has high quality meat. I have been shocked the last couple years though to find Sam’s having much higher quality fresh fruits and veggies and so much better and cheaper than the grocery store.
The essence of Flylady is progress, not perfection. The zones are meant to cycle monthly, so whatever deep cleaning you don’t get to, you’ll get a chance to do again next month. But if you pick the things that need it the most in the daily 15 minutes, it actually makes a really big difference. The system was designed to take care of your home & still have a life & enjoy your family & not feel overwhelmed. It was built to get you moving & not stuck in paralysis because you’d never be able to get it all done. Spotless perfection is not the goal. For me, that was incredibly freeing & a huge weight off my shoulders.
Hello Morgan! New subbie! Your routine sounds similar to mine. I started my own cleaning routine back in May and I was a mix of Fly Lady and Clean Mama too sort of. I’m still tweaking my routine my routine but so far it’s working out good. I only zone clean 2 days one week and 3 days the next week. I divided my house into 3 zones, 4 rooms or bathroom in each zone. So each room & zone gets cleaned every 8 days. This leaves me me some free days to run errands etc. 💜💜💜 I like fully or deep clean one room before moving on to the next room (once a week). I don’t want to to clean that room for a whole week. Takes me about 2 to 3 hours to do my routine including daily chores. I don’t always do it all at once, sometimes I break it up throughout the day. I call mine the one & done cleaning routine. 💜. Great video!
Just stumbled across your channel. I absolutely loved it!! Thankyou so much. I’ve been trying to figure out how to combine both amazing cleaning routine’s and you have just helped me in soo many ways. Thankyou again so much.
You mention your block schedule, but I don't see a link for that. Do you have a video about that? I just moved into a new house that is double the size of our old one and am modifying Flylady as well for that reason, but I also need to make a block schedule and would love to see how yours works.
I found fly lady worked best when I still worked from home. Clean mama sounds a little more flexible now that I’ve taken a job as City Secretary for small municipality which has me working very long hours most days of the week.
Thank you so much for such a detailed plan! Made me realize how much more I can get done....with God's help! I, too, have wondered how to get all my rooms to fit into the Fly Lady system. Seemed to me it would take up to 10 weeks to go through it once. Have health issues that make me a lot slower than I used to be... I really like how you merged these two systems in a way customized to your home. What a great idea! Thank you!!
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And then you start the tasks over again. The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - fly lady is just a frame to build your system around. :) So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
@@TheDovesNest thanks also her crises cleaning video on UA-cam..I also follow flylady Kat. And Diane from Denmark. I gave to notify as well.. Detail cleaning is not always. Decluttering and organizing challenges hug
Contrary to your 20 hr calculation for a surface clean, I think the Home Blessing hour is just in your living areas, not your whole house. Just so it is neat, tidy, ok for guests. The zone cleaning is where all rooms get tackled, different tasks over time, not all at once, ie progress not perfection. I love Flylady, it has given me relatable and doable goals and time frames.
I agree but I think we all have To Each His/Her Own. I work full-time and the chief cook n bottle washer, brings home the bacon, fries it up in a pan and pays for it!! It's crazy I have MS and get exhausted after working and driving home. I am sooo happy with the Fly Lady system. Works for me able to dedicate myself to the tasks!!
These women all have different VALUES. Example renewing your spirit, so many people have completely excluded going to church or any type of devotion. Being a Pastor’s wife, I see this happening all around me. Marla states that we must stop saying “I don’t have time.”
I actually clean more than one hour every day. I do agree that a 2 minute task MIGHT be putting out a fresh roll of toilet paper or dusting 1 small room, but you cannot accomplish true cleaning with such small amounts of time.
I think of it as whole house but quicky brush through - some tasks may be quicker than 10 minute, feel free to eat up the extra time on something more time consuming. Say stripping a bed (or beds), (+starting that first load), and emptying garbages - each supposedly 10 minute tasks each take closer to 5, that means I can spend 5 extra minute on dusting, and 5 extra minutes on glass. But the point is once those 10-15 minutes are up, I get to move on to the next task. Will I get my whole house perfectly dusted in 15 minutes? Of course not. Will it all add up and bless my family if I keep doing it week after week? Definitely. Can I choose to supplement the weekly house blessing with Clean Mama and dust for an entire HOUR every Tuesday??? (Is that what she does? That sounds crazy. But whatever.) Sure! Whatever floats my boat. If catching up on dusting or glass is that important, I can pick a day to focus just on that, and it will only improve that much faster.
Wow! Thanks for the shoutout! ❤❤ so glad you have found the system and more importantly - you are making it work for YOU! 😀 great video, keep it up!🤩
I think I mention you on almost all of my videos🤣 thank you for being so inspiring!!!
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And *then* you start the tasks over again.
The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - *fly lady is just a frame to build your system around.* :)
So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
Right. Also, the weekly home blessing hour is only for the ‘company’ areas of the house. I, also, don’t clean all windows, mirrors and doors in that hour. I only clean the ones in that week’s zone. The hour is not for dusting all knickknacks or moving furniture, just a quick once over with a dry duster and vacuum/broom.
Totally love ur explanation
I'm confused why neither system mentions the kitchen dishes. As a household that eats and cooks a lot, I find that the kitchen takes a lot of focus. But in both systems they seem to gloss over it?!
@@ff2154 I’m no expert but the dishes are done daily. In the morning you empty your dish washer. Through the day you load it as you go and evening routine you clean up after dinner. Load the dishwasher and clean, dry, put up what doesn’t go in the dish washer.
That's what I was thinking too watching. You don't need to do ALL the tasks on the zone cleaning. I just pick a couple myself otherwise it is too much. The things I've changed for me is to cook in the morning after my morning routine. I have more energy in the morning. By afternoon dinner is put away and the major pile of dishes like pots n' pans are done. And I spot clean my fridge on Monday and Thursday to keep it organized and leftovers taken care of, it takes me about 2 minutes.
The beauty of the flylady is that you can adjust it to fit your family. As someone mentioned, once you get the deep cleaning done the first few weeks, it becomes a breeze. I know, I've been flying for almost two years and my entire house is clean. I don't need to spend alot of time cleaning. I spend about four hours a week cleaning. I have a 9 room home, ever room is clean.
I agree!! After getting it going, fly lady system really runs itself. I’m on my 4th month and it’s a breeze! Love it and of course you modify anything to suit yourself and your house!
And many of the jobs don’t need done every month. Your walls do not need wiped down every month. If you don’t have fingerprints on your windows, they don’t need cleaned once a month. Moving the furniture and cleaning doesn’t need once a month either.
There are a lot of those kinds of jobs that can be done every 3-6 months which makes it much more manageable!
Seriously impressed, I was exhausted just hearing you talk about all of the cleaning. Makes me even more thankful for our little house. We went from 7/6 to 3/2 (beds/baths) and the stress reduction is incredible but I’m still not a consistent cleaner. I am a painc deep cleaner every few months and really need a routine. Hopefully I can take bits and peace’s and get better cleaning practices. Thanks for the tips!
I talk A LOT so it makes things seem more complicated than they are. I only spend up to an hour a day actually "cleaning" (but if we had a smaller home, it would be WAY less time). Most of the routines are things everyone does anyway... like eating, and getting dressed.🤣
The Dove's Nest. HaHa! It’s great, I seriously wanted to give you an award after that! I’ve added in a few things in my daily routines that’s been an improvement but I’ve got a long way to go. Thanks for the motivation... your seriously amazing!
I can only stand for 20 minutes at a time so I do the 15 minutes three times a day and I am so glad my house is small
I have to take breaks often too! I probably do 20 minutes then take a rest.
I can relate. I have a stool with wheels, similar to what the doctor has. Got it on Amazon for under $40. It has really helped me last longer because of my bad back.
i watched the whole video, but my main take away was that it took 4 ladies 8 hours to clean your house every other week. the cost of that alone blows my mind, but (and i understand you have a large house) what could the possibly be doing that would take that long???
The mind boggles!!
I know, right? Cleaners in my area charge $35 Canadian per hour! 😮 If you look back in the comments there is a question that starts "Do you have 25 rooms?" where you'll find the answer to yours. 👍
I was thinking the same thing. 8 hours and a team of 6 !! She has a huge house.
I wondered the same. I owned my own cleaning business the past 13 years and had half a dozen clients at a time. I spent 4-5 hours per visit every other week, so twice a month, cleaning my "average" homes (3 bed, 2 bath, kitchen, living room, family room, dining room, laundry room, about 1800-2200 sq ft each, some with pets but no kids, I'm not including larger homes with multiple pets and kids) doing all she said (full surface cleaning of all rooms). I had to really hustle to get it all done in that amount of time by myself and I'm quite picky, but after developing a routine in each home I was able to do it, albeit leaving me totally exhausted afterward. How big is her home and who all occupies it that it took a team a total of 32-40 "man" hours to surface clean the home and what did they charge/hour? Yikes!
Ridiculous!
Hi Morgan! I'm so glad you're taking parts from the various 'cleaning' systems and making it work for you and your family! I've used the Flylady system for many years and love how flexible it is...I change it around according to our current needs (our kids were in kindergarten and needed help with chores, now they are teenagers and preparing to leave the nest, we have had family illness, changes in our jobs, etc). But the basic concepts of Weekly Home Blessing/Zones and Daily Focus still keep us on track 😃 Good luck and adapt as you go! 🖖
Thank you so much Diane! I love how your videos help keep me on track!💖
Diane in Denmark I just love your videos you got me started with getting my house clean and my husband loved it. Thank you
@@augustarrowmaker1933 Yay, I'm so glad - thanks for joining in!
Love your videos, Diane.
Hallo Diane! so nice to see you. I landed here out of curiosity just for you :-)
I have the opposite problem. I live in a 38ft RV. I had to break it down to only 3 zones! I do my zones on Mon, Wed, & Thur. I love tiny living!! Thanks for all the great ideas for routines!!
Less is more 💕
I am so jealous of you
Decided to listen to this while cleaning. Bad idea! 😅 It gave me anxiety listening to all the things that needed to get done. 😱 Hearing it out loud is overwhelming.
wasn't expecting to hear you mention me. LOL. I just found your channel. Awesome content! I love how you compared the two systems. both I love and have modified both to fit my life.
Ahhh! Caught red handed!! Thank you so much! You've inspired me for YEARS!!!! Since Cali was still in high school, congratulations on the wedding!
Tracy l love you much to xxxxx
Omg...this was so good. I love Steph, and Flylady Dianne!!! I have my morning routine down pretty well...then get lost. I found Clean Mama the other day and thought.....Hmmm...there should be a way to combine the two??? Then this morning I found your channel and this sounds wonderful!!! Except now, I have to binge watch and decide how to divide things up. Thank you...appreciate this video!
Right?! I used to get lost after the morning routine, because so much of the FlyLady's weekly tasks just didn't apply... but now I do some in the morning, some in the afternoon and some in the evening and it's working wonders!💖
One more thing. You mentioned the pink stuff on the shower liner. I haven't had any pink, or mold, or mildew since I started spraying the shower and curtain after each shower. Then when I get out I close the curtain for an hour or so until it's dry. I use a spray I throw together real quick that is just 1 cup distilled water (I used boiled water), ⅛ cup hydrogen peroxide, ⅛ cup rubbing alcohol, ½ teaspoon Dawn, 1 teaspoon white vinegar and 20 drops tea tree essential oil. How much you make depends on how many cups your spray bottle can hold. I repurposed a 32 oz peroxide bottle for this so I fill it up & top it with the sprayer off an empty spray bottle from the Dollar Tree because the tube is flexible enough that I don't need to cut it to fit the bottle. Since I've been using this after each shower I don't have to scrub the shower as often, I have zero water marks or soap scum on the chrome hardware, and I haven't had to take the shower curtain down to bleach it since before I started spraying it. Of course, this spray will work best on an already cleaned shower & curtain to keep them cleaner longer. The bathroom won't smell like tea tree oil after it dries either.
I appreciate your work!...Please keep making videos and sharing your insights!
Thank you, I will
This is exactly what I’ve been trying to develop. I literally told my husband yesterday that I was going to combine fly lady and clean mama. This was great!
I’m new to FlyLady. I have a couple of comments about your house cleaners. It is much easier to keep something clean rather than letting your house go for two weeks. And, if you didn’t spend a few days straightening up before they came, they had much more work to do.
There’s a UA-cam gal, Angela Brown. She teaches how to start a cleaning business, and answers homeowner questions. She is fabulous. I suggest you tell her your square footage and how many rooms you have. Along with the number of house cleaners you had coming.
It sounds like your house cleaners weren’t cleaning the whole time, if they were only doing surface cleaning. Angela can tell you if that’s the case. She says this happens a lot. Have you been home when they cleaned, to make sure they are cleaning? Angela has a video about this. Some house cleaners even eat the home owner’s food!.
Do 2 or 3 days of Weekly Home blessing if you prefer, modify it to suit you. I’m finding it much easier to keep things clean rather than let it get dirty and then clean. The latter takes much longer.
Have you decluttered before starting your cleaning? Decor on surfaces slows you down. Even Marie Kondo says to keep bare counters because it’s easier to keep clean. You will enjoy your home more with less on surfaces because your eyes have less to focus on.
Maybe, in your next home, you will consider how much house you can care for. And maybe your kids/hubby can do some chores.
I think you still have work to declutter before cleaning. It’s REALLY helping me.
YES to all of this, every bit.
I was thinking the same thing. My neighbor has the same size house as I do (about 1700 sq ft) and she pays a cleaning service to come one day every week. They send 2 or 3 cleaners and they're done in about 2 hours (again, doing basic surface cleaning such as dusting, vacuuming, bedding change, etc.) It sounds like she was getting WAY ripped off, to have that many cleaners taking EIGHT hours to surface clean.
I use Clean Mama daily focus with Flylady zones cleaning
That's exactly what I've been doing!
I have so enjoyed watching your videos. I love how you are taking the different systems and making it your own. The fly lady got her start with these systems from the sidetracked home executives book. I read that book when I was a young mom with a toddler back in the late 80s. It really really helped me. I still have a copy and recently reread it. Much of the fly lady's system came from that and I see the similarities and the differences and how she made it her own as well. So I think this is great that you are doing the same thing. We are all at different stages of life, now I'm an empty nester grandma but many of those things I learned from sidetracked home executives I still do. Thanks for sharing and I will enjoy watching more of your videos.
Thank you so much!
I am very glad to find your channel. I had never heard of the flylady until recently----apparently I don't get around youtube much. LOL. The number #1 thing that I am grateful to flylady for is the fact that my MINDSET was the greatest problem that I had. Although I know HOW to do the housework, I was overwhelmed because I work about 50 hours a week and couldn't seem to figure out how to get the housework done. Of course, I have NOT ARRIVED and I am at the very beginning of this journey as well. I had to stop thinking about all the closets, cabinets, and in depth cleaning projects because thinking about all of those things caused me to beat myself up and procrastinate. Right now I'm focusing on my sink and the kitchen IN GENERAL. Yes, I do a lot of other things, but I'm choosing to make my kitchen the ZONE for the month of September, 2020. In October, I'll add another habit. I haven't decided what that will be yet, but I'll come up with something---there are so many things to choose from. I've been doing my laundry at night for many years and I totally love that Idea!
I'm totally new to Flylady but am really excited about it after watching one of The Secret Slob's videos, so it was a bit overwhelming to hear about all the things about it that didn't work for you.
However, I'm glad I can expect to need to modify it to fit my own needs, though I should probably try it as is before trying to figure out what needs to be changed.
The main thing is, we will be moving into a larger home (5/3 plus a family room) and I homeschool and have 5 young sons and baby #6 on the way. With so many young kids, home with me all day long, there is a lot to stay on top of.
At the same time, delegate!! There is no reason I should have to do all the cleaning in my home, so I will definitely be getting the kids to help fulfill the duties.
I do appreciate that you have combined two systems to make it your own. I just started watching "The Fly Lady" and stumbled across "Clean Mama" within 24 hours. I like the simple 5 tasks to complete daily. I have a much smaller house after downsizing about 20 years ago. We are empty nesters and we still have too much house. My goal is to finish decluttering this year. I've been attempting during last year and got discouraged. There is plenty to keep me busy. Thanks for sharing.
I agree the surface level cleaning happens during the weekly home blessing. The zone cleaning is where you can clean deeper. I struggle...I work full time outside of the home and have a family. It’s finding a balance and letting go of perfection for me.
We both work full time also and a little time each day and a weekly focus or two is the only thing we can stick to. I just can't sustain cleaning all day on 1 of my days off and missing out on the time designated for my kids, husband and self to be able to keep our best life going. 😊
Stay safe!
Yep. This is why I had to modify. I can't get through all of the surface level cleaning in just one hour... so I spend roughly an hour dusting, and 2 hours vacuuming/moping each week. Then for my zone cleaning on Saturdays, I do go deeper, but after my huge declutter project, even that goes quickly.
When we lived in our condo, this is what I did. I just knocked it all out every Saturday Morning!
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for working women as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit
I love that you add "wash the garbage cans". This is so important! In my classroom as a teacher, I washed my garbage can daily. At home I lightly clean with disinfectant once a week and deep clean seasonally.
Oh my gosh it's so necessary! My kids throw EVERYTHING away, solid or liquid! I have to wash them frequently!
I am so glad to hear that you like REALLY modified and overhauled the Fly Lady system zones. My kids used to help me do a Spring clean every year, now they are gone and I was overwhelmed. I started with Konmari, found Minimal Mom, Decluttering at the speed of Life, and Fly Lady all about the same time, along with Diane in Denmark and the Secret Slob. SOOO much help with those books and UA-camrs. I have the Zones, but my house is larger and I could not get it all done. Between you and the Secret slob who have made it work for YOU, I am on my way to changing my zones into areas like the Secret Slob does and adding more zones like you did. Love LOVE the ideas. Thanks soooo much. I have just heard about Clean Mama and will look into her some, but from what I've seen if you have your personal routines with FlyLady, you kinda have the same idea going as far as what chores you feel like you should complete? I'll look more. Thanks again, and for the Etsy link
I am exhausted after watching this! I’m going to watch it again until I completely understand it. Flylady has never been something I could follow. I know others who have adapted it, and I am going to have to create my own hybrid. I appreciate your telling is all of this.
It SEEMS more complicated than it is. Here's the fast version: Baby Steps everyday (this includes everything you need to do, even if it's not cleaning) 2. Do 1 choice across your whole house for no more than 1 hour every day. 3. Deep clean 1 area of your home for no more than 1 hour on Saturdays.
you should watch The Secret Slob and her videos. Best hands down for FlyLady explanation and motivation!!
mommy Kim That is one of the four flylady sources I’ve been viewing. I’m getting it finally.
I went through each or her Zones etc and made a spread sheet and will adapt to my visual I can prob get it down to 5 zones! It took my a while it I really like how detailed her video was! Also feel like I like both systems!!
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And then you start the tasks over again.
The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - fly lady is just a frame to build your system around. :)
So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
OMG I remember watching clean Mama!!! Cool modification!
Thank you!
Great modifications and I enjoyed reading the comments and their solutions on blessing their homes. Thanks for the info. Will be watching The Dove's Nest for more tips.
I am also a big fan of The Secret Slob, and Clean Mama, and Dianne in Denmark, and don't know why some of these things you said have never clicked before. The 7 Zones is a great idea and I feel maybe Steph mentioned something along those lines...but it did not click til you laid it out. Thank you....now I have to binge watch and modify my journal.
Thank you!!! Right? I feel almost "guilty" making changes to such awesome systems, but I just couldn't make them work without the changes! Does it fit neatly in a calendar month? No, but does it finally work for me? YES!!🙌🏼
Hi ladies! I have been following the fly lady system for almost 2 years now. following Diane in Denmark and Stephanie the secret slob. now I have come across yours :-) I finally have my system working for me....somewhat but I get what your saying about the 15 minutes per day. I spend more time but not so much I burn myself out. like last week my kitchen garbage can was on the list but i did it today. I have more time I can and want to dedicate to cleaning my home. My goal is to declutter COMPLETELY and clean a clean home! thanks for your insight and sharing it with us. Oh one last thing about 20 years ago I cleaned houses for about a year and I can say there is NOTHING like have your ENTIRE home all clean at once. I know I tried for years to achieve that and its not possible in your own home yourself....we get distracted with our "stuff" lol
I know this video is old but I just found 😃……….I love the advice to combine both systems.
I am new to them both so it’s a good time to see what will work for me. My kids are right at middle school age ,but we home school and I’m the main teacher ,so the daily attention they may need equates to having smaller toddlers and babies. We also own our own business ,that requires travel, and there really is “no set schedule. ” I may go from being home all week to traveling all week. I’m anxious to get the daily routines ironed out and work in the 15 min and 1 hour zones. I’m a visual learner so thanks so much for expounding on both systems in list form!
Finally someone confirms how I feel about the Flylady system! Thank you.
Wow. Thanks for sharing this. I also need more then the 15 and 1 hr time slot. But ofcourse thought something was wrong with my time management. I think I will add an 8th zone for my garage. Thank you so much
Thanks a lot! You've inspired me to make myown check list with the rutines incorporated! It helped so much! I'm slowly becoming a tidy person. 💃
I'm so glad! You can do it! It's still a struggle for me. I've accepted that I will never transform into a tidy person... but less stuff to manage definitely helps.
May I just say Kudos to you for handling all the snarky comments in such a kind way. I would not have done it nearly as well!! Please ignore the people who give criticism instead of kindness. I think you’re doing great!!
I just laugh at snarky comments. People whoh have enough time in their day to do it blow my mind. "Go clean your house if you have time to criticize Mr Perfect!" I say! Or come clean mine,😂😂
I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I am that you are coming back!!!
It looks like you've done a great job combining systems and making it work for you. You're very organized!
The weekly home blessing is actually only supposed to be your high traffic areas not your entire home. Also, if people wait a year to do "spring cleaning" then it would be a huge step up to have zones completely deep cleaned every couple of months, which equates to 5-6x a year not just once.
Yes! Thank you!
Absolutely agree.
This is great information...Thank you so much!
Thanks for this video. It gave me some great ideas for organizing my schedule.
I'm so glad!
I'm a little relieved to hear that there are other people who just couldn't make the straight up fly lady system work. I tried for years and it was miserable and I hated cleaning. My first attempt at modifying was to do one zone per day and that really kept the house clean. But it was just insane cleaning 24/7 and I never got to enjoy it. I'm in the process again of trying to create a system of my own. We have a smaller house but there are 5 bedrooms plus a playroom and a classroom. We've packed a big punch designing this place and I'm sure now I can keep it not just tidy, but clean! Thanks!
This has been my struggle with fly lady thank you for giving permission to break it up!
Hey! I do the FLYLADY syrum. It works for me. You should know . She deals with those who are mentally depressed. And the 2 min clean gets them to get up . Dressed. It’s hard for them to do this much. So the targeted people is different from who you will reach.
This makes me dizzy. LOL I am on the FlyLady system and the one thing I think we agree on is that doing one room every 5 weeks means that 4 rooms can be less than perfect for 4 weeks. LOL Because of this, I had to go back and read everything again. She actually has the 1-hour home blessing on 1 day, but there are three other categories of timed cleaning done on the other days, and that doesn't include the daily habits. There is the Hot Spot, Fire Drill, and 5-minute room rescue. That's 35 minutes of cleaning just with those three done every day. They are not specific tasks and can incorporate deep cleaning maneuvers. I consider cleaning my baseboards deep cleaning, but I only do it for 15-minutes on any given day and then stop. Mopping and vacuuming are also considered deep cleaning when it is the zone area because you move all the furniture, etc. You make it sound like deep cleaning never happens, and that isn't true. Or, am I missing something here?
@ S Taylor I’m at 22min and I can’t keep watching this. I am dizzy too. The dove lady you are not the average girl! I’m sure you will help many people who are overachievers lol and I like the way you found a plan that works for you! It’s too much of an overwhelm for me. And if you look at the secret slob & Diann in Denmark their houses look clean. I think it eventually gets to a place of clean most of the time.
I thought it made a lot more sense and was a lot clearer than the flylady. My house is 3,000 sq. feet. Flylady’s slotted times aren’t realistic if you have 4 bathrooms. I think her routines will work better for me. But the whole point is to develop a routine that works best for you!
@@kl3625 I'm with you! I don't think FlyLady is meant for Type A people like this.
I'm just curious, what's that creaking noise?
Also, thank you for your content! You're really helping me out!
How can I get a copy of your Zone cleaning tasks ? I like your hybrid approach best of all ! I just found Clean Mama and I have been a Flybaby off and on for several years . You’re right, she does not include enough Zones . Doing a Zone area on one day instead of 15 minutes throughout the week gets the job done completely ! I always felt that I finished Flylady’s zones, but then I had to turn around and start all over again before my other leftover zones had anything accomplished !
I also need to switch Clean Mama’s mopping and vacuuming days as I have throw rugs in my kitchen and bathroom areas and I put those out onto the carpeting when I am mopping floors, so any dirt that falls out of them onto the carpeting needs to be vacuumed the next day .
I shall be watching this video a bunch of times until I absorb your routines , unless you offer PDF downloads ? Thanks for doing this video !
I too am working on a hybrid of the two but right now to get started I’m just doing my routines and whatever mission FlyLady has. I wish I had as much energy as you lol. I am a single mom, with health issues that works two jobs but I’m trying to get better at basically everything lol.
Anything is better than nothing! I'm a planner, so I HAVE to plan EVERYTHING before I do it, or I'll die... but I think that most of the time creating a hybrid or personalized system just comes from trial and error. Keep it up mama!
The Dove's Nest I’m one that plans wrong with this so far so I’m doing the missions till I get the hang of it. I either over plan wayyyy more than I can reasonably do or it’s not enough to make a difference. Once the house is in better shape and I’ve practiced I’ll be better at it. I have a mid sized house (and only 2 people) so 1-1.5 hours weekly blessing would work lol.
It will make a difference, keep going 💪
You can do it!
Flylady was my go-to for years. As long as my house was around 1500 sq ft, it worked. But anything above 2000 was unmanageable for me. So I dropped it for a while and paid someone to clean for me. Now, my house is bigger, but the kids are teenagers and responsible for their own laundry and cleaning their rooms. I'm taking up Flylady again but will be looking at the changes you made.
Thank you for the tips and I appreciate the issue of having a large house. I have not been able to clean my entire house since I moved in ten years ago due to size. I have had cleaning ladies in the past when I was working, but I am currently unemployed so trying to cut costs. I recently re-started doing the flylady system using the Secret Slob's handouts for my first floor only. I have 3 teens/young adults and am depending on them to clean 2nd floor right now. I will clean upstairs when 2 older kids return to college in the fall (hopefully) and only after they visit. I do clean the guest bathroom upstairs weekly but hardly anyone uses it. I have three dogs that are kept on first floor and they are the biggest mess creators right now besides myself :) Once I get into Flylady cleaning routine during the summer I will have to deep clean periodically upstairs.
YES! Amen! My kids are still little, but man I'm already teaching them to help mom! It's a lot to keep a house in order!
I don't usually comment on UA-cam videos, but I love that you've taken the two systems I have been playing with and put them together to create your own. I'm finally ready to create my own zones! Thanks for the inspiration!
Glad you like them! You're welcome!✨
I’m trying to make sense of the Fly Lady system , thank you for all of the valuable information 💗💗‼️💐‼️
I like fly lady. I had to rearrange things a bit, too. One thing that is HUGE is working as a family. My kids have their own system and started young. They wake up, dress, brush teeth, swish and swipe the bathroom they use. They unload and reload the dishes. They have a "zone" each day. For example on monday the youngest takes the bottom 7 steps of the stair case and the oldest takes the top 7. Together they dust it down in a short amount of time. They have a list of all the rooms and each day they pick one to wipe down baseboards. Whole house blessings are done together and it doesn't take long. Put on some dance music and go! I can't imagine doing all you listed and working 60 hours. Work together and you have family time while cleaning and after! Plus it gives the kids skills to use when they move out.
Wow! I totally agree! That's why I call it "Family Economy" (as mentioned in my Kid's Chores video) My kids pitch in, but when they get big enough to really help with as much your kids do, that will be great!
systems have to work for everyone...not just those with kids who can help. And lest you say, less kids equal less mess and less general "home" work, you are right,generally speaking, but usually once the kids are out, we are older and not as "quick" nor as "fit"
I love all the systems and the communities around them. I'm grateful for everybody's help. The tips and printables and motivation are invaluable. As a shift worker there's a nurse who does flylady and that has helped a lot. I have a two bedroom home but very low energy levels so doing what I can helps me make progress.
I totally agree!
And somewhere in those 3 routines, you make time for hubby, pets, kids... it's a little. Love yout " tornado" idea... lol
I combined fly lady, clean mama, and a cleaning schedule I found during lockdown into a system that worked for me.
Me too, Flylady zones on Clean Mama focus days. For example, dusting is Tuesday, so dusting the kitchen the second week on a Tuesday. Etc
I use clean mommas weekly task list 👌🏻 I love it. It truly keeps everything on track and I homeschool 2 boys :)
I still deep clean every week but using the daily list is perfect!
Subscribed after one minute, I KNOW I’m going to love your channel 😍
Wow, thank you!✨
This is SO helpful! I've always been torn between the two and felt like I needed to do one or the other. I did FlyLady years ago but couldn't get all of it to stick. I've been reading and working through Clean Mama for awhile. Your solution is great! Thank you!
You're so welcome! Glad it was helpuful!
So I have 18 "rooms", I combined some of them and round it up to 15. Then divided into 5 zones, so I get 3 rooms per zone. And it works.
Good! I'm so glad it works for you; it seems to work for lots of people to do it just as Marla does. I've tried multiple times, and just had to customize it to fit my life, my family, and my schedule better.
I’m glad to hear your home blessing comments. I’m kinda in your boat. I can’t get it all done in an hour.
You did an excellent job explaining the two cleaning systems.
Thank you!
This is seriously SO good!!! I have also been trying to figure out how to merge the clean mama and fly lady systems. I could identify with EVERY reason you gave! Much more house, not enough to just surface clean each room every few months, etc! I’m so glad I found you and this video! I’ll be joining you in this merged system!! Excited to follow along your journey!
Thanks so much! Glad I could help!
Well, I miss you terribly...going to rewatch all of them but this one is my favorite! Did see a really good She's in Her Apron Video this morning that was really helpful. Hope things are wonderful in your life!!!
Hi Pat! I'll be back soon! My days just got fuller, and filming adds an additional 2-3 hours to things I'm already doing so it had to stop for a while!
@@TheDovesNest You have no idea how happy that makes me. Just go easy on yourself. Have not found anyone that does it like you...cannot wait.
Yes! I combined both of their systems to fit my families needs.
I love it!!!💖
Great video! I liked both systems too and couldn’t decide on which one to use, so I also combine them for e best of both worlds!
Good choice!
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for working women as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit
I have just stumbled upon Clean MAMA. Good points for those of us that work outside the home. I HAVE been following Fly Lady. Admittedly, I have had a time of it but finding my own way. My desk day may not coincide with Narka's. I do think more about my garage and purse day. I like that. It is now my routine. The zones have been a challenge. However, I have changed zones to help me. The days are different but the entire system seems to be working..maybe make more zones if you have more house. I am no longer hung up on matching her. But I am forever indebted to her system. She has helped me to feel better about myself and my home. Thank you so much for this comparison. I can see that everyone's schedule is different. Marla even states to create what you can for your family. Love her enthusiasm...
Whaaaaaat.. 4-5 cleaning ladies for 8 hours every other week? That seems insane. We had a 5000 sq ft home and we had a cleaning lady who came alone and worked 2 hours every other week. Did they do laundry and dishes and things like that?
At the time, my house was SUCH A MESS. It wasn't just dirty (needed dusting, vacuuming, etc.) they had to clean everything. Dishes, pick up toys, pick up clothes, etc.! EVERYTHING!
Thank you so much for sharing this hybrid method. I have been looking exactly for this, I think I will now be able to customize my own method! You are a gem!! :-) Warm regards from the Canary Islands, Spain!!
Oooo Spain!!!! I'd love to visit there someday! You're so welcome, I hope it helps! It's finally working for me!💙
Wheew. You have made me so very, very tired. There is no way I could do half of that. Lol
This is so funny. I’ve never heard about the cleaning mama and without knowing I’ve customized my fly lady weekly chores in the app to something very similar to the cleaning mama weekly cleaning routine. I guess without knowing I also combined both programs. I had the same problems you encountered. The one hour blessing on Mondays it doesn’t work for me. I also work from home and from Monday to Saturday I can clean for 3 hours a day. I don’t need time for errands, I don’t even do groceries I get subscription meals. The zones were also a problem because 5 zones is not enough. I had to combine 2 rooms per zones and still left laundry and garage out.
WOW...This was extremely long and detailed.. But I stayed to the end. So very detailed and packed with great tips! I've tried the fly lady but it didn't work for me. Or more accurately I didn't stick with it. I'm going to give your modification a try. Happy I found your channel! 🤗
I find that everything works, if I stick to it.... BUT THAT IS THE PROBLEM. 🤣 I just dont' stick to anything. This system (shockingly) has worked well for me. I think having "Themed days" from the Clean Mama is really helping too. IT's like planning for dinner and having a Taco Tuesday night. It just helps me.
Oh Wow! I love this video. You and i think so much alike when it comes to cleaning and maintaining a home. God Bless! (isabella:-)
I'm so glad to see this video. I've been so torn between Fly Lady and Clean Mama. They both speak to me. I've been stuck trying to figure out how to mesh them. thanks so much!
You're so welcome! I felt the same way! I loved both systems, but knew I couldn't get away with just using one! Good luck, you've got this!✨
Thanks for sharing! Wednesdays (or Sundays for me as I work full time) is a planning and desk day (financials and food). I totally agree it can be hard to get the "home blessing" done in an hour. That said, it kinda works out okay for my space - I split the tasks throughout the week once I get done with work. I do the Zone on Saturday morning for an hour or so. I got this idea from Better Life with Kat. This was really interesting and thanks again.
It's so funny I found this! I have recently been trying to mesh the two systems as well. I have followed both for years and never really got them down. Your routines look very similar to mine. I love your input and suggestions. Thank you for the video. It was really good.
Thank you so much!💖
Love this! I have started and stopped the fly lady system so many times because it just didn’t really fit and then I learned about the clean mama system and still not 100 percent for me and then I found your video and had a duh moment lol. Doing a combination of the 2 is genius and makes total sense to me and my household so thank you for sharing how you have tweaked these systems and made them work for you. New subscriber btw 😊
Puting together Clean Mama does add to the Flylady system nicely. I don't follow the exact zones or do my Home Blessing on Monday, I'll do it in bits or on another day because vacuuming the entire house in one go really does a number on my back. Always helpful to hear how someone else does it!
Thanks for sharing!!
The Awkward Mom did a wonderful series comparing several of the main cleaning systems after trying each of them for a week. My biggest takeaways were
- you can work yourself non-stop and still have cleaning jobs that can be done. You have to set limits for yourself to avoid burnout
- my generation is clearly suffering from lack of knowledge because many of us were never taught how to run a household. We are now learning for ourselves which makes it so much harder!
- most of these systems are quite similar. Just pick one and make it work for you.
- none of these systems can avoid spring cleaning. Every home has jobs that ideally need done once or twice a year. However, they generally are very in-depth and get put off for too long. If you get good at the surface level, and mid level cleaning, it will be a little easier to do the deep cleaning later on. Very few people are actually deep cleaning like we say we are.
- I don’t care what UA-cam tells you - very few men are going to notice or care about keeping a house. Almost all of it will tend to fall on you. You can either accept it or be miserable and bitter about it.
Just listening to what you have to do made me tired my goodness keep up the great job💖😊
You know, so many people are doing The Fly Lady on UA-cam. I watch you....Steph...FlyLady Dianne...and I watch She's in Her Apron...mostly for recipes and freezer meals. Don't think I have ever seen one of her Fly Lady videos. Do love her cooking videos. You just clicked with your changes putting the two together. You know, Steph just had her third baby, also.
You are my hero! I would love to be on top of everything like this one day!
Don't be fooled. I am NOT on top of anything. Still. Just little bits everyday help keep everything manageable.
Haha 😂 I didn’t realize how long the video was until you mentioned it at the end!! Great video! Loved it! I will be copying some of your methods, I love fly lady too, but doesn’t seem to be working out to the fullest for me, thank you!
Thanks so much!
Love your system!
I watched your video about Flylady 101 and I got the impression that you had trouble with motivation to clean. After watching this video, I think you are obsessed with cleaning and you live in a mansion. I really can't relate but I appreciate your attention to detail and sharing your routines. Thanks.
Would love to see a video of a typical day at your house. I’m not understanding the difference between the 1 hour daily cleaning task and the zone cleaning.
Check out the UA-cam videos of Steph at The Secret Slob, as well as Diane in Denmark. They both explain this really well. I'm finding this video incredible frustrating as all she seems to do is complain about how big her house is!
I have followed Flylady on and off for years. I just found Clean Mama and also listen to A Slob Comes Clean and Clean with Me podcasts. Flylady has a lot of listeners that have ADHD or depression. She also says you cam adapt it for yourself and life. Raani, from Clean with Me, does a whole house approach which takes an average of an 1 hour and a half a day if you count laundry and vacuum( don't do those in the podcast- couldn't hear her).
Sounds like you have a clean and larger home than here in the UK. All systems are meant to be adapted to your needs. I have adapted the fly lady system to what my house needs and it works fine.
I was exhausted just listening. Seems like a perfectionist Don’t like she uses family time to still cleaning and also Sundays.
This was great! I just started fly lady
Love your system sounds perfect for me I’ll have to see if you have the printables
Printable's are linked in the description. They are not my own, I got them off Etsy.😉
Hi I don’t see the link for the printables. Can you link them here?
Great video, very motivating, and I am a new subscriber:)
Welcome!!
I th ink the fly lady system was created for people who were getting overwhelmed because they were perfectionists and felt they didn't have enough time in the day to do everything...or because of covid, they may have lost their maid service and maybe they were never taught how to clean properly. She also has no kids leaving toys anywhere lol. I've had to modify her system as well because I have a large house and I refuse to be the only one cleaning it...but, she gives a nice outline. I swish the toilets at least 3 times a day and clean the shower tiles before I get out...to me it's easier that way, to keep it clean. also, pool tablets are an easy way to make sure the inside of your toilets stay clean and fresh. Great video.
Great video! I love Diane in Denmark, Steph and Becky! I basically follow Clean Mama but am still in the old habit of spring and fall cleaning. I've tried doing 15 minutes zone cleaning a day but am not disciplined enough. That's a great idea to have a zone cleaning day once a week! I'm going to give it a go! Thank you for the idea! I too have modified my zones to fit my house. 12 zones so my deep cleaning would be done every 3 months!
Thanks for sharing!! Ahhh I remember spring cleaning growing up and how overwhelming it was... And I was just a kid/teenager! Even every 3 months is better than once a year!
I can't always do 15 minutes a day. I have MS so I had to modify the program. I purchase myself 4 colorful timers 5 minutes 10 minutes 15 minutes 30 minutes. If I'm having a bad day I use 5 minute. If I'm having a good days I will use 5 minutes in the morning and then the 10-minute timer in the afternoon excetera excetera. To me it's all about the timer. And all of these systems are adaptable.
Thank you for the affirmation. I've tried many of these kinds of systems that have you cleaning 15 minutes to 1 hour a day and it feels like failure because there's no way that's enough. if I don't clean 2-3 hours a day, my house is an absolute mess. And that's just a surface clean. Granted I have two small children and if I didn't, 1 hour a day would probably be enough for a deep clean, but it just isn't in my current situation.
This is an old video but i really lile flylady kat for women w young kids she gives great advice as she was one for many years and used to be an official flylady mentor but has since modified the systems a bit - 3 clutter stops a day she reccos may help make it feel a bit less overwhelming
I make my grocery list based off the weekly grocery ad so I usually do it on Thursday (ads come out Wednesday here). You sound so organized. I just subscribed. Sounds like I could learn a lot from you.
Thank you so much!! I never know when the new ads come out so I was planning on Monday, but not shopping until Friday... I could probably get away with planning on Thursday! I currently don't shop based on ads, but based on what we already have in our pantry/fridge/freezer (because we do the bulk of our shopping at Costco).
I buy meat based on the ads too. And I base my meals around the meat. AND I learned that the meat and produce are generally on the front page and last page of the ads and the rest is generally all sorts of non-perishables that I don’t buy anyway. Ever since I heard that tip, I barely scan the inner pages if at all. And I buy stuff from Sam’s Club, but prefer to get my meat from Sprouts or our local grocery chain that generally has high quality meat. I have been shocked the last couple years though to find Sam’s having much higher quality fresh fruits and veggies and so much better and cheaper than the grocery store.
Hi there! :) This is great!! Is there a download available of your routines listing all you do?
Hi! Nope, no download. I purchased the templates off of Etsy, so because of copyright reasons, I don't have them available to others.
The essence of Flylady is progress, not perfection. The zones are meant to cycle monthly, so whatever deep cleaning you don’t get to, you’ll get a chance to do again next month. But if you pick the things that need it the most in the daily 15 minutes, it actually makes a really big difference. The system was designed to take care of your home & still have a life & enjoy your family & not feel overwhelmed. It was built to get you moving & not stuck in paralysis because you’d never be able to get it all done. Spotless perfection is not the goal. For me, that was incredibly freeing & a huge weight off my shoulders.
Hello Morgan! New subbie! Your routine sounds similar to mine. I started my own cleaning routine back in May and I was a mix of Fly Lady and Clean Mama too sort of. I’m still tweaking my routine my routine but so far it’s working out good. I only zone clean 2 days one week and 3 days the next week. I divided my house into 3 zones, 4 rooms or bathroom in each zone. So each room & zone gets cleaned every 8 days. This leaves me me some free days to run errands etc. 💜💜💜 I like fully or deep clean one room before moving on to the next room (once a week). I don’t want to to clean that room for a whole week. Takes me about 2 to 3 hours to do my routine including daily chores. I don’t always do it all at once, sometimes I break it up throughout the day. I call mine the one & done cleaning routine. 💜. Great video!
How many sqft is your house? I have a 3,100 sqft house plus back patio and front porch.
Just stumbled across your channel. I absolutely loved it!! Thankyou so much. I’ve been trying to figure out how to combine both amazing cleaning routine’s and you have just helped me in soo many ways. Thankyou again so much.
Yay! You are so welcome!
You mention your block schedule, but I don't see a link for that. Do you have a video about that? I just moved into a new house that is double the size of our old one and am modifying Flylady as well for that reason, but I also need to make a block schedule and would love to see how yours works.
I found fly lady worked best when I still worked from home. Clean mama sounds a little more flexible now that I’ve taken a job as City Secretary for small municipality which has me working very long hours most days of the week.
Thank you so much for such a detailed plan! Made me realize how much more I can get done....with God's help! I, too, have wondered how to get all my rooms to fit into the Fly Lady system. Seemed to me it would take up to 10 weeks to go through it once. Have health issues that make me a lot slower than I used to be... I really like how you merged these two systems in a way customized to your home. What a great idea! Thank you!!
Thank you!
About the zone cleaning: you are not meant to finish the whole list every time you do a zone! :) As the week goes on, you check off the things you get done, and then you save that list for the next time you are in that zone. Then you check off, and continue this until all the tasks are checked off - this can take several times of you being in that zone (yes, months). And then you start the tasks over again.
The zone cleaning is the 'spring clean', spread out over the year; every single thing doesn't need to be deep cleaned every month. And you are also encouraged to create your own tasks/routines - fly lady is just a frame to build your system around. :)
So you are doing 15 minutes of deep cleaning every day. Many people also spread out the home blessing hour to 10 minutes a day, if they don't have time for a full hour on a weekday. This is the surface cleaning. And then there are the little chores here and there. This way, you spend maybe 30 minutes a day cleaning. The main thing she is very particular about is, there is no need to get obsessive with cleaning perfectly - because it is draining, and by keeping on top of it, it won't need as much 'elbow grease', because you clean it before it gets dirty. The first year might be 'harder', because it is probably more dirty/haven't been cleaned in a long time. But after that, it is clean, you will accomplish your tasks faster, and need to spend less time and energy on it. :)
She has really really good early videos even for the holidays.. Love her checking out your video
Awesome! I haven't seen any of the holiday videos... I didn't even follow the channel until January, I'm excited to see them later this year!✨
@@TheDovesNest thanks also her crises cleaning video on UA-cam..I also follow flylady Kat. And Diane from Denmark. I gave to notify as well.. Detail cleaning is not always. Decluttering and organizing challenges hug