Friday, June 11, 2010

House Cleaning for the Fly Lady drop out

I have had a few comments ( OK One.. Monica!) on here and a few on Facebook regarding the new system that I have started for my house cleaning. Now you all must know that I am NOT a huge house cleaning fan. In fact I stink at it. I would rather spend my time parenting ( or on facebook, or reading a book or blogging) or whatever else stay at home moms do. ( You know, America's next top model, bon bons and Oprah)

DISCLAIMER :* I did NOT make up this system and I am not getting paid. In fact I paid roughly 23 dollars to try this system in hopes that I might keep my house clean.* If you would, in fact, like to purchase this program please visit the maker at her website and order. The cost is not much and she gives amazing advice.

First thing I did was set up my box. ( I bought the tabs, plastic covers and the cards from Marie. I bought the box from Staples.)


Tabs:

Daily Do- Small things to do first thing in the morning. They include starting a load of wash right when you get up, make the beds, empty the dishwasher and make breakfast.
Daily Chores -A little more "in depth" things like tidy the bathroom, living rooms and bedrooms.
Weekly Do- Weekly cleaning like bathroom toilets, sinks, tubs etc.
Weekly Chores- Deeper cleaning chores that need weekly attention
Monthly Do- Things that MUST get done. Menu planning, budgets, and a few cleaning
Monthly Chores- BIGGER items like cleaning out your car, cleaning under beds.
Specific Month Chores- REALLY in depth chores for each month. Some may occur every six months so 2 months are on the card. Once done you move to the next month on the card. These include things like Blinds, cupboards, closets and bigger dejunking and organizing.

How the System works:

You start with your daily do's. When they are done you turn the card over and put it to the back of the tab. You do all you can at the first of the day then move on to whatever you have to do. ( This set is the working mom list because I think Ty is a full time job. There is a stay at home mom one but this one worked for me.) When I have a few minutes to do the next thing I have a place to start. I have finished all of the card for the do every day this week. It has curbed my laundry and I am down to one real load a day. The rest has been folded and put away. I can't tidy my room with a BIG pile on the ground.

When I have finished my do's I move on to the daily chores. They are just small things and I have finished all but 2. One is taking out the trash every day and I don't need to do that so I skip it.

After the Chores I move on to the monthly things. Both the "mandatory" ones and the bigger chores. So far it has worked and though I still have Ty's throwing and messes I know that I leave the tidying of that room until the end of the day as not to feel frustrated 40 million times in the day.

So that is system. I am excited to get some of the big things done and realize that one thing at at time will work.

Also I like her advice of starting a job and finishing. Not doing it for 15 minutes then move on. She feels that doing it all leaves you accomplished and it is easier to maintain because then you are not going back to an unfinished project.

She also says that if you can't do a project all the way then don't start till you can. If you have kids and want to clean out the pantry, ask for help to have someone watch your kids for a few hours and THEN switch with the other person so she can have some time.

I really like the system. I would LOVE to hear what works for you!





6 comments:

Monica said...

Is it okay to say I'm skeptical? Did you go to her class, or just purchase the cards?

Monica said...

Oh, and I'm skeptical because I'm such an organizational and house cleaning failure. I wonder at what point in my life I decide this is just the way it's always going to be.

Shelly said...

That system sounds like it could help me. I started a similar system just after my second son was born and it really did help for a while, but then things got busy and I stopped...yup, I stopped cleaning...oops. I really should get back to it though. This post is a good reminder to me.

nancy said...

Monica, I just purchased the cards and talked to her for a while. i am sure that I have not done it exactly like she has but I will update next week to see if it was able to be kept upi. Today my entire house was cleaned and I only had 2 rooms to actually " clean". Now the real test will be how easily I can keep it up... I am pretty horrible. I will try and take some Clean today pictures and dirty tomorrow :)

We are all "SPECIAL" said...

I need this sooooo bad!! I suck at it! I often joke saying I need a wife so she can cook and clean for us!! Let me know how easy it really is to keep up!!

the Lola Letters said...

That sounds reasonable! I wonder if I would follow through daily... it would be interesting to see. Does it ever feel a little overwhelming or is it WAY do able on a daily basis? How much time does it take per day?