Flylady/Decluttering Anyone?
 

Do you follow Flylady? This summer I have been pretty good about the 15 mins of decluttering every day. It's amazing how much you can actually get done in that short amount of time. She's right, you really can't organize clutter, you need to make tough choices about what to keep. At least I do. I have a limited amount of space and I'm so tired of having too much stuff in a small amount of space. This includes my quilting. Hard to get rid of some of it, but I have to be realistic about what I'll actually be able to work on. And let's be real, by the time I get around to some of my projects I'm just not always enthused about it. My tastes change and there's always new and great fabrics/patterns out there.

I don't follow flylady but have done the 15 min/day thing in the past. You're absolutely correct that it does work. I too, have a very small space in which to work and know myself well enough to know that my tastes are going to change over time. This is why only buy for projects when I'm ready to do them. The only stash I have is what is left over from any given project. Gives me the ability (sometimes) to do block swaps or the like. I'm also not much for 'scrappy'. It works for me. But I think I really need to get back to the 15 min/day thing. Stuff is starting to grow again.

I have read her website and "informally" try to keep up. I keep a donation bag going and so far haven't missed anything I've donated. It's so much easier to keep a decluttered place clean. I'm one of those rare birds with a very small stash. But I do have 8 sewing machines and a serger!

I followed Fly Lady system when I was working and had school age kids. I wasn't about to come home and do housework and cooking everyday or lose a day of my off days cleaning up a messy house. I can honestly say if you implement her system your house is never in a mess. Not even the kids rooms. I get up at 6 a.m. and by 7 a.m. my housework is done for the day. I keep my 1 year old grandson during the day so I have to have everything baby proof too. Once something is clean, like the fridge, then why wait for it to get dirty to have to clean again. The rule of clean it while it is clean really works and takes much less time and effort. Shoes, papers, toys, clothes, and stuff spread all over is ridiculous and stressful. Put items in their place. If you don't have a place for it then it is clutter. I will admit my sewing room is immune to not being kept as neat as the other rooms. I can't make a quilt and not have it messy most of the time.

With just two of us. Housework would be very easy. Three cats, a bird and messy eating dog. Makes for more work. Kind of hard to keep loose hair and litter swept up. Kitchen floor is swept a couple times a day. I don't like dirty, nasty places. I even keep my sewing room neat. My rule is if it doesn't fit into closets or cabinets, out it goes.

I do from time to time. Her techniques really help. I also follow Ramit Sethi and Marie Forleo to keep my business on track.

I followed FlyLady for a while, but I go in phases. I find it easier when we're on a regular schedule, but it all seems to go out the window in the summer when we're out of town a lot, and the kids are here all day, messes seem to follow them. I've also enjoyed Francine Jay's book The Joy of Less : A Minimalist Living Guide. While I have no intention of becoming a minimalist, it has great hands on tips for reducing your clutter, and streamlining every room in your house.

I'm very curious about Flylady's system/techniques, but I've searched and can't find anything about her.
Are there message posts or a link that explains?

I just googled Flylady and her website came up.

I used to follow Flylady every day without fail. This was years ago and though I no longer do so, I still shine up the sink every morning and night. I think I need to look up her blog again. Maybe that would help with my sewing room. Or maybe that is just a lost cause.
Thanks for posting on this subject.

Never heard of flylady before this thread....went to website.....well I guess I should get a gold star or something...I make my bed every morning, get dressed and shoed--unless ill-,cannot go to bed at nite unless kitchen sink et al is clean- nothing worse than waking up to a messy kitchen - especially when one has to make the coffee there. The one thing I do not do, nor never have, even when kids were home is do a batch of laundry daily....My laundry day is Monday, generally, Tuesday used to be ironing day...but nowadays that can be incorporated w/laundry on Monday thanks to wash n wear. So, I don't think I need Flylady....just a swift push to be more organized in my sewing cave!

http://www.flylady.net/ I signed up and get the daily emails. What really helps me is the zones (what area of the house you are in for any given week) and 15 minutes of decluttering (spend 15 mins cleaning up an area).

I've read her---and re-read her--but have yet to "devote" the time...gotta admit---sounds good!

I haven't followed the Flylady. Sounds like a good system. I do make myself do a certain amount of cleaning every day before I allow myself to sew. Makes me get things don. My sewing room is currently out of control so i have added a new chore to my list. I make myself clean up a minimum of 20 things in my sewing room before I sit down to sew. It is looking better already.

Well, I went on line and read some...did not see the link to get her newsletters. Cleaned off my dining room table which is our catch-all from the garage and shined up the sink until it does sparkle. Took out the drainer and dried the sink...did all of this and did not clean clutter from counters...so I have work to do. I am going to work on getting better. I cannot even think about cleaning my sewing room....uhhhh!

I began years ago when they wrote their first book.. The "Sidetracked Home Executives, from pigpen to paradise." By Pam Young and Peggy Jones.. It changed my life when that book came out. I was newly married, working a full time job and my house was a mess. I had been raised in a house that was a horrible mess so didn't really know how to go about getting it cleaned or keeping it clean. It was perfect timing for me.

I began following the principles in the book, had my card file and used it, and in time my house did actually go from a pigpen to clean.. It was wonderful. I have used that method for so long that I just do them without thinking. I love a house that I can open the door anytime and feel comfortable inviting people in.

Once you understand the method and practice it, it doesn't take long at all to have the home you want. I taught my daughter at a time when she was overwhelmed with trying to keep her house under control, and her house is also tidy and well maintained. I had tried to teach it to her before that time, but she was not ready and didn't want to bother.. That's fine.. When she needed help at least she came to me and asked, I was happy to help.

I am not the least bit bothered by mess or clutter, unless it's my responsibility and my mess.. So I can enjoy anyone and feel fine in the biggest mess anyone has. It's only my mess that bothers me.. I'm grateful to have learned this method so many years ago, it's given me years of being able to keep my home the way I like it. Please note, I have not said that either my daughter or I keep a perfect home.. But perfect was never my goal... each of us only needs to find the level that we're comfortable with and nothing more.

I have tried several systems, and for example never go up or down stairs without moving something that needs to move, but my house still looks awful. How to get everyone who lives here to sign up?!!!!

Judie, I loved the SHE sisters, too, and as a young mom of three children under 4, I learned how to get my home and life under control. Two things I remember from them: they UNDERSTOOD that I wanted my home organized, but didn't know how to(something my mom never got about me) and to set the standards for orderliness yourself. Fly lady has good ideas, too and built on their foundation. The 15minute work sessions are very effective, for me.

You really got me thinking with this post. I followed Flylady years ago when I was still working. I need to go to her site again because when I was following her methods I really had a clean organized house. Just have to find the time to do it!
Thanks to all for getting me to think about this. Who knows maybe this time next year my house will be clean and organized once again!

I also moved my shredding machine into my front entry way. I was always having things that I wanted to go thru or wanted to shred but didn't want to do it "then". Now I have it there and anything with my name on it goes into it and it has really helped declutter. Plus, my 7yr old loves to put things in the shredder and with it in site I can have him do it and not wait until I can go out into the other room and supervise it. I also keep a large vinyl shopping bag in my bedroom and as I'm putting things away I'm adding to it. I have worked hard this yr to declutter. I rid of hundreds of books, some read others never would. Now If I want a book or magazine I put it on my Nook tablet. The rare occasion that I buy a magazine I take it to work and share and then it is history. It's amazing how fast papers, books and magazines can pile up; most unread. I try to use the rule of thinking of the last time I used something or if I use it enough to make it worth it taking up space. I just gave my small mixer to my daughter because I rarely use it now and have a big on if I need to mix something. I know that once I put something in a get rid of bag I have to get rid of it right away or it'll manage to get back into the house. That's the problem when you give yourself a chance to second guess something.

I came Flylady years ago. My sink is my thing. I hate when it's dirty, drives me up the wall. And without fail as soon as I get it cleaned up either my husband or daughter decided they are going to cook something like spagetti, or paint!!!

I used to subscribe to the Flylady years ago, but she cluttered up my inbox with several emails a day. It drove me crazy. I tried to change my settings and whittle them down to just one a day, but that didn't work. I have no idea what kind of email program she was using but it sure was annoying. However, I followed her long enough to figure it out and develop my own system.

I have to laugh when The Boys, ages 46, 19, and 12, complain about crumbs when walking barefoot on the kitchen floor. I hand them the Swiffer vac, since they're the ones who brush toast crumbs off the counter. You'd think they'd learn.....

www.flylady.net is what I think her site is.

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Her way sure does work. After all the kids left and my DH died, I cleaned out a lot of stuff,
15 minutes at a time. And I sent them some pictures of my "new" house, and my son-in-law
glanced at them and asked my daughter just who's house it was...and he had been here lots
of times, starting in their teens!!! If I don't love it, use it, or it's not valuable, out it goes. And
I can't remember most of the stuff I've given away...and there is more that's going out. 2 Closets
are next..
I got a new phone, with one wrong number off for a medical office, the gentleman and I had a nice
chat about his young nephew he was raising who was ADD...and we agreed that he would clean out
the "explosion" of toys and junk in the kid's room. He phoned a couple of weeks later and said the
boy was much calmer with less choice of thousands of play things, and had donated some of his
but unwanted toys to a battered women's place.