When it comes to housekeeping, do you have a firmly set routine or do you just do what needs to be done? Do you have Monday Washing and Tuesday Ironing or do you tackle things as needed? I’m wondering this because I was just thinking about a website I came across several years ago (that I vowed to remember when I had my own home–and I did remember it–haHA, take that, Forgetfulness!).
This website–FlyLady–instructs you with a very regular schedule of doing housework, as well as little tips to conquer the beast of clutter (or, I believe, she says CHAOS: Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome). Has anyone heard of or tried FlyLady’s routine? It looks interesting, doable, encouraging…except for the part where you have to shine your sink every night. Ugh! It’s the first baby step; that, and a pair of shoes. That is to say, you don’t shine your shoes. You put them on; you wear them: typical shoe-function.
It’s a very organized and structured plan (I love structure!), so I may try the little baby steps. Hm, we’ll see on that front.
Now that we have that established, this post wouldn’t be complete without a picture of one supa’fly Rabbi.
Rabbi: “My wife made me this. I just wanted a cool vest.”
*crickets chirping*
Rabbi: “…depending on your definition of cool.”
He is the one man that could pull off that look. And he does it smashingly, don’t you think?
Hibby and Hubby 
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October 28, 2008 at 6:15 am
Mary-LUE
Oh, the Fly Lady! I am not so good with structure so you can imagine how well I did with this system! It is totally helpful if you can do it… around my house, my family would be lovin’ it if I did just one-fourth of it. Seriously. I’m a disaster.
I remember the shoe bit. First thing in the morning, putting on the shoes. I couldn’t (should say) wouldn’t even do that. Her sink shining technique works pretty good. I still clean my sink that way (you guessed it), when I bother to clean it.
Since I am new here, you are going to have to explain the Rabbi thing to me. Who, when, where, how…
October 28, 2008 at 9:32 am
hibby
Ha-ha, I thought the picture defied explanation…
Ok, ok, you convinced me; I’ll spill. I work in the front office of a Jewish High School. This is my co-worker, Rabbi, on “Neon Spirit Day.” Actually, that was a pretty easy explanantion.
And I feel I should clarify: I love structure; that doesn’t mean I’m GOOD with structure. But, it’s something to aspire to…
October 28, 2008 at 2:49 pm
minnesotamom
Structure and me, we used to be close. Then I acquired a new friend named Stuff. Stuff and Structure, they didn’t get along well, and Stuff was bigger than Structure, so you know who had to go.
That is to say I made a very impressive daily cleaning list when we first moved here. It still hangs in magnanimous fashion on the fridge. And it is still completely and utterly ignored.
That Stuff, he’s here to stay for awhile.
October 28, 2008 at 2:50 pm
minnesotamom
p.s. Rabbi is WORKING that fine vest. The crickets were complimentary, I believe.
October 28, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Jamie
I did my own pared-down version of Fly Lady for a while — made me a list in MSWord with a list of tasks for each day. It worked fine for a while, except that I felt like I was chained to that list (and I’m fairly list driven, so that’s saying a lot), but then something happened. I’m not sure what it was. Might have been the birth of my 2nd daughter that threw me off, but it might have been before that… who knows? It’s been so long.
Now, I just embrace the CHAOS and we live in seclusion, venturing out for necessities and church, or furtively poking our heads out for fresh air or to see what the neighbors are doing. Kind of like ground hogs.
Anyway, keep thinking that I should give it another try (although I refuse to shine my sink every night. Take out the trash? Yes. Shine the sink? No.) If you think it might work for you, go for it. Worst case, you wind up joining the ranks of the Fly Lady drop-outs. Don’t worry–the stigma is not nearly as bad as that of being a high-school drop-out. As long as you never have people over. 😀
P.S. “Neon Spirit Day” is what defies explanation.
October 30, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Mary-LUE
Now it makes sense! Thanks for explaining. Not knowing where you worked was definitely hindering my comprehension.
November 4, 2008 at 11:18 am
bren j.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. I was too intimidated by the nightly sink-shining to ever become a Fly Lady diehard, but I used to clean properly every Thursday afternoon – laundry, dusting, vacuuming, bathroom – everything. I took me – aside from laundry – about an hour and it was grand and our house smelled so wonderful and clean.
Then we moved and a had a baby.