And now, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to talk about the Flylady cleaning system. If you’re not familiar with the FlyLady, allow me to introduce you. FlyLady, or Marla Cilley, is a cleaning guru who has one goal: to help you keep your house clean! For years now, she’s been helping busy women across the country manage their household chores so they can live happier lives, and I’m here to tell you that her method works wonders! I’ve read her blog and although I don’t follow everything she says or have the same beliefs as her, I do love her foundational systems and routines for keeping a clean home.
Table of Contents
What is the FlyLady System?
The FlyLady cleaning system is a methodical, systematic approach to cleaning your home. The idea behind it is that by making a daily plan for cleaning, you’ll avoid getting overwhelmed and easily tackle cleaning tasks throughout each day. It may seem like more work in theory, but many people swear by its effectiveness; you might be one of them. Now let’s look at three reasons why you should try FlyLady:
- 1) It helps people overcome their fear of cleaning or perfectionism
- 2) It will help give your family structure
- 3) It teaches you how to clean!
Okay, so how does it work? Let’s take a look…
Zones & Tasks
Each area of your house gets its own job as part of the FlyLady cleaning system (a.k.a Zones). Whether it’s an individual room or a large space like a family room or hallway, you’ll use one method for keeping it clean and organized. Start by taking a good look at your living spaces and determining which areas need extra attention. If you have lots of rooms with different purposes, break them up into different categories (i.e., dining rooms for entertaining guests should be considered separately from bedrooms).
The FlyLady provides 5 zones for you, but you can change it to fit your life and home. Each week you will focus on a different zone. So Zone 1 will be your first week of the month, Zone 2 will be your 2nd week of the month and so on. Everyday of that week, you will spend 15 minutes deep cleaning in that zone.
Weekly Home Blessing
After the zones comes the “Weekly Home Blessing”These are 5 easy tasks that you should get done every week. Things like emptying the trash, sweeping and mopping, etc.
Daily Routines
Then there’s your daily routines. The FlyLady provides you with a few tasks that you should do every day to ensure your home always stays clean. The main things I love are “Shining your sink”, which means to just wash and put away dishes every night, “Getting dressed down to laces” — I believe this alone can help you feel confident and ready for the day, and “One Load of Laundry a Day” — this is great for staying on top of your laundry.
She provides a full checklist of daily tasks but I definitely recommend starting with these little habits. She also provides a baby steps checklist to help you get started on her system. Just follow it one task at a time!
Once you’ve got your zones and routine figured out, it’s time to schedule those days into your calendar (paper or online). The Flylady recommends setting a 15 minute timer and getting as much done as you can within that deep cleaning zone. Over time, if something isn’t working as well as you’d like then change it! But sometimes sticking something out even when we’re not feeling motivated can lead us to actually enjoy or at least get used it — so don’t give up right away!
Now let’s move forward with the reasons why you should start using the FlyLady Cleaning system.
1. The FlyLady System helps people overcome their fear of cleaning or perfectionism
Rather than making you into a domestic goddess, The FlyLady System offers a series of small cleaning steps you can do in five minutes or less. You’ll tackle your house one step at a time, and do just a little each day until your house is nice and clean. It works by giving people small, achievable goals; cleaning has never been so manageable! That’s why The FlyLady System gives millions of home-makers back their freedom from housework! The FlyLady system works in two different ways.
It gives you a small, achievable goal that you can do every day. You’ll be able to achieve something even on days when it feels like you have no time or energy for cleaning. And when your house is clean, it doesn’t feel as messy, so you don’t get into as much of a hurry to clean again! Your home will stay cleaner and tidier, which means less stress and more freedom from housework for months or years to come! With The FlyLady system, all it takes is a little bit each day until your house is nice and clean. It’s easier than ever before!
2. The FlyLady System provides you and your family with structure
The key word with a lot of cleaning systems is system. With many of them, you’re given a plan and instructions, but how do you follow it when life gets in the way? What happens if you miss a day? The FlyLady provides structure by telling you exactly what to do every day. That way, even if something comes up, like your son gets sick or your car breaks down, you still have that daily schedule—which helps keep on top of household chores. But don’t worry about doing everything perfectly; just focus on doing as much as you can each day and build off of that success each week. You’ll be surprised at how quickly things start to fall into place. A simple flylady routine will always beat out a complicated one!
If you’re looking for a way to stay on top of your cleaning, you need accountability. You need someone or something that gives you structure and helps keep you on track. The FlyLady system does just that. It’s a daily routine divided into manageable chunks so you can tackle it without feeling overwhelmed. The more organized your life is, the less time you have for clutter and chaos—and that means less time cleaning! Start using her system today and have more time in your life for everything else.
3. The FlyLady System teaches you new skills
The first step in keeping your home clean is knowing how to clean things. When you use a system like FlyLady’s, you’ll learn how to keep your countertops spotless, clean a toilet and scrub your floors properly. Once you learn these skills, it will be easier for you (and maybe your kids) to keep up with cleaning tasks throughout each week. You might have to practice a little bit at first, but after some time you should get better. You’ll also feel more motivated when you see all of your hard work coming together as your house becomes cleaner day by day!
How to Get Started with the FlyLady System
I spent lots of time reading the FlyLady’s blog and downloading all of her checklists. She provides everything for free on her blog here. If the Zone systems seems to overwhelming to you, you can always start out with her Baby Steps. She also has a free app that has all her routines and zone cleaning tasks.
But if you’d like a simple checklist with the entire month’s worth of cleaning tasks from all the zones, weekly tasks, and daily routines, I have a 2-page printable that you can download from my shop below. This is great for seeing everything at a glance and helps you to see what’s coming and track your progress for the month. It’s also editable so you can adjust or delete any of the tasks or zones that don’t work with your household. After editing, this printable can be imported into your PDF annotation app to use digitally, or printed out and laminated to use every month. Click here to purchase it in my shop and start seeing the rewards of your organized home. Editable Monthly FLYLADY Routines & Cleaning Checklists Worksheet – Pre-Filled can be Edited
