FlyLady system element: XC or hot spot
CS exists in every normal home: it is an open surface that attracts clutter to itself. Rather, the inhabitants of the house organize a "mess" on a convenient surface for them, as the hostess of the house usually puts it. Since it is she who has to disassemble this very "mess". As an example: a spontaneous collection of scarves, gloves, hats, etc. is always formed in the hallway. if there is a dressing table or any other small table near the entrance. And since it should not be in the "heap" state, you have to periodically put everything in its place.
Save so as not to lose!
In rooms, the role of CS is played by surfaces, on which, in passing and almost forever, households place small things, toys, etc. And then they wander in search of: where did I leave this thing? :)
In order for you not to waste your time and nerves on analyzing XC, a technique was invented in the FlyLady system. First, you take note of all the possible cholesterol in the house. But remember that this can only be a horizontal surface in an open area. All others cannot be qualified as hot spots.
That is, the student's desk, the child's toys on the floor and the husband's desk do not fall under this definition. The window sill on which everyone throws their sweaters or other things, a chair where they try to hang them, but it turns out that they just throw their clothes after work / school - this is HS. Move on:)
After identifying your key hotspots in the home, you need to get down to business:
- Take control of only 1-2 "points" during the first week of mastering the intake of cholesterol.
- Disassemble each CS for no more than 2 minutes. We do not have time - we leave until next time.
- In between cases, we are considering the cause of CS and ways to eliminate it.
It is advisable to keep a FlyLady's diary and write down thoughts on this matter in a specially dedicated section. Do not try to immediately rush into battle and force your family to wean themselves from the habit of throwing their things onto the surface of the XC. Remember, habits are a significant part of a person's subconscious. You need to gradually retrain yourself and your loved ones from bad habits (create disorder in one particular place). After all, it was only you who decided to learn to be FlyLady, your family should not suffer here :)
As an example, I will give a few tricks for getting rid of CS. On the cleared surface, you can:
- Place a nice box, vase or tray. Those things that usually ended up in this "area" either fold into a container, or do not appear there at all.
- Clean regularly. To teach the environment that there should be a clean surface.
- Install a fragile product. A vase, flowers (cacti), etc.
Do "clearing debris" for only 2 minutes a day on one CS for the first week. Then you can add another "hot spot" with the obligatory maintenance of the first HS. So gradually you will walk through the whole house, putting things in order and accustoming those close to order. Good luck.
Praise yourself!
Every time after a good and competent performance of your household chores, and especially when using the FlyLady system, praise yourself. After all, there is a reason! If other housewives act on a whim in the conduct of household chores (and competent housekeeping is a well-established business), then you learn competent time management in the most important thing - creating a warm and comfortable home. In which everyone is comfortable: you, your family and any kind guest. Isn't this a reason to praise yourself in the process of mastering the science of being FlyLady and then in the process of consciously applying the knowledge gained? Therefore, do not forget to say a few words of gratitude to yourself or back up even a small success with any encouragement (a piece of chocolate, an orange, etc.).
Perhaps readers of these lines will want to add their own points - welcome to the comments. But at least these basic principles of the FlyLady system became fundamental for me and they are quite enough. Well, about routines, about ways to encourage yourself to be loved, etc. we'll talk in the following articles. Good luck.
FlyLady system: what is it and why
For many women, cleaning up means spending most of the day keeping it clean and comfortable. And such a need arises every weekend, and even more often - if you have a large family. Well, who wants to spend their day off cleaning floors or fighting dust?
This can only be done by people obsessed with cleanliness. And if a woman works a lot, then she all the more does not want to take up cleaning, because she is just tired. In response to such problems, an unusual housekeeping system appeared - FlyLady.
This is the author's system - it was invented by the American Marla Scilly. Why FlyLady? This is Marla's nickname, which stands for "Fly" - "fly" or "fly", and "lady". You can translate this as "fluttering lady", but also "Fly" can be read as an abbreviation: Finally Loving Yourself - "finally loving yourself." Marla offers to take care of yourself, not overloading with everyday life, but also without abandoning household chores!
The most important rule of the system sounds like: "Eat the elephant piece by piece." That is, divide a big task into many small tasks that can be done separately.
In the case of cleaning, the author proposes to draw up a plan of action for the month ahead - to do one thing every day. Of course, everything is individual and depends on the schedule of each person.
FlyLady cleaning: 10 principles
The system has ten principles that can make life easier for every woman. They do not require any money spending or certain skills.
It is enough to look at your home in a new way, through the prism of the following rules:
1. Keeping an audit trail - with its help you will draw up a cleaning plan for the week or month. Write down in it those things that need to be done on a specific day or by a specific date. Remember that each task should not take you more than 15-20 minutes.
2. A clean sink is a place in the house that should always be in order. Therefore, do not be lazy to wash the dishes immediately after eating so that they do not accumulate there. Otherwise, one day you will have to spend 15 minutes (or more) on clearing these "rubble".
3. Household shoes - walk around the house in shoes, not slippers. It's not about models with heels, but about those shoes that will allow you to feel in shape, to be active.
4. Daily Routine - This includes things that need to be done every day. This is a superficial cleaning of things that are out of place, making plans.
5. Hot spots are places in the house where clutter appears very quickly. For example, clothes hanging on a chair, papers scattered on the table. As soon as you notice this, you need to immediately put everything in order.
6. Time control - no more than 15 minutes are spent on cleaning every day. In order not to overdo it, set a timer.
7. General cleaning - it is enough for it to dust and vacuum once a week. Everything else and more essential you have already done within a week.
8. Fighting trash - periodically you need to audit things and throw away those that you do not use. Give or sell your clothes, hand over old newspapers to waste paper, throw out broken things. Less trash, cleaner home.
9. Control of cleanliness - do not bring the state of things or the room to the point that they become dirty and require serious cleaning.
10. Do not rush to follow all the principles of FlyLady. Start by making it a habit to clean and keep your sink tidy. Gradually incorporate the rest of the recommendations.
Guided by these rules, you will forget about the concept of "general cleaning", which used to mean spending all weekend cleaning floors, fighting dust and rubbish.
The FlyLady system is very popular with women from different countries - for nineteen years now it has been constantly acquiring new fans.
Cleaning is now no longer a tedious task that takes a lot of time and effort. You will forget about having to spend a whole weekend cleaning surfaces, washing dishes, fighting dusty corners.
It is enough not to postpone everything for one single day, but to divide the cleaning into several smaller tasks. Fifteen minutes every day - and on weekends you will just relax and do what you love! But the house will, at the same time, shine with cleanliness and delight you and your guests with its comfort!
P.S. And remember, just by changing your consciousness - together we are changing the world! econet
Consolidating habits by day
The habit of cleaning every day and little by little is developed throughout the month. To get used to the fly lady cleaning system, you need to follow a series of steps.
2
They devote the morning time to tidying themselves up, and in the evening they are again engaged in cleaning the sink. Leaves with reminders are hung in conspicuous places.
3 and 4
Before lunch, they take care of themselves, and in the second half of the day they take time to clean the sink, read yesterday's notes and hang up new reminders.
5
All previous actions in the previous days are repeated. On the fifth day, there is often a desire to give up everything, it seems that nothing is working out, and everything is being done badly.
Take a new sheet of paper. On the one hand, they write all the shortcomings of the day spent, and on the other hand, they describe the advantages. The second list should contain more items.
6
Repeat all the actions of the previous points, and then study the reminders. Read the advantages and disadvantages indicated on the sheet. Hotspots are allocated on this day. Allocate no more than two minutes to clean the hot zone. It's okay if you didn't manage to bring perfect cleanliness in this place.
7
On this day, the previous points are repeated, and the analysis of hotspots is added. In the evening it is recommended to choose and iron the clothes for tomorrow. Preparing your clothes in the evening is called a chore. It should become a daily habit.
8
In addition to the evening routine, the schedule also includes the morning routine in the form of cleaning the sink. In the first half of the day they take time for themselves, then they read all the reminders, do the routine, read the merits and demerits of the work done.
In the evening they prepare clothes for tomorrow, clean up the hot zone. On this day in the evening, a folder with blank sheets of paper should be prepared for keeping a fly lady's control diary.
9
In the morning they put themselves in order again. Then you need to read the reminders and remove the hotspots. In the evening they clean the sink and prepare the clothes for tomorrow. The hotspots are removed again.
They devote the rest of their time completely to themselves, then they read the reminder sheets, remove the hotspots. On this day, a new habit is introduced, which involves cleaning a room in 16 minutes. Within the allotted time, you need to put all things in place, throw out or distribute trash. Immediately after cleaning, you need to read or drink some tea.
From this morning, after putting yourself in order and reading the notes on the stickers, you need to devote a couple of minutes to hotspots, 4 minutes to clean the room and 16 minutes to throw out unnecessary trash. In the evening, all that remains is to clean the sink, prepare the clothes and take two minutes to analyze the hotspot.
A list of routine tasks in the morning and evening hours is entered in the control diary. For inspiration, enter quotes and sayings.
After completing the routine, take 16 minutes to sort out unnecessary things. Unwanted trash is thrown away or given to people in need.
All actions of the previous days are repeated. Something else is added in the evening.
They carry out all the tasks according to the control diary, get acquainted with the recommendations of the fly lady cleaning system.
20
Complete morning and evening routine tasks. The daily schedule of tasks is replenished with washing. Things need to be washed, dried, then ironed and carefully laid out in places.
22
After completing routine tasks, they devote time to hotspots. Again, they choose unnecessary and unnecessary things that need to get rid of.
23
Planned activities are carried out according to the journal. New items are added - a to-do list in the afternoon or after work.
All actions scheduled for the morning, afternoon and evening should already be performed automatically by this time.
27
The entire to-do list for the day is being executed. Until 17:30, you need to think over the menu for dinner and enter it in the control diary.
28
Routine work in progress. In order not to forget a single item, you need to check the magazine. The new item is proper nutrition.
30
After completing all the tasks, they pay attention to the list of tasks for the next month. A period of time is allocated to think over gifts and cards for the upcoming holidays
Why do you need a system?
Tell me, what do you do this weekend? Most likely a general cleaning of the apartment. Have you guessed? And the most striking thing is that it seems right to us. This is how we prioritize and distribute what we think is the load.
Look, on weekdays we worked, then we get home. On the way, we pick up the child from the educational institution. Perhaps we also have time to run to the grocery store.
Then we come home and stand at the stove, meet my husband, set the table, clean. And a lot more. Feed the dog, do his homework, help collect the briefcase ... My head is spinning. And it seems like it will never end.
Have you tried planning your actions at home? Yes. Stop and think about what you have to do every day during the week? Now try to write down your thoughts, organize your affairs and distribute them over 5 days! It may seem unrealistic to many. Well, how can you clean the apartment when you are already falling off your feet in the evening?
Can. And when this technique enters your life, it will take much less time to clean up. There is just one little secret here. And I will share it later. Until then ...
Zone 3. Bathroom and one more room
This is FlyLady's list. If your house is still cluttered, you are not expected to complete this list completely. Just get rid of the trash every day for 15 minutes. Don't be intimidated by the size of this list! No one is going to try to complete it in one week.
Every month we pay special attention to a room, and in the rest of the rooms we do very little. In a few months everything will work out by itself.
BabySteps! Your house didn't get like this overnight, and you can't clean it up overnight. Print the list on a separate sheet for each room. Copy the list into your favorite text editor. You may need to make some changes to it in order to adapt it for yourself, for your family.
List for baby bathroom:
- Wash or wash the rugs.
- Clean / scrape / scrub the floors
- Put all the drawers and cabinets in order.
- Wash the toilet, bath
- Wash the shower door
- Clean bathroom toys carefully
- Clean the floor (especially around the toilet)
- Throw away empty containers
List for the nursery:
- Polish the furniture
- Understand the drawers, cabinets
- Take away cobwebs and dust from the ceiling
- Wash / clean the mattress, wash the bedspread
- Flip the mattress
- Wash the curtains
- Wash the windows
- Understand the toy shelves
- Wash under the bed
- Clean up your wardrobe
- Take out things that don't belong in this room
- Take away the things that the child grew out of
- Vacuuming under the bed, cabinets
- Wipe down the skirting boards
- Get your fingerprints off the walls, doors
- Sort videos / toys / books
List for the office (both home and work):
- Wash all horizontal surfaces
- Throw away pens / pencils that don't work and are never likely to work
- Sharpen your pencils
- Throw away all the trash
- Put things in their places, sort the papers into folders
- Pay your bills - don't delay
- Disassemble no more than one drawer at a time
- Throw away old papers (over 7 years old)
- Wash the monitor screen
- Put enough paper in the printer
- Allocate a specific place for current accounts
- Vacuuming under the table and throughout the room
- Dust your furniture
- Wash the windows
- Take away the cobwebs and dust from the ceiling
- Check your inventory of envelopes, paper, printer cartridges, pencils, pens, refills, glue, stamps, and more.
Marie Kondo: order in the apartment - order in life
KonMari is Mari Kondo, a Japanese specialist in house, office and life cleaning. She has written more than 4 books and put in order the lives of many people. You can learn more about the technique itself from her book by Marie Kondo “Magic Cleaning.
The Japanese art of putting things in order at home and in life ”. For those who do not like to read and want to visually familiarize themselves with everything - the Japanese film "Life - the exciting magic of cleaning."
The peculiarity of the Mari Kondo system is that the apartment must be cluttered before it is cleaned. Those. throw out the unnecessary: everything that you did not use all last year and most likely will not use the next.
Moreover, this should not be done gradually, in rooms, but immediately - within a couple of days.
In other words, this is a spring cleaning that will help to maximize the space around you. These are not just old things that should be thrown away for a long time, but also things that you haven't worn for a long time, haven't used, and which just annoy you!
You can read more about the method in the book, here I will give only 5 main principles:
- Decluttering takes place at once in a short time. Only in this way can you feel freedom and joy from the cleared space and understand what kind of cleanliness should be observed.
- Cleaning is not "by zones: kitchen, bathroom, bedroom ...", but by category of things. For example, clothing, cosmetics, books and magazines, etc. Very often we store the same things in different places and during cleaning we have to perform the same actions: disassemble cosmetics in a cosmetic bag and in a bathroom; books in the bedroom and magazines in the living room. In order not to waste time in vain and not to perform the same work several times, we rake the same things into a heap and only after that we disassemble.
- If you have not used this thing for a whole year, a year / 3 months, throw it away or give it to those in need. If you haven't put on a dress for a long time, but it's a pity to throw it away, give it to those who need it. It is unlikely that you will wear it in the future, which means that it takes up precious space not only in your closet, but also in your life. Give it away, sell it or throw it away and you will feel better. The same should be repeated with other little-used items.
- Say thanks and say goodbye to every thing. On the one hand, it seems complete nonsense, but on the other…. Great thought. Every time we thank an old thing for merit, we become wiser and more responsible. We learn to respect things, less often we buy unnecessary things and more often we appreciate what surrounds us. We are becoming happier.
- Each remaining item should have its own place. This will not only simplify the process of cleaning and finding things, but also increase its energy.
This system came into my life after FlyLady, but it had a very serious impact. After I threw out 4 huge bags of rubbish, I really began to feel better, I got strength for new achievements and goals.
Disadvantages of the system 2:
- She never learns to cope with the daily routine. No matter how many things you throw away, and no matter how often you put them in place, there will always be children and a husband who do not care about "what mom has read." Although there will be much less garbage, I promise J
- During the decluttering period, it takes a lot of time and effort.
Principles
Marla Scilly herself did not single out the principles; these are, most likely, the first steps from which the acquaintance with the FlyLady system begins.
Principle 1. Clean kitchen sink
Since you need to start with something, the author of the system invites everyone to go and polish their working sink in the kitchen to a shine. You can even find a special author's recipe on the Internet.
After that, the cleanliness of the sink must be maintained all the time, that is, every day, give it your attention.
Principle 2: Getting Started Every Day: Getting In Order
After waking up and hygienic procedures, you need to dress yourself up beautifully and put on lace-up shoes. In this form, it will already be more difficult for you to return to a warm bed. Rise! Great things await us!
Principle 3. Introduce rituals (morning, afternoon, evening)
Probably, you still have your own morning and evening rituals, in this mode they are called "routines"? Write them down, think over them, add them. For example, now add washing the kitchen sink to your nightly routine, which should now always shine with you. And in the morning routine we add a beautiful outfit and lace-up shoes.
Principle 4. Throwing out unnecessary things
Throw away unnecessary items every day. Marla Scilly advises to throw out 27 things a day that only create trash at home, interfering with the organization of home space. Ideally, littering should not take more than 15 minutes.
Principle 5. Do not save up things
To make the "clutter" of the apartment easier, try not to save up a lot of unnecessary, but, in your opinion, very necessary things, such as glass jars, plastic boxes, food bags. Try to get rid of one old thing by buying the same new one.
Principle 5. Working in the zone 15 minutes a day
Divide the space of your home into zones, for example, entrance hall, kitchen, bathroom, toilet, room. Dedicate a week to cleaning the area. This week, on the set days, clean the area for no more than 15 minutes a day, set a timer so as not to overwork!
Principle 6. Hot spots
Hot spots are places in your home where debris is most likely to accumulate. For example, a bedside table in the hallway, a coffee table in the living room or bedroom. Find hotspots in your home, sort them out and keep order every day. Engage in "hot spots" every day for no longer than 5 minutes.
Principle 7. Blessing at home - 1 hour per week.
Blessing the house is our usual cleaning without crawling under sofas and pushing closets. You can walk on dusty shelves and dirty floors in one hour a week, provided you devote some time every day. Set aside one day a week for blessing at home, but not a weekend!
Principle 8. Start small and little by little
Don't start by cleaning the entire apartment right away. We start just a little bit so as not to scare ourselves off.
Principle 9. Don't be perfectionists
Don't try to make everything perfect, it's very easy to give up everything. We do it as much as we can.
Principle 10 Audit Trail
Every “flying lady” needs a logbook. It contains your daily and weekly schedule. All routines, division into zones, menus for the week, important phones and encouraging phrases. It will make your life more organized and more orderly.
Principle 11. Weekends for rest
Relax with your family, loved ones and friends on the weekend. Gain strength and energy.
Based on the principles of the system, you can calculate how much time a day should be spent on cleaning.
Morning, afternoon, evening routine - 20 + 20 + 20 = 60 minutes;
Work in the zone - 15 minutes;
Littering - 15 minutes;
Extinguishing "hot spots" - 5 minutes.
It turns out that the maximum time devoted to FlyLady for the whole day is 1 hour 35 minutes. Many people include littering and hot spots in their routines, then it turns out at least 1 hour 15 minutes.
On a day dedicated to Blessing at Home, the system takes a maximum of 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete.
Fly Lady's house cleaning system: who, when and for what purpose came up with? What are its common pros and cons. Who is it for?
Fly Lady House Cleaning System
Back in 1999 in America, housewife Marla Scilly, having tried various methods of housekeeping to no avail, decided to develop her own. The main goals at the beginning of the journey were as follows:
- tidy up the house,
- learn to maintain this order,
- do not scare yourself with overwhelming tasks.
The main idea was: not to grab onto everything at once, but to begin to disassemble the chaos point by point, that is, from one specific cluttered area, and not to spend the whole day on cleaning, but to devote quite a bit of time - 15 minutes a day is enough. In the first six months, the system regained its original appearance, the terms "routine", "hot spots", "weekly cleaning plan", "cleaning by zones" appeared in it. Later, Marla Scilly shared her invention on her blog, and in 2001 the site of the same name was created, which is still one of the most popular in the world.
General pros
So, this home cleaning system has a number of advantages:
- It will help to put things in order at home and maintain it.
- Teaches self-discipline.
- The system will make it easier to keep everything under control (not just the household).
- Although the initial goal of creating the system was to put things in order in the household, in the end FlyLady helps with the improvement of the whole life in general.
disadvantages
The creator of the system is an American, so some moments are alarming for Russian hostesses, who are not accustomed to thinking within the confines of their own large house. The disadvantages include the following points:
- Since Marla Scilly lives in America in her own house, Russian housewives in some moments, for example, in the process of dividing an apartment into zones, need to adapt the source.
- The unusual requirements for "work clothes" for Russians are alarming for many. Working clothes mean a neat appearance, in which you are not ashamed to meet guests at any time and shoes with laces. In Russia, of course, there is no tradition of walking at home in shoes, so many who do not understand it to the end are perplexed by such a strange requirement, which, in principle, can simply be missed.
- An obligatory point of the system is the keeping of an audit trail, this moment initially baffles many and the work stops before it has begun.
- In order to apply this system in your life, it will take a lot of time, work is going on gradually, you need at least patience, which many do not have enough.
- The system is designed for activity in the morning, afternoon and evening, so many working housewives cannot adapt it to their lifestyle.
Who is it for
The creator herself claims that a woman of any employment is able to adapt to FlyLady, since the system is very flexible. However, according to the reviews, one can come to the conclusion that working women who come home late in the evening and leave for work early in the morning are simply not physically able to adjust to this lifestyle. Therefore, it is easier to delve into and begin to enter the regime for non-working housewives, women on maternity leave, those who are at home in the morning, afternoon and evening. Mothers on maternity leave are almost always busy with children or cleaning, with the Fly Lady system you can try to keep cleaning to a minimum and free up more time for children, husband and, of course, for yourself.
Working women can adapt the system, take something useful from it and successfully apply in their busy life, for example, "hot spots". These are the places in the house where the main mess gathers.
These "hot spots" need to be identified and then paid attention to them once a day for five minutes. Even the busiest woman is capable of such superficial cleaning.
Marla Scilly developed her system gradually, adding new points. Therefore, it tells everyone that you need to start small and not scare yourself at the beginning of the path.
