“Is it possible to turn cleaning into a pleasure, or at least make it so that it ceases to be a daily duty?” – probably, the hostess has often thought, eager to see in her house the perfect order, which, due to various circumstances, can not be achieved. The cleaning system called “Flylady” helped women around the world to answer this question.
The history of the appearance of the “Flylady”
Its appearance “Flylady” is due to a resident of the US state of North Carolina, housewife Marla Seeley. Marla in her interviews and books does not hide that the reason for these changes is her disorganization and lack of attention to the comfort of her own home. Gradually, the house of Marla and her husband “overgrown” with garbage, it was an eternal mess, which became more and more difficult to cope with. And in the end, this snowball “crushed” the family well-being of Mrs. Seeley. The husband, tired of the mess, just left. The woman fell into a depression, stopped taking care of herself. Sometimes she couldn’t even let her friends into the house because she was inappropriately dressed and everything in the house was scattered.
In 1999, Marla pulled herself together and began to return to normal life in very small steps (which later became one of the principles of her system), coping with the mess in the house and with the mess in life. This process was long: it began in January, and in June, as a result of reflection and action, the “Flylady”appeared. First, Marla sent her ideas to her friends by email, and they sent them to their friends, and so on. Then she started her own website, and later she started writing books.
Basic cleaning principles of “Flylady”
1. Observe regularity
You need to clean regularly, and not when it is completely dirty or guests are about to come. By the way, in one of the books there is a tip on how to understand whether the cleaning is well done: if you are ready to open the door to guests right now, then everything is in order.
2. Divide the room into zones
For cleaning to be effective, do not do it in emergency mode. The author suggests dividing the house (apartment) into zones. And for each zone, choose your own time and the duration of cleaning in it:
- Remember how much time you spend on high-quality cleaning of the room and what manipulations you perform. For example, zone 1 of the bathroom. Its cleaning includes cleaning the bathtub, sink, toilet, faucets, shower, mirrors and shelves, as well as the final cleaning of the floor.
- After that, choose the time when you prefer to do this. Most likely, cleaning the bathroom in your schedule will be postponed either for the evening or for the weekend.
3. Observe the 15-minute rule
Cleaning each zone should take no more than 15 minutes. Marla advises turning on the timer every time before cleaning. It seems that nothing can be done during this time. But the secret is that 15 minutes should be given to cleaning systematically, every day. Then the result will not take long to wait.
4. Observe the “Hour of blessing at home”
Behind this strange name lies the usual General cleaning. This should be done every week on your chosen day and it should last exactly one hour.
5. Define “hot spots”
In every house there is a favorite chair, where clothes are stacked; a shelf, on which small things, various papers, checks, etc. are loaded (where they are also forgotten, turning into garbage). It is necessary to “extinguish” such “foci” once in two days .
6. Participate in the fight against garbage
It is necessary to collect and get rid of old things once a month . And every month, you need to collect 27 such things .
7. Define “island of purity”
Find an “island of cleanliness” in your home or apartment. It should always be in perfect condition, regardless of the cleaning schedule. According to Marla, the shining shell is the “island”, putting it in order is enough to give 5 minutes a day in the morning and in the evening.
8. Don’t try to do everything perfectly at once
This item applies to those who do not want to take up cleaning, referring to the fact that if it does not work perfectly, it is not worth starting. The path to a positive result consists of many small steps, not one giant one.
9. Wear the right shoes
The author of “Flylady” believes that in order to put the house in order, you just need to tie your shoelaces. This increases the level of concentration – they are not so easy to throw off, like ordinary slippers, to lie down to rest, and then be lazy and do nothing.
10. Create a special log to monitor the process
In it, you can describe in detail all the manipulations, make a schedule for cleaning a specific area, a list of tools and devices that you need to buy, as well as enter other useful information.
Books and resources on the system “Flylady”
The above 10 postulates can only convey the essence of the system in general terms. If you are interested in this, you can deepen your knowledge by reading books or visiting websites dedicated to this topic.
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