Before I had children, I would spend hours on Saturdays scrubbing and tiding, enjoying the satisfaction of a spotless apartment afterwards, and my apartment stayed clean for days until the next cleaning Saturday. And then I became a mother. I quickly realized that keeping a clean house with small children is like brushing your teeth while eating chocolate.
So, we gave up. Uh we hired a cleaning lady who helped us once a week, but even that didn't help us. Uh the place stayed clean maybe for one or two hours before the mess returned.
But then one small change transformed my entire life. I no longer have a cleaning lady, yet my house is always neat and tidy. The bathrooms sparkle.
Toys don't sit on the floor for days and I can always find what I need. In fact, our house is cleaner now than it was before kids. What is my secret?
My secret is the system. So, I systematized the cleaning, broke it into small steps and created routines so that I'm not overwhelmed by cleaning every time. Now I spend no more than two hours a week for cleaning with my longest session being just one hour.
You may have heard about the Fly Lady system. I didn't invent it, but it has changed everything for me. I adapted the system to suit my needs and my family.
I can put you some notes below that so that you can see my plans. And now I would explain you the system. If you are new here and you have never heard about the fly lady system, here's how I do it and here's how it changed my life.
So there are three layers of this system and the whole system is built on the routines. So you have routines that you are doing daily, you have weekly routines and you have monthly routines. So you can imagine you are playing a video game and you need to accomplish one level before you move on to the next level.
There are some things some routines we are doing daily. This is nothing new. All of these routines you are doing already but fly lady took those routines and systematized those routines in in the system.
So you know, so you have a list and you know what to do first in the morning, in the afternoon and in the evening. This is very simple. I have four essential daily routines.
My morning routine starts at least 30 minutes before the kids get up. I calculate my wake up time based on how long my routine takes. It is important to wake up before your kids get up so you can do all your routine on your own without distractions.
Start in the bathroom and complete your morning routine. I wash my face, brush my teeth, shower, and do my beauty routine like moisturizer, sunscreen, light makeup, like mascara, brows, and lipstick. Then I get dressed in the clothes that I laid out the night before.
I'll explain this in the evening routine. Once you're ready, take 5 minutes to make the bathroom sparkle. Yes, I clean the sink and the toilet daily.
It might sound strange, but this quick daily cleaning keeps everything fresh. I prefer homemade cleaning products since they are better around kids and don't have harsh chemical smells. If you have multiple bathrooms, give them all a quick clean before moving on.
Just swish and swipe. Next stop is making your bed. This simple habit is truly lifechanging.
It's the perfect morning ritual to set yourself up for success. Finally, head to the kitchen and empty the dishwasher from the night before, though my husband usually handles this. And then comes your reward, the first delicious cup of coffee.
After completing my morning routine and after enjoying this first cup of coffee, I start my daily laundry. I load the washer first thing in the morning, then transfer everything to the dryer or clothes line when I return in the afternoon. Kids clothes usually go in the dryer.
The moment the dryer beeps, I head straight to the laundry room to retrieve the clothes. The key is folding them while they are still warm and putting them away immediately. Though this habit took some discipline at first, it's eliminated those dreaded laundry mountains I used to have.
Both the unwashed piles and the boxes of clean clothes waiting for me to put them away. Remember, the laundry routine isn't complete until everything is folded and stored in closets. So finish your process and complete your laundry routine daily.
This routine has changed everything for me. I spend only 2 minutes three times a day checking that nothing is out of place. after breakfast, when I get home in the afternoon, and before bed.
Even if the kids have left things scattered around, everything returns to its proper place by evening. I usually do this with the kids, having them put away their own toys, though today I handled it myself. This small tip will change everything.
So if you want to take something from this video then take just this one simple tip. It changed everything for me. Let me tell you one example.
As my cleaning lady came to me, I would start spending my time cleaning up all the mess, all the clutter that was lying everywhere. I was cleaning together with my cleaning lady. So, it was frustrating because I hired her to save my time and yet I was there cleaning alongside with her putting my clutter away.
So, this is the best tip from the flight system. If you're going to implement it and if you're going to do every day just two minutes, just return the things back to its home. And I'm telling this to my children because everything everything that we own needs to have a home.
So when you have designated places for those things, you can do this clutter check, twominut clutter check, and you can quickly return those things back to its homes. And the last routine of the day is my evening routine. After dinner, the evening routine begins.
Everyone puts their dishes in the dishwasher. Every child who can walk can handle their own plate. I store the leftovers in the fridge, wash the pots and pans, clear everything of the kitchen island and wipe down all kitchen surfaces.
Then I start the dishwasher and finally clean the sink. This sink cleaning ritual is a central part of the Fly Lady system. If you follow the system, you know how important a clean sink is.
When you clean it daily, it never gets too dirty and only takes a few minutes each evening to be cleaned. Since I have a robot that vacuums and mops the floor, I don't need to worry about that step. However, if you don't have a robot, you'll want to add sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor to your evening routine.
Don't forget to lay out the clothes for the next morning. These small steps prevent clutter from piling up. Once you've established the first layer, the first uh level of routines, daily routines, you can move on to the second layer.
Don't rush, don't overwhelm yourself. Just give yourself time, maybe one more week or two weeks. So you are doing it really like a routine, like a habit.
We want to implement those habits. The second layer are weekly routines. These are the routines you are doing every week.
I can show you my actual plan for the week. Remember, you can adjust this plan to your needs, to your family, to your rhythm, to your working schedule. You don't need to take it and implement the same way I'm doing it or fly lady is doing it.
You can just take some stuff, some things, some systems that are going to work for you. on Saturdays is the most important task. I would suggest you start implementing this second layer with this task.
This task is called home blessing hour. This is one hour when you are cleaning your home. And I called it also like a weekly cleaning hour.
And uh I'm doing this on Saturday because on Saturday I have time. I'm not working. my family is there and my kids could help me eventually and this is uh the purpose of the whole system.
So you are not doing it alone but you are doing it together with your family. So there are six tasks and Fly Lady suggests to use a timer and to do 10 minutes per task. Based on my experience, I'm not cleaning my windows for 10 minutes.
So I'm using like 5 minutes for the windows, 5 minutes for the trash. But to vacuum and to mop, I will use 15 minutes each. So I adjusted it the way it works the best for me.
Using timer is essential. You've probably heard of Parkinson's law. Work expands to fill the time available.
So only allocate the time you actually want to spend cleaning. The Fly Lady system suggests specific time limits for each task, and it's amazing how much more you can accomplish with a timer. When it rings, I move on to the next task, finished or not.
And you have six little tasks to accomplish in order to accomplish this onehour cleaning. Mirrors Take 5 minutes. Just spot clean where needed, usually at children's eye level.
I use plain water and a cloth, which works perfectly. Another small task is trash. I allocate myself 5 minutes for this task.
Quickly empty all beans and replace the bags. Next comes changing sheets. Strip the bed first thing in the morning and this becomes your day's laundry.
Wash them and put them straight back on when dry. No folding needed at that day. I allow myself 10 minutes for this task.
Dusting takes 10 minutes with my ostrich feather duster. It's efficient and just needs a quick shake outside afterwards. Vacuuming takes 15 minutes, focusing on hight traffic areas, entryway, living room, kitchen, bathroom, and around beds.
I usually also vacuum under the bed because I don't want to inhale dust while sleeping. Even with my robot vacuum running daily, some spots need extra attention. I do my best to stay in my 15 minutes [Music] slot.
The same goes for mopping. 50 minutes max. Treat it like a workout.
Move quickly to stay within the time limit. I use a life height system that keeps my hands clean and I can mop really really quickly. Again, I mop only where needed hightra areas.
By sticking to the timer, cleaning doesn't take over your whole day. I used to clean for hours. Now, 1 hour once a week and I am done.
I do my weekly cleaning on Saturdays since weekdays are too busy while Fly Lady suggests Mondays especially for those at home or on maternity leave. Choose what works for you. Remember to adjust the system to suit you and your needs.
Sunday is my family day and it is a day when I have a rest and reset. Mondays are for resetting the car and my purse. I clear the car of kids item, forgotten cups and water bottles and shake out the carpets.
I do not vacuum my car every Monday, but this is the day I do clear it out of the clutter. I will do the same for my purse. I'll remove unnecessary items, sort through receipts, and organize what's left.
It's amazing how many extra lipsticks can accumulate. Thursdays are for errands. I will schedule all my appointments for Thursday, for example, going to the doctor's or going to the post office or returning something.
This way, I can bundle the tasks so I can do all of these tasks when I go out. So there are like things that I'm accomplishing while going out and um I just save my time. I can save my fuel uh and I just accomplish everything on this day.
Fridays are my planning days. I plan the weekly menu and make shopping list for my husband's Saturday grocery run. I also review my calendar, check upcoming appointments, and note any special needs like children's birthday gifts and so on, so I can put it on my to-do list for Thursdays when I do my errands day.
So now you have accomplished first level daily routines, second level, weekly routines and now when you are done when these routines are like daily habits, you know what to do. You are not confused, you are not overwhelmed. It's very very important.
Then you can implement the third level monthly routines. I wouldn't recommend to go to the third level before you have like habit or you're uh very confident in the first two levels. So I think this is important just to implement step by step to give yourself a grace so you are not rushing through the whole system and you're not overwhelming yourself because this is what happens to me.
The first time I uh tried to implement Fly Lady system, I was overwhelmed by all the things, all the kind of stuff I need to do. But I like this structure. I just have this three layers.
And once I've accomplished the second layer, I can move on to the third layer. So the third layer are the monthly routines. This is something we are doing every month.
Usually a month has five weeks, not full weeks of course, but the month spans over five weeks approximately. And you divide your home into five zones. This is how I divided my home.
My zones are as follows. Zone one, entrance, basement, small bathroom, and guest room. Zone two, kitchen.
Zone three, dining room and living room. Zone four, bedroom and large bathroom and zone five, kids rooms. You don't need to use the zones Fly Lady suggesting you.
You just need to uh be inspired by Fly Lady. So, this is what I did. I was just inspired by the system.
I found it very confusing. I found it overwhelming. I read the book.
It wasn't helpful, but I got inspired and I adapted it to my needs and to my family's needs and um we are using the system and I it's wonderful. So, you find out what zones are going to serve you and you start with the first zone on the first of the month. For example, this week I'm in the kitchen zone and I need to clean the ranchwood again.
Think about everything you would clean in a zone if you hired a cleaning lady. Write all the tasks down. Things like doors, floors, light switches, baseboards, ranch hoods, windows, etc.
You take care of all of that when you are in the zone. Make a list and then you can check things off the list when you're in that zone. And as always, it's very important to use timer.
Just use your timer. Just sleep with your timer. Go everywhere with your timer.
It's very, very, very helpful. So for the zone, you just put your timer for 15 minutes. And this is the time you are doing your zone once a day.
I'm doing my zones only four days. I think the day when you're I'm doing weekly home blessing hour is very uh overwhelming enough. I don't need to do the zone on this day.
If you're doing it on Monday, uh as fly lady suggest, you don't need to do the zone on this day. I think it's too much. So just do the zone Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
In total, you will get one hour in the zone. If you're going to do 15 minutes per zone, sometimes I'm doing just 10 minutes per zone. if I don't have time or something.
It's up to you. But um use your timer and just try to hit one zone per week. And you know this weekly cleaning routine, this weekly home blessing hour, it's not a very thorough cleaning.
You know, you need just one hour. You're hitting the spots and the areas, but you're not doing the deep clean. And if you want to deep clean, you are doing it in the zone.
And this is very important to hit the zone, to do the zones, and just to do those deep cleaning tasks like washing the windows, like um cleaning the doors, cleaning the basement, cleaning the ranch hood, cleaning the microwave or the kitchen cabinets and so on. These are the tasks you can do in the zone. Just little bit by little bit, you are not doing the whole spring clean in one session.
you are doing just small small small small micro tasks. So I spend 1 hour a week in the zone plus 1 hour for the weekly home blessing hour. In addition of course you have the daily routines that I have described but actually you would have the routines even without the system.
Only with a system you have a better overview and you simply have a structure that you can hold on to and that helps you to put your house in order in small steps. A very important point you have to get rid of your perfectionism. I don't know if you're a perfectionist.
I am. I'm certainly am. And I needed to get rid of it.
And this is a very good system. So you can uh encourage yourself to get rid of it because it's not going to work if you are trying to do everything perfectly. You're not going to finish your work.
You have timer. You need to move on and you can't do everything perfectly. So it's much better to do anything than to do nothing.
And the progress is better than perfection. The work we're doing at home is very routinely work. It's something we are doing every day.
It's not it's not going to go away. It's not going to be finished. It's it never ends.
It's just coming and going. You are doing laundry every day. You're doing the dishes.
You are doing this and that. And every time you have something to do in your home, so it's not going to end. You're not going to be done with this work.
If you're going to accept it and you're going to say, "Okay, I'm going to do just 15 minutes every day. " um to dedicate myself to my home to have this clean home that is just sparkling. Maybe in some corners there's nothing that is sparking yet, but I'm doing something.
I'm doing something and I'm not overwhelming myself. I'm not cleaning for hours and hours and hours or I'm just so overwhelmed by all the mess that I'm not doing anything. I'm just doing one small step at a time and it's very important to understand just get rid of perfectionism and just trust the process and you will see in couple of months the transformation you're going to have.
You're going to have the huge transformation in your home and in your life.
